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COFFEE
GROWING IN ETHIOPIA ON THE HORN OF
AFRICA
 Our
editors are grateful for the following
article which was sent to us by Cactus
Advertising of Addis Ababa. We visited
Ethiopia's capital twice in 2000 and were
made welcome by some of the most friendly
and gracious people on the planet. Watch
for a major feature in our next editions
of Africa Travel Magazine. At the Holy
City of Lalibela in the Northern
Highlands, we experienced our first full
fledged Coffee Ceremony, which was
complete with some of the most energetic,
spirited and colorful dancing I've sever
seen. Another such occasion was at the
Crown Hotel in Addis Ababa, where we were
guests of Ethiopian Tourism Commission. It
was even more of a show, which proves they
really take their coffee seriously. Our
magazines are interested in sponsoring a
series of Tours to Ethiopia, which will
include the Holy Route, plus a Tour of
Ethiopia's Coffee Country. If you are
interested in such a program, send us
an
E-Mail.
The
Birth of Coffee: There is an old
Ethiopian legend that says that a young
goatherd noticed his herd becoming
unusually frisky after eating some bright
red berries. After trying some himself, he
found that they had the same stimulating
effect on him. A monk from a neighboring
monastery also tried these berries after
he found the young goat herd in this
state, and to his amazement, he also found
that the berries helped keep him and
others alert during their night prayers
and thus spread the use of coffee.
Haicof
Plc / Coffee
Box
4854, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel: ( 251) 1-510124, 515117, 516888
Fax: (251)
1-518588
E-mail:
haicof@telecom.net.et
Early
Coffee Trade: Coffee has always been
Ethiopia's most important cash crop and
largest export commodity. A writer by the
name of Harris wrote in 1844 that coffee
trade from Ethiopia started five hundred
years earlier when it was transported from
Ethiopia to Arabia by a trader.
An
Ethiopian monk known as Brother Thomas
corroborated this story and described the
exact route taken when the coffee was
traded with Arabia. Travelers to Ethiopia
in the early days noticed a large amount
of coffee trees growing in some areas
because the weather and nature of the soil
make it ideal to grow there, which led
many to believe that coffee originated in
Ethiopia.
As the
production of coffee in other countries
slowly started to increase, Ethiopian
producers started to feel the competition.
The Dutch controlled the American and
Asian markets, and the French Company of
the Indies began to import coffee directly
from Yemen and started growing it in the
Bourbon Islands. Other African countries
like Angola, Kenya and Madagascar also
started to grow coffee and by the early
1960s, the production of Robusta in Africa
was almost four times that of Arabica,
which was the coffee type indigenous to
Ethiopia.
Coffee
Consumption in Ethiopia: Coffee in
Ethiopia has always been regarded as a
medicine, a food and a beverage. Both
Christians and Muslims took advantage of
its stimulating effect for their long,
religious services. But the Orthodox or
conservative sides of the priesthood, who
considered it to be an intoxicating drink,
soon prohibited it. Regardless though,
coffee drinking quickly spread throughout
the country. In the sixteenth century, it
was used in very small dosages as a
medicine in some parts of
Ethiopia.
In other
parts, coffee was eaten with other grains.
In fact, only fifty years ago, it was
discovered that in some societies, coffee
cherries are mixed with butter, pepper and
other spices and are offered as a snack to
honored guests. Other parts of Ethiopia
traded coffee for its food value. This
type of consumption required that the
berries be fresh, so the traders could not
travel far, thus encouraging the richer
people to plant their own coffee trees in
their regions.
There are
two ways Ethiopians prepare coffee for
drinking. The first method, which is still
used in some places, creates what is known
as white coffee and results when the beans
are boiled to produce a greenish liquid.
The second method of preparing coffee is
obviously the most common one, and starts
with roasting the coffee, grinding it,
then brewing it with water. Coffee
drinking in Ethiopia has always been
ceremonious and brings everyone in the
house together to talk. The whole process
could take up to an hour or even more if
neighbors and friends come over to talk
and have coffee also!
