Southern Ethiopia's Sidama region is one of three trademarked Designation of Origin coffee regions in the country, alongside Harrar and Yirgacheffe. High altitudes, plentiful rainfall, and fertile soil makes the coffee grown in this region remarkable.

Sidama lies in the path of the Great Rift Valley and thanks to this, the countryside is lush and green. Several freshwater lakes provide drinking and agricultural water and account for the densely populated nature of the region.

Farming methods in Sidama remain largely traditional. Farmers typically intercrop their coffee plants with other food crops to maximize land use and provide food for their families. Farmers typically use very few—if any—fertilizers or pesticides. Coffee is selectively hand-harvested and then delivered to a washing station for processing.

The Swiss Water Process:
Swiss Water Process is a chemical-free method for removing caffeine from green coffee. The process involves soaking green coffee in fresh water until it reaches a saturation level that allows the dissolvable solids, including caffeine, to be removed. The resulting mixture of water, caffeine, and green coffee flavor compounds is called green coffee extract (GCE).

The GCE is then filtered to remove caffeine, and the caffeine-free GCE is used to soak a new batch of green coffee. Since the GCE is already saturated with green coffee compounds other than caffeine, only caffeine transfers from the green coffee to the GCE. The decaffeinated coffee is then dried to the proper moisture content for shipment.