Are Ethiopian Coffee Beans Expensive? Introduction to Ethiopian Coffee Varieties & Taste Profile
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The Story of Ethiopian Coffee Beans
Ethiopia, located in a land full of wonders, is where all Arabica coffee varieties originated. The Kaffa Forest is where everything began, located in the southwestern part of Ethiopia.
During centuries of natural evolution in Kaffa, approximately 5,000 coffee varieties have been cultivated. Currently, local communities manage about 12,000 hectares of Kaffa's wild coffee areas. Through the introduction of Participatory Forest Management (PFM), about 4,500 farmers have the legal right to harvest wild coffee cherries and are obligated to protect the forest.
Regarding Kaffa, there are rumors that it was the first place where coffee was brewed and cooked. For coffee enthusiasts, this place is as enchanting as the Garden of Eden.
In a region of Kaffa called Bonga, more than 100 Ethiopians are dedicated to cultivating high-quality Arabica coffee. This area has an excellent coffee-growing environment with altitudes between 1,600-1,900 meters, red soil, and suitable temperatures. The region receives high rainfall and is considered one of the rainiest areas in Ethiopia. As one of Ethiopia's first two biosphere reserves, the well-known Gesha is actually a region within Kaffa.
Kaffa coffee (originally "Kaffa types") typically includes: Gimbo, Gewata, and Chena.
Coffee Cultivation in Ethiopia
Due to changes in Ethiopia's administrative divisions around 1995, the most significant impact on coffee regions was that the former Sidamo province was divided into the new Sidama region (occupying a small portion of the original) and mostly incorporated into the Oromia region. The Yirgacheffe region, which originally belonged to Sidamo province, is now part of the new Gedeo zone.
Currently, among the Ethiopian coffee varieties circulating in the market, there is a mixed situation where items are named after both new and old regional names. Here, we will use the new regional divisions as a basis, combined with administrative areas, to understand Ethiopia's coffee cultivation map.
Coffee cultivation in [Sidamo] and [Yirgacheffe] mostly follows the garden coffee model, where coffee farmers plant coffee trees near their living areas, harvest them themselves during the harvest season, and then send them to nearby processing stations built near water sources for unified processing (or are purchased by intermediaries). Except for a few well-equipped plantations that independently plant, harvest, and process raw coffee beans, many different varieties from different regions and cultivation types are centrally processed by processing stations and then sent to auction houses for official evaluation and grading.
This is why many Ethiopian coffee beans are named and distinguished by processing stations or cooperatives, and it's also one of the reasons why the same batch of coffee beans contains multiple coffee varieties. Even coffee beans produced by the same processing station can show significant flavor differences between different batches.
Ethiopian Coffee Bean Varieties
Ethiopia has nearly 2,000 recorded coffee varieties, including 1,927 indigenous varieties and 128 introduced foreign varieties. So in terms of appearance alone, Ethiopia's coffee varieties are like a "grand view garden"—it has everything: long, short, thin, fat...
Long-shaped beans are found throughout Ethiopia's coffee-growing regions. From what I've actually observed, western areas like Jimma, including Limmu and Kaffa, have more long-shaped varieties, while they are less common in Sidama or Yirgacheffe.
Small-sized beans are relatively round in appearance and very small, mostly between 14-15 mesh. This variety should be the most familiar to us, as we often see them in Sidamo and Yirgacheffe. I once saw them in a Harrar sample and also in raw coffee beans sold locally in Jimma. Compared to other regions, Sidama and Yirgacheffe, along with nearby Arsi and Guji, have more cultivation of these small-sized indigenous varieties.
Recommended Ethiopian Coffee Bean Brands
FrontStreet Coffee's freshly roasted single-origin Ethiopian coffee beans—such as Yirgacheffe and Sidamo—offer full guarantees in both brand and quality, suitable for brewing with various equipment. More importantly, they offer extremely high value for money. A half-pound (227 grams) bag costs only around 70-90 RMB. Calculating at 200ml per cup of single-origin coffee with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, one bag can make 15 cups of specialty coffee, with each cup costing only 5-6 RMB. Compared to café prices that often reach tens of RMB per cup, this represents exceptional value.
FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online shop 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
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Coffee Bean Quality Standards: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Coffee Production and Local Consumption Practices
Professional barista knowledge exchange. Follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style) for more coffee bean information. Every time we purchase coffee, we maintain our high standards for in-house roasting and do not allow any defective beans. Of course, the coffee beans presented to consumers are plump and full, with sweet aftertaste and prominent fruit aroma. Everyone might wonder if the coffee beans we purchase are always of such high quality? Of course not. The coffee beans we encounter are selected from hundreds or even thousands to achieve such high quality. So what about those lower quality beans? They are naturally left for consumption in producing countries! Because the good ones are exported for foreign exchange—that's most important! Want to know what kind of coffee locals drink? Let me take you to see— In Laos, we had the opportunity to visit a local roasting facility. They use raw materials that are substandard or even lower-grade coffee beans that we wouldn't use. The probability of finding stones and other debris can be said to be quite high—if you grab a handful of raw coffee beans, there's a certain proportion of foreign matter or defects. Look at this bag of raw beans—the colors inside are truly varied—notice there are black beans, insect-damaged beans, moldy beans, branches, small stones... Take a closer look. See that? There are also moldy beans with parchment... Look even closer. I would never dare to use these beans— And here's our star ingredient... This bucket of butter is the fragrant star that makes the coffee! Before putting the coffee in the roasting pan, they scoop a ladle of butter. As the butter heats, it coats the outside of the coffee beans. After cooling, this layer of oil is absorbed into the coffee beans. When brewing coffee, it's released when heated. This way, the coffee you drink will have a rich milky aroma! (Just imagine the taste of fermented butter after the coffee sits for a while...) Here we discovered an "international scandal"—the white rice donated by our Red Cross to Laos was actually sold by local government officials to private roasting facilities. What for? It turns out the rice aroma is used to cover up the miscellaneous flavors in coffee. I heard that the more white rice mixed in, the more fragrant the taste— The words "Taiwan World Vision" are still displayed on the packaging bags— As soon as the roasting is complete and cooled, it's ground into powder. So the appearance doesn't need to be too good (the grinders are even rusty). What surprised me most was that they actually use cypress wood (that pile in the middle, in pieces) as firewood—such a waste! (Laos is rich in timber, so wood we consider precious they probably think nothing of!) I really wanted to sneak back a few pieces— The wood is ignited here and then dragged inside and placed under the roaster for roasting. Raw beans are poured from this opening. They can roast 100 kilograms at a time— Close-up of the bean inlet. Full view of the roasting machine. The person on the far left is the roaster, he's explaining the roasting process... ALAN introduces the local coffee culture to everyone at the entrance. He said this roasting facility is the second largest in the area. The grade of coffee is determined by how much white rice is mixed in (who would have thought white rice would be used this way here). FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse variety of beans, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online shop services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com
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Analysis of Ethiopian Coffee Bean Variety Mixology_The Reasons Behind the Complex Taste and Flavor of Ethiopian Coffee Beans
Professional coffee knowledge exchange For more coffee bean information Please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account cafe_style) If you're someone who particularly loves African beans, you've probably easily noticed that compared to Kenyan beans, Ethiopian beans are generally more varied in size, with noticeably lower uniformity. Whether it's Yirgacheffe or Sidamo, whether washed or natural processed, sometimes even within the same batch
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