Coffee
Quality: There are many factors that
contribute to the quality of coffee,
mainly man and nature. Natural phenomenon
include altitude, duration and severity of
rainfall, type of soil, pH, genetic
origin, location of producing area,
chemicals and pesticides, harvesting
methods and timing, packing and so forth.
Supervision of quality coffee begins with
the coffee seedlings and ends when the
coffee is shipped out to the international
markets. Experts known as coffee
'disciples' who are trained in the
cultivation and handling of coffee, are
placed in each of the coffee producing
regions to train and guide producers in
the modern and scientific methods of
planting, cultivating, processing and
storing of coffee. They do so by visiting
different coffee processing plants and
educating farmers on coffee quality.
Coffee
quality differs to everyone depending on
their upbringing as well as their society.
An Ethiopian believes quality coffee
should have a good aroma, and after being
brewed in the traditional clay pot, is
drank steaming hot and unsweetened,
although some prefer sugar or even a dash
of salt. A Greek or Turk would enjoy a
well roasted, coarse coffee that is brewed
in an oriental pot and is served thick, to
the point of leaving a black residue at
the bottom of the cup! Americans like
Arabica coffee that is of a medium roast,
well ground and thinly brewed. The French
like a mix of Arabica and Robusta, a
darker roast and served with milk, which
is known as cafe-au-lait. The Italians
like espresso, which is a thick and bitter
coffee that is drunk in a small cup. Saudi
Arabian sheiks like the most expensive of
coffees, known as Bun Harrari or Khawa
Harrari, and comes from the Eastern
Highlands of Ethiopia. They like it
lightly roasted and brewed in an elaborate
brass coffeepot with cardamom and ends up
being a greenish shade with a spicy
taste.
Coffee
Production: The Oxford English
Dictionary states that the word coffee was
derived from the Arabic word qahwah, in
Turkish pronounced Kahveh, around the
1600s. The name of this beverage is said
to have meant ëwineí,
according to Arab lexicographers. On the
other hand, others say that the word
originated from the name Kaffa, a region
in the southern part of Ethiopia, where
the plant was a native.
Coffee
(coffea) is the major category of the
Rubiaceae family, which has over 6,000
species. Of the many species that are
found in the coffea family, only 2 are
presently regarded with importance -
Coffea arabica and Coffea robusta. About
70 countries worldwide produce coffee and
to these countries, not only is coffee a
major means of foreign exchange, but is
also responsible for tax income and gross
domestic product (GDP).
Ethiopia
is Africa's third largest coffee producer
after Uganda and Ivory Coast. Coffee
export is the main source of foreign
exchange. Also, a large segment of the
population is involved in the coffee
industry. Due to the importance placed on
the coffee industry, it has the advantage
of receiving government support for
research, infrastructure improvement,
financial and manpower contributions,
quality control systems and publicity. The
creation of the Coffee and Tea Authority
proves this fact and one of its objectives
is to support the production and trade of
coffee as well as research efforts. There
are a few research centers such as the
Jima National Coffee Center (JNCRC) which
was created in 1967. This establishment
focuses on improving the quality of
coffee, disease resistance, nutrition
improvement and the general improvement of
the coffee industry.
An
estimated 200,000 to 250,000 tons of
coffee is produced in Ethiopia every year,
with fluctuations due to the climate,
prices and the seasonal nature of coffee
plants. An unknown amount of coffee is
bought and sold illegally, of which some
goes to neighboring countries. The
majority of coffee produced in Ethiopia is
exported from the capital city of Addis
Ababa. There are a number of ways in which
coffee is produced in Ethiopia:
Traditional coffee, which is utilized by
small growers and yields about 400
ñ 500 kilograms per
hectare.
Garden
coffee is grown at farms, for the most
part inter-cropped with other crops,
fruits or vegetables. Large scale modern
plantations, which can produce outputs of
1 to 1.5 tons per hectare. There are
currently about 25,000 hectares of coffee
plantations owned by the government.
Presently, small farms produce 90 percent
of Ethiopia's coffee, and government owned
farms produce the remaining 10 percent.
The new government has now stated that the
private sector can invest in the coffee
industry. This should encourage new
investors to establish larger scale
plantations with more advanced technology,
thus improving the production and quality
of coffee.
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