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About
Wake up to a
better world.
Ethiopian-born · Lithuanian home
Built by one woman from nothing
"Coffee has a different weight. It's a way I bring people together. I forge a dialog — an ancient form of diplomacy through coffee, either at home or in public."
The woman who crossed
the Sahara.
I am Eskedar Tilahun.
I was born in Ethiopia, in a family of nineteen, raised by my grandfather. He was not formally educated. He was a bright man.
In 2005 I was a student activist in Addis Abeba. After the disputed elections, government forces shot protesters. My life was in danger. I left.
The journey took eleven months. Thirty-eight people in a jeep across the Sahara. Nine days. Water mixed with fuel. Bones in the desert, white as snow. Sudan. A Libyan prison. The Mediterranean in a small boat — I was pregnant. My daughter Hana was born in Malta. We arrived in Lithuania in winter. She was one month old.
I had to learn to walk again. Snow felt like a planet without gravity.
Today I speak Lithuanian fluently. I hold a Master's in International Business. I have built one of Vilnius's most recognised specialty coffee brands from nothing. Eskedar Coffee is four café locations, an online store, and the Eskedar Coffee Foundation — which is building a primary school in Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, so the children of the farmers who grow my coffee can have the education that changed mine.
"The hardest thing in life is to lose your life. And I went through that at least twice and survived. So everything that comes after — it is truly nothing."
I wear many hats — a mother, an activist, a lover, a friend, a daughter, and many more. But three sit closest to the work. 01 A coffee artisan — I still roast by hand, the Ethiopian way, as I did for my grandparents when I was a little girl. 02 A storyteller — not a writer. The story is the medium, whether it's told in a café, in clothes, or in a cup. 03 A fashion enthusiast — Eskedar Attire brings African print and Lithuanian linen into people's lives.
African beans only.
Roasted to share.
Every bean we roast comes from Africa. Most from Ethiopia — the country where coffee was born, and where I was born. We roast in small batches in Vilnius. We do not blend in beans from other continents. We do not chase trends.
Coffee, for me, is not a product. In Ethiopia, buna is a daily ceremony shared with neighbours, in small cups called cini, three times a day, over slow conversation. That is the kind of coffee we serve. That is the kind of room we build.
When a Lithuanian in winter drinks a Yirgacheffe grown 7,000 kilometres south — that itself is an act of diplomacy. Two countries meeting in a cup. No paperwork. No translator. Just buna.
We need to raise
rebel girls.
I do not call this a refugee story. I am a businesswoman. I am a mother of three. I am a Lithuanian citizen.
But I came from a village where most girls didn't get to choose the lives they wanted. So my work — the cafés, the brand, the school in Yirgacheffe — has one purpose underneath it. We need to raise rebel girls. Not those who aim to destroy.
Those who could create harmony,
by bringing understanding
and consciousness to a society
that needs both.
I am Ethiopian. I am Lithuanian. I am Western, if Western means democracy, human rights, and equality. The labels matter less than what you do with the time you have.
Come for the coffee.
Stay because something feels like home.
— Eskedar Tilahun
Founder, Eskedar Coffee
Vilnius · Ethiopia · The World
