How Melona began.

The first Melona batch was 400 grams of Sidamo, roasted in a modified popcorn drum on a kitchen counter in Addis. It wasn't good.

The second was better. The tenth was worth sharing. By the fiftieth, neighbours were bringing empty jars and leaving with them full. Beza — the founder — kept a notebook of every batch: weight, time, temperature, colour, weather. She still keeps it.

Today Melona is small on purpose. We work with three farms in Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Harrar. We buy what we can drink in a season. We roast it in a converted garage two blocks from Bole Road.

The regular line — the ziplock bags — is what we drink every morning. The reserve line — the jute pouches — is what we set aside when something arrives that stops us. That's the whole business plan.