Varieties:
Robusta
EQUATEUR
This is another large producing area in the country, situated in the northwest. It is mostly Robusta here.
Harvest:
October–January
Varieties:
Robusta
A woman on her way to work in a coffee plantation near Kivu Lake. Arabica from the Highlands of Kivu was once renowned as some of the best in the world.
ETHIOPIA
Of all the coffee-producing countries, Ethiopia is perhaps the most compelling. Its fascination stems not only from the unusual, astonishing coffees it produces, but from the mystery that shrouds so much of it. The explosively floral and fruity coffees from Ethiopia have opened many a coffee professional’s eyes to the diversity of flavour that coffee can have.
Ethiopia is referred to as the birthplace of coffee, although this should come with some caveats. It is likely Coffea arabica first appeared in southern Sudan, but it only flourished once it spread into Ethiopia. It was here that it was first consumed by humans, initially as a fruit rather than a beverage. Yemen was the first country to grow coffee as a crop, but it had been harvested from the wild in Ethiopia long before.
Coffee was probably first exported from Ethiopia in the 1600s. Interest from European traders was often rebuffed and it then waned as coffee plantations began to appear in Yemen, Java and ultimately the Americas. Coffee production in Ethiopia at the time was essentially the harvest of wild coffee trees that grew in the districts of Kaffa and Buno, rather than from plantations.
ETHIOPIA’S PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
Ethiopia’s coffees can be divided into three main categories, depending on their method of production.
FOREST COFFEES
These come from the wild coffee trees grown mostly in the southwest of the country. These trees usually have a mix of natural shade plants around them, and themselves are a broad mixture of different varieties. The productivity and yield of these trees is low compared to more purposefully cultivated plants.
GARDEN COFFEES
These are coffees from trees typically planted around a homestead or other dwelling. There is less natural shade and more management of the shade trees, such as regular pruning to prevent too much shading. Many producers use some fertilizer on their plants. This type of coffee makes up the bulk of Ethiopia’s production.
PLANTATION COFFEES
These coffees come from trees grown intensively on large farms. Standard agricultural practices are used here, including pruning, mulching, use of fertilizers and the selection of disease-resistant varieties.
Interest returned to Ethiopian coffee in the early 1800s, when there is a record of the export of one hundred quintals of coffee from Enerea, an area of modern-day Ethiopia. In the 19th century, there were two common grades of Ethiopian coffee: Harari (cultivated around the town of Harrar) and Abyssinia (grown in the wild in the rest of the country). For this reason Harrar has a long-standing reputation for being desirable and of high quality (which it does not always earn).
The 1950s were a time of increased structure in the Ethiopian coffee industry and a new grading system was introduced. In 1957 the National Coffee Board of Ethiopia was formed. The overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie brought change in the 1970s, however. This wasn’t a peasant uprising, more a coup from the elite class tired of famine and conflict. The vacuum of power was filled by the military, which was strongly influenced by socialist ideals. ntil that point the country had been close, in some ways, to a feudal system of government. Among the new ideals was the redistribution of land, and the government quickly began to nationalize it. Some argue that this move was hugely beneficial to the population, increasing the earnings of the rural poor by up to fifty per cent. Strict Marxist rules prevented land ownership or hired labour, and this had a huge impact on the coffee industry. Large-scale farming was abandoned and Ethiopia went back to harvesting its coffee from the wild. The 1980s was a decade of famine, affecting eight million people and killing one million of them.
Ethiopia is commonly accepted as the birthplace of coffee. This Ethiopian woman performs an age-old coffee ceremony in Wollo, Lalibella.
THE MOVE TOWARDS DEMOCRACY
In 1991 the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front overthrew the Military Junta. This began a process of liberalization and moved the country towards democracy. International markets opened up for Ethiopia, but with them came the effects of fluctuating market prices. Coffee farmers in Ethiopia in particular have had to cope with large, uncontrollable price swings. This has given rise to the formation of cooperatives, offering support to their members, such as funding, market information and transport.
Coffee beans are hand-graded by women at a factory in Ethiopia. The range of flavours found in Ethiopian coffee beans is broad, owing to the variable climates of different growing regions.
THE ETHIOPIAN COMMODITY EXCHANGE
The largest change to the trade of Ethiopian coffee in recent years, and one of great concern to speciality coffee buyers, was the introduction of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) in 2008. The ECX was created for various different commodities in Ethiopia with the aim of creating an efficient trading system that protected both sellers and buyers alike. However, the system frustrated those who wished to buy a distinct, traceable product rather than a commoditized one. Coffees were delivered to the ECX warehouse where they were allocated a numerical denomination of regional origin for washed coffees (from 1–10). All natural-process coffees were marked 11. The coffees were then graded for quality and assigned a number from 1–9, or labelled UG for ungraded.
