Ethiopian Coffee Regions, Introduction to Ethiopian Coffee

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Ethiopia Has Over 140 Coffee Varieties

Located in East Africa, Ethiopia means "the land where dark-skinned people live" in ancient Greek. Ethiopia's unique cultural traditions, spectacular scenery, pleasant climate, rich flora and fauna resources, important historical sites, and hospitable, friendly people make it one of Africa's major tourist destinations.

The Origin of the Coffee Name

Did you know? The "roots" of coffee are in Ethiopia. It is said that the English word "coffee" also originates from the Ethiopian place name "Kaffa." According to legend, around 900 AD, a shepherd in the Kaffa region of Ethiopia was herding sheep in the mountains when he discovered the flock competing to eat a type of red berry. After eating them, the sheep became unusually lively and energetic. The shepherd worried all night that his sheep had eaten something harmful. However, the next day, the flock was completely unharmed. This accidental discovery prompted the shepherd to collect these wild fruits and boil them to make juice to quench his thirst. He found this juice incredibly aromatic and felt unusually energized after drinking it. He then began to cultivate this plant, which developed into large-scale coffee cultivation. The name coffee evolved from Kaffa. Later, coffee spread from Ethiopia to the rest of the world.

Coffee as Pure as Thoroughbred Horses

Ethiopia grows coffee in different climate zones, thus possessing over 140 local varieties, with fresh coffee available year-round. Ethiopian coffee quality varies depending on different altitudes and regional ecological environments. Harar coffee from the southeastern highlands is typical Mocha coffee, fragrant and rich; coffee produced in southwestern Wollega has intense fruit flavors; Limu coffee carries wine-like and spicy aromas; Sidamo coffee has a balanced taste, rich aroma, and acidic fruit notes; Yirgacheffe coffee features floral aromas. Tasting FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee, the chocolate flavor and acidity are even more intense, soaring like lemon, with intoxicating floral aromas.

Interestingly, Ethiopians also place horse photos on their coffee packaging to indicate the coffee's purity. It is said that in the era when horses were the main means of transportation, Ethiopia had the world's best Arabian purebred horses. Ethiopians took pride in this, and now they extend this pride to Ethiopian coffee, believing that "premium coffee should be as pure as thoroughbred horses." By adhering to this philosophy, the taste of coffee here remains so authentic today.

Ethiopia: The Original Taste of Coffee

Annual production: 396,000 tons

"A cup of washed Yirgacheffe can bring out delicate floral aromas and sweet fruit flavors that are unparalleled; or natural-processed Sidamo, sweet and magnificent—both are the most classic top-tier representatives of Ethiopian coffee."

Ethiopia is the birthplace of the famous Arabica coffee beans, and people still maintain the tradition of harvesting wild coffee beans. Coffee gardens at altitudes exceeding 1,500 meters, after thousands of years of evolution and adaptation, have formed a unique coffee terroir. Ethiopian coffee grown in natural wild environments is called "wilderness coffee," retaining the most primitive and natural flavors of coffee beans, with the most direct and complete expression of terroir.

Notably, most coffees in Central and South America are introduced varieties, while Ethiopia is a rare place of origin, with countless native wild varieties yet to be discovered.

Among Ethiopia's 9 major coffee-producing regions, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe are the most outstanding. Yirgacheffe was originally a sub-region of Sidamo but was separated due to its special flavor characteristics. Its intense and complex fruit aromas made it famous internationally almost overnight, becoming sought after by connoisseurs and commanding high prices.

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