Foreign Coffee Brand Recommendations - How Good is Ethiopia's TOMOCA Coffee?

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The Legendary TOMOCA Coffee

When it comes to coffee, Ethiopia cannot be overlooked. When discussing Ethiopian coffee, TOMOCA Coffee must be mentioned.

Fresh TOMOCA coffee beans, roasted beans, Harar-long bean roasted.

Those who have tasted TOMOCA coffee know that this coffee is truly authentic. TOMOCA is also a century-old brand in Ethiopia. If you ask where to find the best coffee in Ethiopia, the answer is definitely TOMOCA.

TOMOCA Coffee Product Information

TOMOCA coffee beans/powder

Product Name: TO.MO.CA Coffee Beans/Powder

Origin: Ethiopia

Ingredients: Harar Coffee Beans (roasted beans)

Roast Level: City Roast

Taste Profile: Slightly sweet with gentle fruit acidity, excellent sweetness with its characteristic mellow flavor. Its unique sweetness, acidity, and bitterness are extremely elegant.

Aroma: Rich fruit aroma and grassy fragrance

Appearance: Smaller bean particles with uneven color

Brewing Method:

The brewing method for TOMOCA coffee beans is not detailed here—it requires the use of a coffee machine.

For TOMOCA coffee powder, it's important to note that this is not an instant coffee product. Coffee machines, moka pots, distillation pots, siphon pots, and filter paper can all be used to enjoy its rich flavor. For those without the above professional equipment, you only need a small pot for boiling milk or water. After the water boils, pour in the coffee powder and continue boiling for 10-20 minutes (generally, 2 cups of water for 1-2 spoons of coffee powder—the spoon should be coffee spoon sized or a regular small dining spoon). The brewed coffee needs to be filtered through a fine sieve or filter paper two to three times. After that, you can enjoy the coffee according to your taste preferences. For those not accustomed to drinking pure coffee, you can add milk, condensed milk, brown sugar, granulated sugar, or coffee mate—without sugar, it will be very bitter. This should be a favorite for coffee lovers.

How to Identify Fresh Coffee Beans

Smell: Fresh coffee beans have a rich aroma when smelled, while others have poor odor;

Sight: Good coffee beans are complete in shape and full in size, while others are incomplete and irregular;

Touch: Fresh beans are crisp when pressed, releasing fragrance when they crack;

Color: Dark, blackish coffee beans produce bitter coffee; yellowish coffee beans produce acidic coffee.

The Origin of Ethiopian Coffee

Ethiopia, known as the birthplace of coffee, possesses the history and traditional agricultural cultivation techniques worthy of being called coffee's place of origin. It is said that the English word "coffee" also originates from the Ethiopian place name "Kaffa." Legend has it that around 900 AD, a shepherd in Ethiopia's Kaffa region discovered his flock competing to eat a type of red berry. After eating them, the sheep became unusually lively and reacted abnormally. The shepherd worried that his sheep had eaten something harmful and was anxious all night. However, the next day, the flock was unharmed. This accidental discovery prompted the shepherd to collect these wild fruits and boil them for juice to quench thirst. He found this juice extremely fragrant and felt unusually energized after drinking it. Thus, he began cultivating this plant, which led to large-scale coffee cultivation. The name "coffee" evolved from "Kaffa," and afterward, coffee spread from Ethiopia to the world.

Ethiopian coffee should be the world's only pollution-free green organic coffee. Today, Ethiopia still uses traditional cultivation methods, with manual care for coffee trees. Fertilizers mainly consist of fallen leaves, dead grass, and animal manure, replacing the harmful pesticides and herbicides used on a large scale in other coffee-producing countries.

Ethiopia is now most famous for producing "Mocha" coffee. In the West, besides being a coffee variety name, "Mocha" also refers to methods of brewing coffee, coffee brewing equipment, and special preparation techniques. Mocha coffee beans are mostly dry-processed, but there are also so-called premium washed beans. Mocha coffee beans are renowned for their acidity, while also having slight sweetness, subtle wine aroma, and low caffeine content.

The Legendary TOMOCA Coffee Shop

This coffee shop is very small, extremely small, yet world-renowned. Lonely Planet once introduced it, and many coffee enthusiasts from around the world make special pilgrimages here to enjoy a cup of coffee.

The TOMOCA coffee shop is located in a very inconspicuous small building—the yellow building in the picture below. If you don't have a familiar guide, you definitely won't find it. Even if you arrive, you won't believe it. However, if you take a taxi or ask for directions in Addis Ababa, everyone will know about it. Moreover, there are no branches worldwide—only this one exists.

Because we visited on a weekend and possibly encountered a tourist group, it was extremely busy inside. The left side had a line of people waiting to pay. As you can see the tables on the right, there are only three such tables in the entire shop, with no chairs. Everyone stands while drinking, and they drink quickly, ha.

Finally, here's another picture of an Ethiopian coffee map hanging indoors. There's something special about it, which I'll study next time. Before leaving, I bought coffee powder that needs to be brewed for 3-5 minutes. There's no instant coffee. They also sell coffee beans. The coffee powder I originally intended to give to colleagues, but then I thought about it—everyone doesn't have a coffee pot, so I kept it for myself, haha!

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various 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