Why Is It Rare to Find Harrar Coffee Beans Nowadays?

Hara, as one of Ethiopia's three major coffee-producing regions, why don't its beans appear as frequently on coffee shop menus as beans from the other two regions (Sidamo and Yirgacheffe)? In fact, it's even difficult to find its presence in online marketplaces. This is the most common question that many friends have when they realize Hara's status as a coffee-producing region.

Why Hara is Considered One of the Three Major Coffee Regions

First, let's turn our attention to Yemen, the very place that spread coffee to the world! It has a port city across from Hara—Mocha Port. For several hundred years beginning in the 15th century, due to poor transportation, all coffee beans needed to be concentrated at Mocha Port, from where they crossed the Red Sea and were exported to various parts of the world. It can be said that Mocha Port was the hub of the coffee world at that time!

The first batch of coffee beans transported from Mocha Port was deeply loved by Europeans due to their rich chocolate flavor. However, because exported coffee beans needed to prove they came from Mocha, the jute bags were specially printed with the word "Mocha" as proof. Consequently, people began to refer to coffee beans marked with "Mocha" as "Mocha coffee."

Yemen subsequently began coffee cultivation as well. They planted coffee on terraced land with low rainfall and less-than-ideal environmental conditions—extremely harsh conditions for the survival of Arabica varieties. But that was the reality of Yemen's environment! They adopted relatively crude natural processing methods, casually spreading beans anywhere for drying.

However, it was precisely this unique geography and crude processing method that gave birth to the world-renowned "Mocha coffee." Extended natural processing and fermentation created its slight fruity aroma and wine-like fermented flavors! With deep roasting, the coffee beans developed rich chocolate flavors—it can truly be said to be full of wild character! Then, people discovered that coffee grown in Hara across the way had similar flavor characteristics to Yemen's coffee!

Beans from Hara have both rich chocolate flavors and the sweetness of blueberries with wine-like fermentation—it can be said they also possess wild character! This is because the growing conditions, climate, and processing methods in both places are nearly identical! Therefore, coffee beans from Harar were also given the title of "Ethiopian Mocha." The first chocolate flavor experienced by people outside Africa came from Yemeni coffee transported via Mocha, but Yemen's coffee varieties, cultivation techniques, and processing methods all originated from Harar across the way! This allowed Harar beans, with their extreme similarity, to quickly gain fame and see sales surge! There were even rumors that the first batch of beans transported from Mocha were actually Harar beans! Additionally, people would package Harar beans as Mocha and sell them at high prices! Having achieved both fame and fortune, Hara thus became one of Ethiopia's three major coffee regions!

The Unique Character of Harar Coffee

Harar's jute bags are also quite distinctive because they are printed with a horse pattern as proof of Harar region origin. In that era, with underdeveloped transportation, most commodity transport could only be done by horse-drawn carriage. Therefore, high-quality purebred horses were what Ethiopians of that time considered the "best"—printing excellent horses on jute bags symbolized that Harar coffee was a premium product of comparable quality!

Why Hara Coffee is Rare Today

Initially, all of Hara's producing areas were located in the Hararghe province of Ethiopia's eastern highlands, which was a considerably large province for Ethiopia at that time! Even larger than Sidamo, not to mention production volume! However, after Ethiopia's administrative divisions were modified, most producing areas were incorporated into the Oromia region, while Hararghe province was abolished and replaced by the Harari region centered around Harar city. The reduction in producing areas caused production to be cut in half! But this alone is not enough reason for its rarity!

The real reason it's rarely seen is that its quality doesn't justify its relatively high price! Traders in the Hara region are powerful and believe their natural processing method is the most excellent approach, so they refuse the involvement of other novel processing methods. However, Hara's natural processing often causes most beans to develop mold and deteriorate during processing, resulting in lower quality! After all this折腾 (trouble), Hara beans only produce a small quantity of high-quality beans, which are quickly pre-ordered and taken by specialists! The remaining beans either have low cleanliness or poor quality. Moreover, due to inconvenient transportation, the remaining beans experience a dramatic decline in quality after enduring lengthy transport and complex export procedures!

This results in a complete discrepancy between the beans cupped at exhibitions and those purchased by buyers, causing many green bean traders to hesitate. People turned to coffee beans from other Ethiopian regions with diverse processing methods and outstanding flavors. Today, although we can find high-quality Hara in a small number of coffee shops, such quantities are truly inconsistent with its reputation as one of the three major coffee regions!

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