The History from Ethiopian Coffee

Coffee has become one of the staple beverages in our lives. The intense flavor, distinctive aroma and the special stimulating effect made it so popular among people. Nevertheless, not all of us know about the history of coffee and where it originated. Ethiopia is one of the countries that highly exports Arabica coffee beans, and it is also the birthplace of coffee.

Ethiopian coffee is the major agriculture exports of Ethiopia and they were first to discover that coffee beans or coffee has the ability to keep people awake for long periods. In their native language, coffee beans were primarily known as Kaffa Buns but were later on transformed into Coffee Beans. It is believed that Ethiopian coffee is originally used for rituals. Beans were crushed and brewed into potions to keep people awake during their long prayers. Ethiopians still do conduct ceremonies and rituals for guests welcoming and celebrations.

The plants were brought to Yemen and it began to spread to other countries nearby such as the Middle East, Turkey, and northern Africa.  Coffee was then brought to Southeast Asia and European countries by traders from Dutch. The massive planting of coffee started rapidly after that.

The crucial economical role of coffee exportation did not help much in improving the country’s development. Although Ethiopia exports about 200000 to 250000 tons of coffee every year, the coffee farmers are still earning less than 900 dollars a year. More than half of the coffee produced in Ethiopia is consumed by their own people. It is also known as their national drink. Ethiopian coffee plants are grown in small farms in Ghimbi, Harrar, and Sidamo. The productivity of coffee solely depends on climate, the quality of the coffee beans and also the price of coffee beans that fluctuates.

There are two ways to process coffee beans – dry-processed and washed. Washed coffee beans tastes less earthy and it has milder flavor compared to those that are dried. It takes about 3-4 weeks before the coffee is dried naturally and ready to be delivered.

Generally there are two types of coffee, Robusta and Arabica. 75% of the coffee harvested throughout the world is Arabica coffee beans. They are usually found in Southeast Asia countries and Africa. Robusta coffee tastes a lot bitter with milder flavor when compared to Arabica coffee and it costs cheaper to grow Robusta. Different types of coffee were cultivated back then by various countries and were given names like Mocha, Java, Jamaican Blue Mountain etc.