This process stripped the coffee of its exact traceability before auction, but on the positive side farmers did receive payment for their coffee sooner than they had before. The system also restricted which coffees could be offered on the international market and increased the financial transparency in contracts.
Today there are increasing opportunities to work outside the constraints of the ECX model, and more and more high-quality and traceable coffees are reaching consumers abroad.
TRACEABILITY
It is possible to find Ethiopian coffees from a single estate, though they are relatively rare. Traceability is more likely to lead back to a specific cooperative. However, a coffee roaster may simply have bought a coffee that had come through the ECX and it could still be astonishing despite its lack of transparency. These coffees have so much to offer, so I would recommend finding a roaster whose coffees you already enjoy and asking them for guidance on what is excellent.
Once difficult to trace, the quality and provenance of coffee is becoming more accessible. This allows consumers to make informed choices about where and how their coffee is harvested.
TASTE PROFILE
The flavours of Ethiopian coffees are notably diverse – from citrus, often bergamot, and florals through to candied fruit or even tropical fruit flavours. The best washed coffees can be incredibly elegant, complex and delicious and the best naturally processed ones can be wildly fruity, and enchantingly unusual.
GROWING REGIONS
Population: 102,374,000
Number of 60kg (132lb) bags in 2013: 6,600,000
The growing regions of Ethiopia are among the most recognizable names in coffee, and are used to sell the coffee today and probably will be in the foreseeable future. The genetic potential of the indigenous and wild varieties of Arabica make the future of coffee in Ethiopia an exciting one, too.
SIDAMA
Sidama is one of the three regions (along with Harrar and Yirgacheffe) that the Ethiopian government trademarked in 2004 to bring wider recognition to their distinctive coffees. It produces a mixture of washed and naturally processed coffees that are incredibly popular among those who enjoy a fruity and intensely aromatic cup.
The region was named after the Sidama people, but it is often referred to in coffee as Sidamo. In recent years, there has been some movement to reject the name Sidamo, as i
t is felt to be derogatory. However, it is something of a brand and deeply embedded in the industry. For this reason, both Sidamo and Sidama are used to describe coffees from the region. This region grows some of the highest coffee in Ethiopia.
Altitude:
1,400–2,200m (4,600–7,200ft)
Harvest:
October–January
Varieties:
Heirloom varieties
LIMU
While it does not have the same reputation as Sidama and Yirgacheffe, Limu still produces some astonishing coffee. This region’s producers are mostly smallholders, but there are some large government-owned plantations in the area.
Altitude:
1,400–2,200m (4,600–7,200ft)
Harvest:
November–January
Varieties:
Heirloom varieties
JIMA
This region, in the southwest, produces a large portion of Ethiopia’s coffee. Coffees from this region have recently been a little eclipsed by those from other parts of the country but they are definitely worth investigating. The name of this region can also be written as ‘Jimmah’, ‘Jimma’ or ‘Djimmah’.
Altitude:
1,400–2,000m (4,600–6,600ft)
Harvest:
November–January
Varieties:
Heirloom varieties
GHIMBI/LEKEMPTI
The regions surrounding the two towns of Ghimbi and Lekempti are often combined into one, and a roaster may use one name or the other, or sometimes both. Lekempti is the capital city, but a coffee that is described by this name could actually come from Ghimbi over 100km (62 miles) away.
Altitude:
1,500–2,100m (4,900–6,900ft)
Harvest:
February–April
Varieties:
Heirloom varieties
HARRAR
This is one of the oldest producing regions, surrounding the small town of Harrar. Coffees from this region are quite distinctly different, and are often grown in environments requiring extra irrigation. Harrar has maintained a strong reputation for many years, although the naturally processed coffees can veer between an unclean, woody earthiness to a more explicit blueberry fruit flavour. The coffees are often so unusual that they are remembered fondly by those who work in the industry as the coffees that opened their eyes to the diversity of flavours possible within a cup.
Altitude:
1,500–2,100m (4,900–6,900ft)
Harvest:
October–February
Varieties:
Heirloom varieties
YIRGACHEFFE
The coffees from this region are, in many ways, truly unique. So many of the great washed coffees from Yirgacheffe are explosively aromatic, full of citrus and floral notes and have a light and elegant body, so this is undeniably one of the greatest and most interesting regions for growing coffee. The best coffees from this region fetch rightfully high premiums, and while they can remind some people more of a cup of Earl Grey tea than of a cup of coffee, they are absolutely worth seeking out. There are naturally processed coffees produced in this region too, which can also be exceptionally interesting and enjoyable.
Altitude:
1,750–2,200m (5,750–7,200ft)
Harvest:
October–January
Varieties:
Heirloom varieties
KENYA
Despite the fact that neighbouring Ethiopia is considered the home of coffee, Kenya did not start production until relatively late. The earliest documented import of coffee dates to 1893 when French missionaries brought coffee trees from Réunion. Most agree that the variety of coffee they brought was Bourbon. It yielded its first crop in 1896.
