We really like working together in coffee.

ZEM Coffee is the latest iteration of vertically-integrated coffee work from the detail-obsessed, Ethiopian-American trio of Zele, Emily, and Michael (initials ZEM). Beginning with the 2013/14 coffee harvest, these three unique individuals began a partnership which has spanned multiple continents, births and deaths of loved ones and businesses, a pandemic, and countless changes.

Our first iteration was working together between 2013-2018 building a grassroots customer base in North America and identifying many of the challenges inherent within the Ethiopian coffee system, where magical coffees occur regularly but are almost always un-repeatable! During this time we also supported producing communities in Peru, Colombia, Kenya, Nicaragua, Cameroon, and other countries, and built our expertise and network.

2018-2023 saw our partnership’s new container: Catalyst Trade, an Ethiopian coffee importer which over the course of five years scaled rapidly, built a remarkable superstar team of coffee folks on 3 continents, added Peru and Kenya, proudly represented the power and glory of Ethiopia, and ultimately completed its life cycle in late 2023 with a global auction of Innovation Lots produced by the team.

In 2022, our Ethiopian coffee exporter, Ethio-Catalyst PLC, was founded and by 2023 was rocking and rolling with mindblowing coffees sent to countries all over the world.

ZEM Coffee is the new shape of our dynamic partnership. This time around we are keeping it simple. A small team in the USA repping the Ethiopian and Peruvian operations, based in Michael and Emily’s hometown of Kansas City. A dynamic team in Ethiopia, highly specialized in process control and post-harvest processing. Intimate partnerships in Peru driven by nearly a decade of investment.

Whatever the shape it may take, the partnership between a homeschooled country girl, a boy who nearly became a priest, and an accountant-turned-coffee-expert continues to add value to the coffee world. We are earnest, hardworking, flawed, and determined. We are Zelalem Girma Bayou, Emily McIntyre, and Michael McIntyre, and we do Quality Coffee.