History of Coffee in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. In the tenth century, Ethiopian nomadic mountain people may have been the first to recognize coffee’s stimulating effects, although they ate the red cherries directly, not consuming it as a beverage.  Coffee was spread throughout the Middle East by the mystic Sufi pilgrims of Islam. From the Middle East these beans spread to Europe and then throughout their colonial empire, which included Indonesia and the Americas.

Coffee trees have always grown wild in the forest of the south-western highlands of Kaffa and Buno districts. The total area covered by Arabica and other types of coffee is about 400,000 acres. The total coffee production is about 200,000 tons of clean coffee per year. This directly or indirectly affects the livelihoods for over 15 million people in this country. Ethiopia’s economy is based on agriculture.

 

Coffee still grows wild in Ethiopia’s forest. Ethiopian farmers cultivate coffee in four different systems. Which include forest coffee, semi-forest coffee, garden coffee and plantation coffee. Approximately 98% of all Ethiopian coffee is produced by peasants on small farms in Ethiopia and this is one of their most important exports.

Ethiopian coffee is one of the most popular coffee origins in the world today. Unfortunately Ethiopia must partner itself with other coffee companies, which generally have more marketing power and earn higher profits on their products. The average Ethiopian farmer makes about $900.00 per year. The women in Ethiopia that work in the coffee processing plants make as little as $20.00 a month. Recently the Ethiopian farmers have teamed up with small scale Fair Trade roaster like (Equal Exchange), which has helped the Ethiopian farmers find a fair deal for their coffee.

CoffeeGiftsMagic has Coffee from around the World, and we currently carry three different coffees from Ethiopia.  We have the following coffees from Ethiopia and you can choose to have it sent to you whole bean, drip grind, French press, or espresso grind right to your front door.

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

Mocca-Java

Decaffeinated Mocca-Java