Initially coffee was produced on large estates under British colonial rule, and the resulting crop was sold in London. In 1933 the Coffee Act was passed, establishing a Kenyan Coffee Board and moving the sale of coffee back to Kenya. In 1934 the auction system was established and it is still in use today; a year later protocols were created for the grading of coffee to help improve quality.
Not long after the Mau Mau uprising in the early 1950s, an agricultural act was passed to create family holdings that combined subsistence farming with the production of cash crops for additional income. This act was known as the Swynnerton Plan, named after an official in the Department of Agriculture. This marked the start of the transfer of coffee production from the British to the Kenyans. The effect on the production of smallholdings was significant, with total income rising from £5.2 million in 1955 to £14 million in 1964. Notably, coffee production accounted for 55 per cent of this increase.
Kenya gained independence in 1963, and now consistently produces extremely high-quality coffees from a variety of sources. The research and development in Kenya is considered excellent, and many farmers are highly educated in coffee production. The Kenyan auction system should help to reward quality-focused producers with better prices, but while buyers are paying high prices for the excellent coffees, corruption within the system may prevent those premiums filtering back to the farmers.
Kenyan women carry buckets of freshly picked ripe coffee cherries to be sorted and processed.
GRADING
Kenya uses a grading system for all of its exported coffee, regardless of whether the lot is traceable or not. As in many other countries, the grading system uses a combination of bean size and quality. The definitions clearly define size and, to some extent, they also assume quality is linked to the size of the beans. While this is often true – the AA lots often being the superior coffees – I have recently seen harvests where the AB lots appeared to be more complex and of higher quality than many of the AA lots.
E – These are the elephant beans, the very largest size, so lots tend to be relatively small.
AA – This is a more common grade for the larger screen sizes (see Sizing and Grading), above screen size 18, or 7.22mm. Typically, these fetch the highest prices.
AB – This grade is a combination of A (screen size 16, or 6.80mm) and B (screen size 15, or 6.20mm). This grade accounts for around thirty per cent of Kenya’s annual production.
PB – This is the grade for peaberries, where a single bean has grown inside the coffee cherry instead of the more usual two.
C – This is the grading size below the AB category. It is unusual to see this grade in a high-quality coffee.
TT – A smaller grade again, normally comprising the smaller beans removed from AA, AB and E grades. In density sorting, the lightest beans are usually TT grade.
T – The smallest grade, often made up of chips and broken pieces.
MH/ML – These initials stand for Mbuni Heavy and Mbuni Light. Mbuni is the name used for naturally processed coffees. These are considered low quality, often containing underripe or overripe beans, and they sell for a very low price. They account for around seven per cent of the annual production.
TRACEABILITY
Kenya’s coffee is grown both on large estates, and by smallholders who feed their coffee into their local washing station. This means it is possible to get extremely traceable coffees from the single estates, but in recent years the higher-quality coffees have increasingly come from the smallholders. Typically what one might find is a particular lot from a washing station that will still carry a size grading (such as AA), though that lot may have come from a group of several hundred farmers. These washing stations (or factories as they are known) play a role in the quality of the final product, so these coffees are definitely worth seeking out.
An aerial view of a coffee plantation in Kenya. The country consistently produces beans of a very high quality, from a variety of sources that include large estates and smallholders.
Women grade beans according to their size and quality at a coffee factory in Komothai, in Ruiri, Kenya.
KENYAN VARIETIES
Two particular Kenyan varieties attract great interest from the speciality coffee industry. These are named SL-
28 and SL-34, and are among the forty experimental varieties produced as part of the research led by Guy Gibson at Scott Laboratories. These make up the majority of high-quality coffee from Kenya, but they are susceptible to leaf rust.
A lot of work has been done to produce rust-resistant varieties in Kenya. Ruiru 11 was the first to be considered a success by the Kenyan Coffee Board, although it was not warmly received by speciality coffee buyers. More recently, they have released a variety called Batian. There remains some scepticism towards its cup quality after the disappointment of Ruiru, although quality seems to be improving and there is more positivity around the potential of Batian to have great cup quality in the future.
TASTE PROFILE
Kenyan coffees are renowned for their bright, complex berry/fruit qualities as well as their sweetness and intense acidity.
GROWING REGIONS
Population: 48,460,000
Number of 60kg (132lb) bags in 2016: 783,000
Central Kenya produces most of the nation’s coffee, and the best Kenyan coffees come from this part of the country. There is growing interest in the coffees being produced in Western Kenya, in the Kisii, Trans-Nzoia, Keiyo and Marakwet regions.
The World Atlas of Coffee: From beans to brewing - coffees explored, explained and enjoyed Page 13