Ethiopian Coffee Beans: Understanding Heirloom Varieties and Their Flavor Profiles

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Ethiopian Heirloom Varieties

For those who frequently drink Ethiopian coffee, you've likely heard of the "Heirloom" variety. Most Ethiopian coffee varieties are named this way, primarily because Ethiopia has such a vast diversity of coffee varieties. It serves as a natural gene bank for Arabica coffee. On one hand, the sheer number of varieties makes identification and classification challenging. On the other hand, the Ethiopian government,出于保护考虑，is reluctant to disclose detailed information about these varieties, hence they are collectively referred to as "Heirloom varieties."

The term "Heirloom" is sometimes used for coffee varieties introduced to the Americas and Asia over a century ago, but more commonly applies to African coffee beans, especially those from Ethiopia. The emergence of the Heirloom classification occurred during the rise of specialty coffee when green coffee buyers visited origins (particularly Ethiopia) and, unable to identify the specific varieties of the green beans they were purchasing, categorized them all as Heirloom. Therefore, the Heirloom varieties we commonly drink may not actually be the same variety.

However, according to local green coffee buyers in Ethiopia, local people can actually distinguish between coffee varieties, but they don't use scientific names or terms familiar to the specialty coffee industry. Instead, they name them using local languages and distinguish them based on local identification standards. Nowadays, when more green coffee buyers purchase Ethiopian coffee beans, they tend to distinguish them by location, altitude, and cupping scores rather than by variety, which I suspect is also due to the complexity of varieties.

Knowledge Point: Coffee trees originated in Ethiopia, and a coffee variety named "Typica" continues to be widely cultivated by coffee farmers across various producing regions to this day.

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In summary: FrontStreet Coffee is a specialty coffee research center dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Additionally, we hold three discounted coffee events every month because FrontStreet Coffee wants to enable more friends to enjoy the best coffee at the lowest possible prices. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past six years!

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