Ethiopia is one of those key coffee origins that most coffee professionals want to visit for obvious reasons. Ethiopia is more than just a country; often called the cradle of humanity, it boasts a tapestry of rich history, diverse cultures, and breath-taking landscapes.
But for coffee lovers, Ethiopia holds an even more special significance - it is the birthplace of coffee itself and today, Ethiopia remains one of the world's top coffee producers, home to some of the most sought-after coffees, including Yirgacheffe, Sidamo and Harrar.
In Ethiopia, coffee isn't just a crop for export; it's a way of life. From the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, where people roast, grind, and brew coffee socially, to the millions of farmers who rely on it for their livelihood, coffee deeply weaves itself into the nation's identity.
Last month, while travelling with our African green bean coffee importers, Omwani, we finally had the chance to visit this country. For many reasons, we will always remember this place.
We were escorted by a beautifully humble man named Moata Raya who had worked with TechnoServe for many years. Now, he was sourcing coffees directly within Ethiopia, guided by the same principles of using business as a force for good and finding enterprising solutions to fight poverty.
Landing in Addis Ababa, we expected a bustling city filled with dust and diesel fumes, but the empty roads gave us a clear route to the office to sample coffees. We had landed on a religious holiday, and the city was readying itself for the party! We saw the makings of a great festival and street party. Landing at 8am, the party was still being prepared, with everyone seemingly at home getting ready.
With a few hours to spare before our flight to Hawassa, we ate Ethiopian food at the local Guenet Hotel. My first experience eating Shiro, a paste made from dried and ground lentils and spices, and Injera, a sour fermented pancake, prepared me well for the real part of the trip, which started with a flight to Hawassa.
Hawassa is the entry point in the south for Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Guji, and Limma, and these names may resonate with you as they do for us. For me, this was up there on the bucket list of coffee places to visit. The coffees I have had from these areas are up there with the most memorable I have ever had.
Early in my coffee journey, before advanced processing techniques, naturally fermenting ripe cherries on raised African beds was as simple as it got. Yet the coffees were stunningly complex. While processing hasn’t changed much, farmers are eager to try new methods to create unique flavours - more on that later.
Hawassa was a stopover to get rest, which didn’t deliver given that the Orthodox Church was in festival mode. Chanting on a loop echoed inside the bedrooms from around 2am to 6am. Welcome to Ethiopia!
Without much rest and some lousy hotel coffee, we set off en route to Bensa Daya, where we were going to be briefly based. For the first leg of the journey, paved roads were very welcome but didn’t last too long. Six people, an overworked 4x4, countless potholes and so much dust. We blended into the landscape - Ethiopia’s roads felt like a CrossFit AMRAP!
We stopped in Bensa Daya, a university town in Sidama, just outside of our real area of interest, Murago. A few farmers came down the hills to share coffee with us and warmly welcome us to their town. They were also quite crucial in helping us navigate off-road to their farms and processing areas. The hills of Murago produce exceptional coffees, with Basha Bekele becoming Ethiopia's 2024 Cup of Excellence Champion!
Right next door to Basha, is our grower Bukele Kachara and Bukele Belaycho.
Bukele Kachara didn’t need more coffee, but it was great to share the ones we had roasted at The Granary. We loved this coffee, so it was a pleasure to meet the producer and give him gifts from the roastery.
Farmers in Ethiopia process most coffees naturally on shaded, raised African beds. It has worked so well in the past and continues to produce some incredible coffees, but changes are afoot. Recent investment in machinery and equipment means that the producers can process coffee differently. Different fermentation processes will invariably create different flavour profiles for the same coffee. So, if farmers can control the fermentation profile, then they, in theory, can manipulate the flavour and command higher prices.
One way that we witnessed was the use of Anaerobic Fermentation. Anaerobic processing is a style of fermentation that occurs without any oxygen present. With the new pulping machines, workers remove the cherries and place the beans into an air-tight barrel. Typically a one-way valve is added to the barrel to release CO2. The coffee stays in these drums for 48 to 72 hours. The rule of thumb out in Murago was that the lower the altitude, the longer the fermentation time. Once the time has elapsed, the beans are put on the raised beds to dry before off to the mill.
Whilst in the area we met more coffee producers, and they were keen to show us around their farms.
