Featured Coffee Fridays: Ethiopia

For the first 2 Fridays of April, Ethiopia is our featured coffee. Learn a little about the unique story of this tasty coffee, give it a try and grab a 6oz bag for $1 off.

This fair trade organic bean is light bodied with soft acidity, intensely aromatic yet finely balanced. The rich aroma is dominated by a pungent cedar sensation with distinct floral tones. An intense flavor that is clean, flowery and nutty chocolate all in one.

Among coffee-producing countries, Ethiopia is known as the “birthplace” of Arabica coffee. But unlike the vast majority of coffee-growing countries, the plant wasn’t introduced as a cash crop through colonization. Instead, growing, processing and drinking coffee has been a part of the everyday way of life for centuries.

One of the other unique aspects of Ethiopia’s coffee production is that domestic consumption is very high because the beverage has such a significant role in the daily lives of Ethiopians: About half of the country’s 6.5-million-bag annual production is consumed at home, with roughly 3.5 million bags exported.

Coffee is still commonly enjoyed as part of a “ceremonial” preparation, a way of gathering family, friends, and associates around a table for conversation and community. The senior-most woman of the household will roast the coffee in a pan and grind it fresh before mixing it with hot water in a brewing pot called a jebena. She serves the strong liquid in small cups, then adds fresh boiling water to brew the coffee two more times. The process takes about an hour from start to finish and is considered a regular show of hospitality and society.