Why Do Ethiopian Coffee Beans Come in So Many Different Shapes? Introduction to Sidamo Region's Santa Vene 74158 Coffee

Why Do Ethiopian Coffee Beans Vary in Size and Shape?

Ethiopia is widely recognized as the birthplace of Arabica coffee and serves as Africa's largest coffee exporter. The coffee produced there is beloved by many coffee enthusiasts for its distinctive floral and citrus flavor profiles. At FrontStreet Coffee, we offer multiple varieties of Ethiopian coffee. However, when frequently purchasing Ethiopian coffee, you might notice why the coffee beans often vary in size and shape. Is this an indication of poor quality?

Not at all. This variation occurs because Ethiopia cultivates numerous coffee varieties—over ten thousand in fact—though most remain unidentified and unclassified. Different coffee varieties naturally produce beans of varying sizes and shapes after cultivation, resulting in this size diversity.

Coffee Cultivation Methods in Ethiopia

Ethiopia primarily employs three cultivation methods: garden cultivation, estate cultivation, and forest cultivation. Among these, garden cultivation is the most common, accounting for over half of Ethiopia's coffee production. Farmers plant coffee trees in their backyards or intermix them with other crops in farmland, with each household cultivating less than 4 hectares. During harvest season, farmers collect the coffee cherries and deliver them to nearby processing stations or cooperatives for processing and export.

Additionally, Ethiopia practices forest cultivation, primarily in the southwestern Kaffa Zone—the region where coffee was first discovered. This area still hosts countless wild Arabica coffee mother trees in the Kaffa forests, making it arguably the richest genetic reservoir of Arabica coffee varieties. Surrounding these Kaffa forests, approximately 30 coffee production cooperatives have been established. When coffee ripens, farmers enter the forests to collect coffee cherries, which are then sold or exported after processing.

The Concept of "Heirloom" Varieties

In garden cultivation systems, many farmers struggle to identify and separate coffee varieties. The coffee trees they cultivate might have been left by previous landowners or shared among neighbors. During harvest season, processing stations collect coffee cherries from multiple farmers, combining them into single batches that may contain several unidentified coffee varieties. Consequently, these coffee beans differ in size and shape—what could be described as "blended batches."

Similarly, forest cultivation follows this pattern. Due to the presence of multiple unidentified coffee varieties within the forests, farmers face difficulties in identification during harvest. Therefore, these mixed-harvest coffee varieties are labeled as "Heirloom," known in Chinese as原生种 or 传家宝.

Ethiopian Coffee Grading System

Furthermore, due to the uneven size of these coffee beans, Ethiopia employs a coffee grading system that differs from other countries. Rather than grading by bean size, Ethiopia considers only the defect rate, which means that even the highest grade coffee beans may include smaller beans under this grading system—this represents the biggest visual difference from other coffee-producing regions.

According to the latest Ethiopian coffee grading system established by the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX), comprehensive grading is conducted through 300g coffee samples based on defect count and cupping scores, divided into six grades: G1-G5 and Grade UG (which includes both parchment P and non-parchment NP). Even when Ethiopian coffee beans display various shapes and uneven sizes, this doesn't affect their coffee quality.

JARC Varieties in Ethiopia

In addition to regional varieties, Ethiopia also cultivates JARC varieties—those developed by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center, one of Ethiopia's federal agricultural research centers. These varieties aim to improve resistance to pests and diseases while increasing yields. Between 1973 and 1975, this research center collected 639 different coffee varieties from 15 regions for identification and cultivation experiments. Ultimately, 13 varieties demonstrated outstanding performance, featuring disease resistance, high yields, drought tolerance, and excellent flavor profiles.

The center classified these beans as "1974/1975 CBD-Resistant Selections," which have become the well-known numeric series in recent years. Currently common varieties like 74110, 74158, and 74112 belong to this series. The prefix "74 and 75" represents their discovery years, while the following three digits are variety numbers.

FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian Offering

At FrontStreet Coffee, we offer a coffee from the Sidamo region—FrontStreet Coffee Sidamo Santa Veni coffee beans—produced by the Santa Veni processing station under DWD Company. These beans utilize the 74158 variety and undergo 96-hour anaerobic natural processing. When brewed, the coffee presents subtle fermented wine aromas with citrus, berry, and tropical fruit flavors, featuring a rich body and wine-like aftertaste.

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