You travel on until you return home; you live on until you return to earth. – Ethiopian Proverb
Ethiopia is a fascinating country. ‘The Land of Origins’ has a rich history, hospitable people with deep spiritual traditions, indescribably beautiful landscapes with striking natural contrasts. Ethiopia is the home the world’s rarest animals and plants and the origin of the Blue Nile which merges with the White Nile in Sudan to form the longest river of the world.
Coffee is our bread. – Ethiopian Proverb
Ethiopia is widely regarded as the the ‘birthplace’ of the wild coffee plant ‘Arabica’. Which is now growing in various countries around the world. For centuries, growing and drinking coffee has been an important aspect of the Ethiopian way of life. Many Ethiopians rely on coffee for their livelihood. The traditional coffee ceremony celebrates religion, family and friendship.
The best of mankind is a farmer; the best food is fruit. – Ethiopian Proverb
Ethiopia’s local varieties are called “Ethiopian Heirloom” or Ethiopian heritage. Most Heirloom coffees are naturally occurring descendants of the Typica or Bourbon varietals of the Coffea Arabica species. It’s estimated that Ethiopia is the home of several thousand different coffee varieties. Thousands of Heirloom varieties grow wild in the forests. In Ethiopia, more than thousand Heirloom varieties are known, but there are still many unknown varieties.
‘When you see “Ethiopian Heirloom” written on a bag of coffee. It means that it was probably grown wild or in a lightly cultivated garden.’ More here:
Jospeh Brodsky – who runs the Denver-based importing company Ninety Plus Coffee – is an Heirloom-coffee enthusiast. Ninety Plus grows and produces single-origin, single-variety coffee in Ethiopia. They cooperate with local farmers in harvesting the county’s ancient and delicate beans. Brodsky is also on the mission to discover and explore unidentified types of wild varieties in Ethiopia. He wants to introduce the best of Ethiopia’s wild coffees to the world. He already introduced two new varieties: Aricha and Beloya.
Theoretically, each coffee-growing village could be growing a different variety.
