Essential Knowledge of Ethiopian Coffee_The Origin Story and Flavor Profiles of Ethiopian Washed Coffee Beans

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Essential Knowledge of Ethiopian Coffee

Overview

Land Area: 1,104,300 square kilometers

Capital: Addis Ababa

Trading City: Dire Dawa

Population: 102,774,044 (May 2017)

Languages: Amharic (official), Oromo, Somali

▲ Ethiopian Coffee Growing Regions Map

Producer Overview

Coffee Practitioners: Approximately 700,000 people

Average Plantation Area: 1 hectare

Annual Production: 3.5 million bags

Coffee Overview

Growing Regions: Sidama, Yirgacheffe, Harrar, Limu, Djimma, Lekempti

Coffee Varieties: Ethiopian Indigenous Varieties

Processing Methods: Washed, Natural

Grading Standards (Local): Washed green beans graded as G1 (0-3 defects) and G2 (4-12 defects),

Natural processed beans G3 (13-25 defects) G4 (25-45 defects) G5 (46-100 defects)

Coffee Weight per Bag: 60 kilograms

Harvest Period: November-December

Arrival Period: May-June of the following year

▲ Coffee Harvest Schedule

History

Among coffee-producing countries, Ethiopia holds a legendary status, not only because it is the "birthplace" of Arabica coffee, but also because unlike the vast majority of coffee-growing nations, coffee was not introduced as a colonial cash crop. The cultivation, processing, and consumption of coffee have been part of the local lifestyle for centuries. Coffee plants first discovered growing in forests were gradually cultivated for home use and commercial sales.

From an external perspective, Ethiopian coffee has enormous cultural, political, and economic complexity. Ethiopian coffee possesses astonishing genetic diversity—nearly 99% of coffee varieties can be found in Ethiopia. (Recent reports in Roast Magazine indicate that due to climate change and variety research, the genetic heritage of original Ethiopian coffee varieties is being threatened and should be protected with attention.)

Another unique aspect of Ethiopian coffee is its high domestic consumption. Because coffee plays a very important role in Ethiopian daily life, out of the country's annual production of 6.5 million bags, approximately 3 million bags are consumed domestically, while the remaining 3.5 million bags are exported.

Coffee remains part of a traditional "ceremony" preparation, which is a way for family, friends, and partners to gather. The eldest woman in the household roasts coffee in a flat pan, then grinds it, and brews the coffee in a pot called a "jebena." She serves this thick coffee in small cups, then adds fresh boiling water and brews the coffee in the pot two more times. This process takes about an hour from start to finish and is an expression of hospitality.

Most coffee growers in Ethiopia are small-scale farmers, with cultivation areas mostly less than 1 hectare. There are some large private coffee farms, as well as cooperatives composed of small and medium-sized farms, where growers only produce relatively small amounts of commercial green coffee beans.

Coffee Processing Methods and Flavor Profiles

Coffee in Ethiopia is produced in several ways. In large private estates, coffee picking, processing, and hulling are usually completed within the estate. Other small-scale farmers send their harvested coffee cherries to the nearest processing stations. There, their coffee cherries are sold at a certain price and mixed with coffee cherries from other farmers, then processed according to the processing station's requirements.

Additionally, there are better-organized farmer cooperatives. Members of cooperatives send their coffee cherries to processing stations designated by the cooperative. In this approach, coffee has better traceability because it comes from fixed members of the cooperative. As coffee quality and industry transparency become increasingly emphasized, coffee traceability has become very important.

The flavor of Ethiopian coffee varies due to multiple factors, including varieties, processing methods, and the unique microclimate of micro-lot plots. The general experience is that naturally processed coffees have more pronounced fruit and dark chocolate flavors, usually with somewhat wine-like characteristics and better body. Washed processed coffees have more pronounced acidity.

Harrar: Coffee is almost all naturally processed, with a unique chocolate and nutty flavor profile that reflects the dry climate where the coffee grows.

Sidama: Is a vast coffee-growing region located in the south, including the Guji region and the famous Yirgacheffe region.

Here are some familiar sub-regions in the Yirgacheffe growing region:

Adado: Refined stone fruits, citrus, floral notes, well-balanced structure.

Aricha: Complex, tropical-like, juicy fruit sensation, sweet with sugar and floral notes.

Kochere: Like fruit tea. Citrus, stone fruits.

Konga: Peaches and apricots, more stone fruit aromas, and a strong lime acidity.

Regarding Ethiopian place name spelling: There is much confusion and inconsistency in Ethiopian coffee spelling, partly because Amharic does not use Roman letters like English. Therefore, spelling this region as Yirga, Yirgachefe, or even Yirga Chefe is not necessarily wrong. Regarding Sidamo and Sidama, we note that "Sidamo" is a somewhat derogatory variant in place names, and the more acceptable Sidama should be used.

Ethiopian Commodity Exchange

The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) was established by the Ethiopian government in 2008 to enable coffee to enter the market for agricultural commodities such as soybeans, corn, and wheat. Since Ethiopian farmers typically own very small plots of land, growing only crops needed for family subsistence and selling surplus crops for cash, ECX believes standardization will be the best way to promote healthy and stable development of the agricultural economy.

ECX strives to eliminate barriers in trade, giving farmers an open, transparent, and reliable market where they can sell their products at relatively stable prices. Exchange rules stipulate that any coffee not produced by independent private estates or cooperatives must be sold through the exchange, thus establishing a price and sales guarantee system. However, when designing the system, the concept of "specialty" was replaced with "commodity," making it more difficult to trace detailed information about coffee.

Coffee grades are determined by their physical characteristics uniformity, cleanliness, and defect rate, without considering the coffee's flavor.

After several rounds of intense negotiations with the specialty coffee industry, new supplementary regulations were added—after coffee is purchased, specific information about the coffee processing station must be provided. However, continuing to track detailed information to individual producers/growers remains very difficult.

In March 2017, ECX voted to allow direct sales of coffee from individual processing stations. This not only increases coffee traceability but also helps establish repeat purchase relationships. This change increases the possibility of higher sales prices for coffee farmers. The impact of greater traceability and more direct sales on Ethiopian specialty coffee remains to be seen, but industry professionals are optimistic about it.

● Ethiopian Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Ethiopian coffee beans - Washed Yirgacheffe G1 [Kochere] offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they provide extremely high value-for-money. A half-pound (227 grams) package costs only about 75 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per pour-over coffee, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each single-origin coffee costing only about 5 yuan. Compared to coffee shop prices that often reach dozens of yuan per cup, this represents extremely high 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