Welcome to the first of the fresh harvests from Ethiopia!

Reuben visited Ethiopia at the end of last year, visiting farms and washing stations, along with the ECX (Ethiopian Coffee Exchange) where coffee crops are traded.

Ethiopia’s the birthplace of coffee, and the coffee you’re drinking is Ethiopian Heirloom varietal, which is a mix of the naturally-occuring varietals of the region. If you look closely at the beans you’ll possibly notice more variation in the size than with other single origins, which are quite often a single varietal.

Jebena Buna: Ethiopian coffee ceremony

It’s not surprising that a country like Ethiopia also has long and rich traditions around drinking coffee, and their coffee ceremony is the perfect example. Here’s a photo of coffee being prepared during Reuben’s visit:

A photo posted by Sample Coffee Roasters (@samplecoffee) on Jul 2, 2016 at 6:58pm PDT

Much like here, coffee has a strong element of social bonding to it: the ceremony is about getting people together to talk.

Unlike here, they start with green beans and roast them right before brewing (we recommend giving our beans at least three days between roasting and brewing). They’re typically roasted in a frying pan over a flame, and often carried around afterwards to help cool the beans and also share the aromas with others nearby.

After grinding the beans in a mortar and pestle, they’re brewed in an unusual vessel: a long-necked ceramic kettle called a jebena. When the coffee boils up through the top of the container, it’s poured in and out of another container to cool it, then back into the jebena for serving.

Jebena

Small serving cups without handles are arranged on a tray, and the coffee is served in a continuous pour from cup to cup until they’ll all full. Traditionally the youngest child of the family will serve the coffees, with the eldest person in the room served first.

This is repeated with the same coffee grounds three times by adding fresh water: the first is called Arbol in Amharic, followed by the second,Tona, and finally the Bereka, which is also considered to be a blessing.

The way coffee is roasted and served in Ethiopia means this coffee is typically dark and bitter compared to the lighter roast that you’re drinking, so it’s also usually sweetened with sugar.

Vice Munchies capture the experience of the coffee ceremony in Addis Ababa, or Saveur magazine filmed the Ethiopian coffee ceremony if you’d like to see this in action:

And now, some jazz

One other indelible side to Ethiopia is their vibrant live jazz scene: it's one of Reuben’s highlights from the visit last year.

This 45-minute mix comes from MogaDisco, a group of four collectors of African music, and gives you a taste of the range of music coming out of Ethiopia.

 

Sourcing and ingredients

100% Ethiopian Heirloom coffee beans, provided by Cafe Imports and roasted by us on Gadigal land / Sydney.

Country grade: Unknown ?

Packaging

Bag: ABA Certified home compostable
Label: Recyclable
Valve (on bags larger than 250g): General waste
Coffee ordered online is shipped in a recyclable cardboard box

Brewing this coffee

We recommend brewing this coffee 15–49 days post-roast. If pre-ground, brew as soon as possible. Our advice on storing coffee.

Country

Ethiopia

Region

Yirgacheffe

Altitude

2000 – 2350m above sea level

Varietals

Ethiopian Heirloom

Process

Washed

Harvested

December 2015

Body

Light

Acidity

Bright

Tasting notes

Peach, orange blossom, bergamot

Roast style

Omni