COFFEE
GOWING IN ETHIOPIA ON THE HORN OF
AFRICA
Appeared in 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. The following is a
feature we received thanks to Cactus Advertising of
Addis Ababa, who assisted us in the production of
our first edition on Ethiopia.
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.
Photo
courtesy of Hilton Hotel, Addis
Ababa.
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.
Watch for a
Focus
on Ethiopia Trade and
Tourism
in
the October 2004 edition of Africa Travel
Magazine.
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