It is believed that Arabica coffee has its roots in Ethiopia. Arabica was taken to Yemen in the 15th century, where a group of monks documented its consumption for the first time. From Yemen, Arabica started spreading to the whole world.

Ethiopia usually is the 5th or 6th largest coffee producer in the world, sometimes overtaken by Honduras (Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Indonesia occupying the first 4 places). Ethiopia is known for producing some of the best coffees in the world. Names such as Sidamo, Yirgachefe, Guji, Djimmah and Harar, among others, are well known in the specialty coffee sector, and even in the commodity trade, due to their high quality cup profiles.

Ethiopia is a special origin, not only because it’s the birthplace of Arabica, where the genetic legacy has remained intact for hundreds of years, but also because of the growing and cultivation characteristics specific to this country.

In Ethiopia, coffee grows very differently from other countries.

While in other countries it’s common to find coffee plantations, in Ethiopia most of the coffee comes from forests and smallholder farmers’ gardens, thus forest coffee and garden coffee. Plantations represent a very small fraction of the total Ethiopian production.

In the forest and semiforest coffee systems, coffee trees are not planted by man. They multiply without human intervention, as they have been doing for the last centuries, with the help of birds and terrestrial animals. That’s how Coffea arabica coffee came to be, presumably from a spontaneous cross between C. canephora and C. eugenioides. The difference between the forest and semiforest systems is that coffee farmers do some pruning in the latter, in order to ease harvesting and managing shade, wheras in the former there is no human intervention.

Garden coffee comes from small plots of land surrounding farmers’ houses. Coffee plants are sown together with other crops, usually for household consumption, and human intervention is limited to weeding and, sometimes, pruning and shade management.

When talking about Ethiopian varieties, we often find the term heirloom. This means that the variety is not scientifically identified, it simply exists in the wild and is cultivated by farmers without a formal identification of the genetic background. Farmers usually harvest seeds from their own coffee plants or from a nearby forest (“mother trees”).

It is estimated that Ethiopia has 10 to 15 thousand endemic varieties, more than 99% of which are not officially classified. Moreover, the 37 classified varieties by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center also come from “mother trees”.

The indigenous nature of the Ethiopian varieties, together with many other factors influencing coffee growing (climate, soils, altitude, etc.), leads to remarkable variations in Ethiopian cup profiles from different regions and often even throughout the same region.

The vast majority of Ethiopian coffee farmers are very small-sized producers. Family members grow and harvest the crop. The majority of the coffee produced in Ethiopia is sun-dried and farmers themselves dry their cherries in order to sell them to akrabies (intermediaries) when the market is high and/or when they are in need of cash. In the case of washed coffee, farmers deliver the fresh cherry to akrabies or directly to the wet mills (in Africa also known as “washing stations”).

The typical supply chain in Ethiopia can be described as:

COFFEE FARMER – AKRABI – DRY MILL – EXPORTER (dry processing)

COFFEE FARMER – AKRABI – WET MILL – EXPORTER (wet processing)

In the last years, vertical integration is being promoted, which allows us to experience great advancements regarding traceability in the coffee supply chain. 

Export coffees are classified in “grades”: 1,2 and UG for washed and 1, 3, 4, 5 and UG for naturals. Each grade represents a range of defects in the green coffee sample. Usually, the coffees that cup 80 points and above are grades 1 and 2 (washed) and grades 1 and 3 (naturals).

Ethiopia is an origin with very special characteristics. Specific cultivation practices, processing methods, indigenous varieties, different terroirs, among other factors, lead to immense variations in cup profiles.

In general, despite being an origin where generalisation is impossible, Ethiopian coffees usually are described as being floral, fruity and having a brilliant acidity.

Some of the most famous Ethiopian coffee designations are: 

HARAR: almost all coffee produced in Harar is sundried. The indigenous character of its plants and their adaptation to the zone’s climate and soil bring out aromas and flavours that give Harari coffees a typical fruity profile and a creamy body.

SIDAMO: in this region we can find both washed and natural coffees, with a great complexity. Different soils, microclimates and a vast number of indigenous varieties make it difficult to establish a unique flavour profile for this region. Washed Sidamos are appreciated by consumers because of their acidity, citric flavour and spicy notes. On the other hand, natural Sidamos are sweet, with a good body and a high acidity.

YIRGACHEFFE: the coffees from this small region have become renown worldwide in the last years, positioning themselves among the best coffees in the world. Grown in high altitudes, these coffees are sweet, with floral aromas, a fine acidity and a good body.

DJIMMAH: the majority of this region’s coffee grows under shade in forest areas. This region’s coffees are enjoyed because of their sweetness, a medium-high acidity and a good body. In the international commodity coffee trade, washed Djimmahs are called “Limmu”, because of the districts Limmu Kosa / Limmu Sakka, in which one may find many wet mills (also known in Ethiopia as “washing stations”) that produce washed coffee.

Moreover, in the last years there are some regions producing excellent coffees, such as Nansebo, Bale and Guji.

Ethiopia, just like its coffees, is a complete and complex origin, noted for its idiosyncrasy as a producing country. The ample genetic variety of its plants, its climatic and geographic characteristics and its production mode (with a low human input) allow us to enjoy a huge diversity of sensory profiles.

Tradition is an important aspect in this country, linked to its centuries-old coffee production, which today reaches approximately 6 million 60-Kg bags, of which 3 million are consumed internally. A country where nature and low human intervention lead to extraordinary results.