Coffee in Ethiopia

One of my favorite things about Seattle is the availability of incredible coffee. When I heard that Ethiopia considers itself the birthplace of coffe, I knew I would enjoy my trip -- or at least be wide awake to experience it.

The coffee in Ethiopia is amazing! Even the hotel coffee was strong and delicious. The waitress at our hotel in Addis Ababa came to our table each morning with a pitcher of thick, dark coffee and a pitcher of hot milk.

In Ginchi, our group ordered macchiatos by the tray. These drinks came in small cups with a shot of coffee and a little steamed milk. The cost of 20 to 30 cents per macchiato was a welcomed break from the $3 lattes. I found impossible to have less than two. Some members of our group had four or five a morning.

Americans are not the only ones who appreciate Ethiopian coffee and the ritual of drinking it. Ethiopians welcome guests with a coffee ceremony. At this ritual, a woman dressed in a traditional white gown, roasts coffee over a small fire and then brews it in a clay pitcher called a jebena. The hostess burns incense during the ceremony and serves the coffee with popcorn. We asked, but never heard a satisfactory answer, how a seemingly New World food (popcorn) made it into this traditional ceremony.

Noticing our love of coffee, our tour guide arranged for a visit to a coffee wholesaler in Addis Ababa. At the wholesaler, we watched men carry large sacks of green coffee beans to sorting machines:


After the beans were sorted by machine, they went through a hand-sorting process. This picture shows women hand sorting the beans:

The wholesaler exports the coffee beans unroasted. It does, however, roast small batches for local customers. We were lucky enough to taste some of these coffees. We sampled coffees from Sidamo, Yirgacheffe. and Lekempti. We were told that Yirgacheffe is very popular in Ethiopia. I liked the Sidamo the best.

You may recall a dispute between Starbucks and Ethiopian officials over the sale of Ethiopian coffee in the United States. This article explains the dispute. Basically, Ethiopians, encouraged by Oxfam, were looking to share more of the profit from the sale of Ethiopian coffee in the United States. Eventually, the two sides came to an agreement. I must admit, however, that the Ethiopian coffee I purchased at Starbucks didn't come close to the coffee I enjoyed in Ethiopia. Hopefully the coffee I brought back will taste better.