Yanni Gerogalis founded Moplaco (Mocca Plantation Coffee) in Harar, Ethiopia in 1972. Yanni’s family had been involved in coffee for generations, and Yanni himself started printing and weighing bags from the age of 12 onward. In 2008, Yanni’s daughter, Heleanna, became the managing director of Moplaco and also expanded from Harar and Dire Dawa to Sidama and Yirgacheffe, specializing in high grade washed, natural, and experimental process coffee ranging from nanolots to microlots to stock lots.
They run two impeccable dry mill lines in Addis Ababa: One to process the washed coffees, and one to process natural coffees, and Atlas is thrilled to be working with them from the 2024 season onward.
From their own website (moplaco.com): We are asked often on why our logo resembles the one of Mercedez Benz so we thought it is a nice story to share. A story with weight and significance for us and the company. In fact Moplaco’s Logo, stems from the Imperial symbol of Haile Selassie, Ethiopia’s last Emperor. This symbol in turn symbolizes the Power of the Trinity, just like what his name meant: Haile: Power, Selassie: Trinity. It was a symbol rooted in tradition, as well as spirituality. “Moplaco” stands for Mocca Plantation Company, as Harrar coffee is known for the distinguished Mocca flavour, and at that time the company owed 1000 ha of land in the heart of Harrar. Blue, in memory of our Greek roots, in fact the original logo of Mercedez Bens was originally blue also till 1934.
In 2024, we are carrying three microlots:
- Lot #8 Sheka Gr. 1 Natural Machine Float
- Lot #17 Natural Gr 1 Yirgacheffe Dumerso
- Lot #19 Sidamo Red Honey
