One of the World's Three Great Coffees: How to Drink Ethiopian Harar Coffee? Is Harar Coffee Delicious?

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Ethiopian Coffee Origins

Most Ethiopian coffee is grown on plateaus above 2,000 meters altitude. The major producing regions include Jimma, Gambela, Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, and Harar. Among these, the Black Mountain region of Harar remains the world's only place where wild coffee grows. The wild coffee from there is auctioned in London annually at astonishingly high prices.

Harar: The Ancient Holy City

Harar is located in eastern Ethiopia and is an ancient historic city, also one of the four holy cities of Islam. The coffee beans produced there are typically divided into three types: Longberry Harar, Shortberry Harar, and Mocha Harar. Among these, Longberry Harar is the most popular and of the highest quality. These coffee beans are full-bodied, with rich wine aroma, noticeable acidity, and a heavy, rich flavor.

The "Wild Rose" of Coffee

Harar coffee is known as the "wild rose" and belongs to "purely handmade" produced coffee. Harar coffee has a mixed flavor profile - mellow taste with medium or light acidity. Most importantly, it has the lowest caffeine content at approximately 1.13%. Harar coffee is also very special - its flavor is highly aggressive, always ready to conquer your taste buds and making it hard to forget. The earthy taste of Harar coffee is characteristic of dry-processed coffee and is the reason some people love it while others reject it. However, due to different processing methods after coffee harvesting, Ethiopian Harar coffee flavors vary - some are heavy-bodied with low acidity and strong wine notes, while others are fragrant, smooth with light fruit aromas.

Wild Aroma and Rich Flavors

Harar coffee possesses wild characteristics and rich flavors similar to red wine fermentation.

It would not be an exaggeration to say it's one of the world's best coffees - it's simply unknown to the world due to lack of branding and simple packaging.

Traditional Ethiopian Coffee Culture

Although Ethiopia is the world's earliest coffee-growing country and maintains the most ancient coffee culture, to this day it mostly consists of small-scale family farming, maintaining very traditional and ancient coffee cultivation techniques and methods. Therefore, pesticides and other chemical fertilizers are never used. Consequently, Ethiopian coffee, like Yemeni Mocha coffee, is the best choice for those who advocate for natural products.

The Unique Character of Harar Coffee

Harar coffee is extremely intense. High-quality Harar coffee should have fruity aromas (blueberry or apricot), as well as jasmine, maple, leather, and certain spice notes. In other words, good Harar coffee beans smell like being in an Arabian market. When drinking Harar coffee, you experience stimulating chocolate flavors and certain fruit wine tastes. However, this coffee is very diverse - not only do products vary from year to year, but even different bags can be quite different. One year's harvest might have blueberry aromas, while the next year they completely disappear; one year's harvest might be more like refreshing tea fragrance, while the next year might be more intense and pungent. Harar is a natural wild coffee processed using natural drying methods.

MAO is an excellent Ethiopian coffee importer. This year's coffee beans exported as early as late February lacked tropical fruit flavors and were quite different from previous samples. In summary, the quality of this manually processed coffee is not very stable, but because it tastes so good, I'm willing to accept minor variations. The aroma of these coffee beans is also perfect. Although Harar coffee's body is not sufficient, its flavors are still irresistible. The coffee also has brown sugar sweetness, somewhat like dried figs, with cardamom fragrance against a soil background.

About FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473