We'll remember the bar in Daya Bensa, watching students still enjoying the holidays and dancing to Ethiopian protest songs! The next day we hit the bumps again and saw the local mill. This is the next stop for all the processed coffees. Walking into the mill we saw a huge amount of activity. From the delivery of dried coffee (parchment) to the hand sorting and milling. Men carrying 100-kilo sacks of coffee, women working at lighting speed through an incredible amount of parchment. It shouldn't have been a surprise, since people process everything by hand in Ethiopia, but this supply chain always amazes.
With no lighting, the mill ran in complete darkness, and all you could hear was the sound of the machinery.
We were constantly trying to beat the darkness; the roads were bad enough but at night they were completely treacherous. Covering a lot of ground in a few days is typical at origin, but it had a bit of urgency in Ethiopia. We made it to a lodge in Dilla which was a welcome comfort before hitting the road to Yirgacheffe.
For me, the word Yirgacheffe has so many amazing coffee connotations. There have been countless moments in my coffee journey where the Ethiopian region of Yirgacheffe has played a positive role. So to actually visit this place was a landmark moment for me, and it did not disappoint.
The hospitality on this trip overwhelmed us; we received warm welcomes everywhere, but Yirgacheffe felt different. We will always remember the visit to a little-known farm run by Waco Jigso and his family of four generations. His mother must be the oldest lady alive as she claimed to be 120 years old!
The processing facility here is part of the family farm, where everyone works. As we walked around the farm, we saw pickers stripping the trees of cherries. We had read about labour shortages in the coffee supply chain and saw clear evidence of it on some farms. Pickers had left cherries to dry and ferment on the tree, a clear sign of the labour shortage.
There were distinct differences between Waco's coffees in Yirgacheffe to coffees in Sidamo. A very typical Yirchacheffe coffee is an absolute fruit bomb! Eating raw honey that had just been taken from Waco's hive way up in the tree was an amazing way to finish off the coffee.
After visiting a few more farms in the area, we got on the motorbike and rode some distance to the Chelchele washing station, in what seemed like an impossible place to put such infrastructure. It was almost impossible for us to get there on motorbikes! The Chelchele Washing Station is named after the village it occupies, with an elevation of around 1950 meters above sea level and surrounded by around 30 hectares of coffee plantations. With 12 large washing tanks and 360 drying beds the coffee here, this facility can process plenty of coffee.
Here the coffee is washed and processed. The process involves the removal of the skin and fruit from the cherries, followed by a very thorough washing of the beans to remove all of the mucilage. Washed coffees tend to have a cleaner and more nuanced profile. The washing station is owned and operated by METAD of Addis Ababa and is recognised for the quality coffee it produces. Altogether they employ around 28 permanent staff and 700 seasonal staff.
As night fell, we had a long motorbike ride on a dusty road followed by a frantic drive to Hawassa, racing to beat the dark. We didn’t, and it was scary. But we made it to Hawassa in one piece and enjoyed a beer - our favourite in Ethiopia, Cold Gold - second only to Ambo Water, a naturally sparkling Ethiopian water!
The next day, instead of flying to Addis from Hawassa, all six of us crammed into the 4x4 for a 7-hour, high-speed ride, passing motor accidents along the way. The journey to Addis gave us time to reflect on the crazy few days - it would take a while to fully digest!
It would be disingenuous for me to write this blog and to fail to mention the hardships that I witnessed. As soon as I stepped into Addis Ababa, a desperate 4-year-old girl clung to my leg, asking for help. It was clear I was about to learn not just about coffee, but also witness the harsh realities many Ethiopians face.
Many publications explain why Ethiopia is in its current state, and we discussed it with locals during our visit. A landlocked country, Ethiopia's progress has been hindered by regional leaders, conflict, instability, and more recently, the war and displacement from South Sudan.
However the country got there, the reality is that there is so much help needed on the ground. Poverty, hunger, education, infrastructure, investment, the list goes on and on. It’s impossible to fix everything for everyone and the feeling of helplessness is overwhelming. Offering cash to one person will only offer a brief relief for an individual and will not change a thing.
Coffee is one way of helping, what I can see on this trip is that it brings so much employment within the supply chain. It brings communities together and is an intrinsic part of the culture of Ethiopians. Understanding our supply chain and its beneficiaries is important to us. We visit these places - to see who benefits, who doesn't, and who truly should.
We wish we could solve all of the problems of the world, but we know that our resources are limited, so we just need to do more good year on year. This isn’t a pitch, its just a reality.