Why Are Many Ethiopian Coffee Beans Uneven in Size?

Most people are familiar with Ethiopia as the birthplace of coffee, where thousands of different coffee varieties have been cultivated. However, some friends have noticed that whenever they purchase Ethiopian heirloom varieties, the beans they receive are always of varying sizes! This naturally sparks curiosity among many: Why is this the case?

The answer is that "heirloom" doesn't refer to a single coffee variety, but rather a collective term for thousands of coffee species! In Ethiopia, there are still many coffee varieties that haven't been identified. In the quest to find a bean that can "rival Geisha," people have flocked to Ethiopia, searching for "dark horses" that can compete with Geisha. To protect these varieties from being stolen by outsiders, the Ethiopian government has given them the designation "Heirloom." However, this doesn't explain why the beans vary in size! Even with so many varieties, couldn't they simply focus on cultivating the same variety?

You've hit the nail on the head! Yes, this actually has a certain relationship with coffee cultivation methods! Coffee cultivation in Ethiopia is mainly divided into several types:

Plantation Coffee

This refers to coffee produced by large-scale, privately-owned coffee plantations. Generally, these plantations handle the entire process themselves—from cultivation, management, processing, to sales—unlike other models that require processing plants or cooperatives. However, the total output of such coffee accounts for a relatively small proportion, only about 5-6% of Ethiopia's total production!

Forest Coffee

This refers to coffee that grows in forests without any human intervention or management. Only when the fruits ripen do farmers come to harvest them periodically. This type of coffee accounts for 8-10% of Ethiopia's total coffee exports.

Semi-Forest Coffee

This refers to coffee cultivated in areas between forests and the surroundings of farmers' living areas. These coffee trees, like forest coffee, belong to naturally grown varieties. However, unlike forest coffee, these coffee plants receive regular management from farmers, and dedicated harvesting takes place when the fruits ripen.

Garden Coffee

This represents the highest-yielding type of coffee in Ethiopia, accounting for 50-55% of the country's total exports. This type of coffee is cultivated around farmers' living areas, alongside other economic crops.

Most coffee farmers don't actually know what specific variety they're planting—they only know that they're cultivating Coffea arabica fruits! These beans are collected and gathered by them from various corners of Ethiopia, which leads them to plant multiple different varieties at once. They only harvest and sell them collectively during the harvest season! Since they don't even know what varieties they've planted, let alone sort them during harvest, they simply harvest them all together! This marks the first mixing of multiple varieties.

Except for plantation coffee, whether it's forest coffee, semi-forest, or garden coffee, these coffee beans harvested by farmers are generally sent to nearby processing plants. These plants don't separate the coffee beans by variety; instead, they gather all coffee fruits together for uniform processing! Then they're sent to auction houses for official evaluation and grading before ultimately being sold to green bean merchants!

These two instances of variety mixing have resulted in the heirloom beans we see today being highly uneven in size. Because during cultivation or processing, they become a "natural medley"—a combination of different varieties, even with different growing environments. How could such heirloom beans possibly be uniform in size?

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