Birthplace of Coffee | know the raw beans of Ethiopia

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Ethiopia is the birthplace of Arabica coffee.

According to research, wild Arabica grows in the forests of the Kaffa region of Ethiopia. Ethiopians have been drinking coffee longer than anyone else. Coffee is an essential drink in daily life, and about 50% of the output is for domestic demand.

Now located in the forests in the south and southwest of Ethiopia, there are still wild coffee trees with a large number of varieties, which is a valuable database for breeders.

About 25 per cent of the population (about 15 million) is related to coffee production, of which 90 per cent of coffee beans are produced by small farmers, accounting for more than half of Ethiopia's GDP. Coffee is widely grown in southwestern, southern and eastern Ethiopia. The most famous is Harrar in the east and Sidamo in the south.

* Harrar is sun-treated coffee with a touch of red wine.

* Sidamo in the south is famous for its washing treatment. Sidamo coffee beans have a delicate flavor and have a special floral flavor.

* Yirgacheffe, a village in Sidamo, has amazing perfume, lemon, peach and other flavors. Yirgacheffe is so special because of its local and climatic conditions, which makes the coffee produced by Yirgacheffe so prominent.

Since December 2008, coffee has been incorporated into the crop trading platform-Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) by the Ethiopian government. Since then, all coffee transactions have to go through the platform set up by the government, which has completely changed the way Ethiopian coffee beans were traded in the past.

In the past, Ethiopian coffee beans were traded through the country's competitive bidding system, which has evolved to allow exporters to trade directly with producers, which is very important for importers and roasters. Because they can know the source of coffee beans, which also connects the consumer side with the production side, so that consumer countries can work with producing countries to produce better and more unique coffee. Consumer countries will also want to help producing countries in order to know who produces it, improve the living standards of producing countries, and make them more aware of environmental conservation, which is also positive for the production and quality of coffee.

The bidding is held in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. Before the bidding begins, Coffee Liquoring Unit will evaluate the coffee and grade it, and the buyer will start bidding for the desired bid. In the bidding system, there is a category of businessmen called "mill exporters". They have their own mill (washing treatment plant) and export license. Mill, which plays a central role in the coffee supply chain, Mill relies on local farmers to supply coffee fruit.

Mill exporters's role is as a "producer, processor, exporter", they do not have to sell coffee beans to exporters, because they can export, although this is technically illegal, but loopholes in Ethiopian law allow mill exporters to sell coffee beans to themselves at very low prices to avoid unnecessary taxes, and then sell coffee abroad in the role of exporters to make a difference. Mill exporter can also send coffee beans to the Addis Ababa exchange for domestic sale. Ethiopia is one of the few producers with strong domestic demand for coffee. Mill exporter can get higher prices for domestic sales of coffee and avoid taxes. As far as small farmers are concerned, there is no future exploitation, and they will never get the profit from the high price of mill exporter.