What are the characteristics of the Harald coffee producing area in Ethiopia? Sub-Hara producing area of Kafa Forest, Ethiopia

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What are the characteristics of the Harald coffee producing area in Ethiopia? Where is the sub-Hara producing area of the Kafa forest in Ethiopia?

Located in the south of the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 5 to 15), close to the equator, it belongs to tropical and subtropical climate patterns. Most areas are located between 1500m and 2400m above sea level, with average rainfall of 500--1500ML, making it the highest-lying country in Africa. The coffee produced has a unique fruit aroma and sour taste, strong and mild flavor, so that many people are fascinated by his strong flavor.

The origin of coffee in Ethiopia

According to ​, coffee is a mysterious red fruit accidentally discovered by a shepherd named KALDI when he was herding sheep in the forests of the Ethiopian plateau, according to a 17th-century book called the Sleepless Monastery. Local monks ate coffee fruit to spend the night through the religious ritual; it was later passed on by Arabs and became popular all over the world.

Ethiopia can be said to be the hometown of coffee, where the red coffee fruit is called "KAFFA BUNA". At present, there are still many wild native species of coffee in the forest of KAFFA, which is an important coffee gene bank in the world. The main mode of cultivation is rural coffee, so coffee trees are often seen symbiotic with other tree crops around the homes of small farmers.

In the Bible. In Genesis, Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating the fruit of the Tree of Wisdom. There is no doubt that this fruit has been recognized as an apple (snake) fruit when I read books when I was a child. But in fact, the Bible never mentions its name; the first coffee tree, coincidentally with the earliest human fossil (Ardi), survived about 4.4 million years ago and was found on the same continent. The red coffee fruit has a refreshing effect and seems to be related to wisdom. So it has been inferred that the Garden of Eden is in Ethiopia (Ethiopia).

A quarter of the population participates in coffee production

The spread of coffee shuttles between the northern and southern hemispheres. But in fact, its footprints in its place of origin are also quite tasty. Ethiopia (Ethiopia) is in East Africa. Its territory is divided from southwest to north by the African Rift Valley: the mountains in the west are believed to be the source of coffee; the ancient city of Hara in the east is an early Islamic city-state where coffee is exported to Yemen; the southern highlands are world-famous; and Addis Ababa, the current capital, and Lalibela, the ancient capital of the north, in the center of the country, are linked to century-old coffee rituals and traditions. 1/4 people in Ethiopia (Ethiopia) are directly or indirectly involved in coffee production. Although it is the largest coffee producer in Africa, 40% of it is reserved for domestic sale. Thus it can be seen that coffee is a part of local life.

Kaffa is the cradle of Arabica coffee. Adding up to only a few hundred varieties (congenital or derived) from countries around the world, there are tens of thousands of species in this treasure house, most of which are still unclassified. Heirlooms (original species) is the unique name of Ethiopia (Ethiopia). It seems to tell the world that its varieties are all-inclusive and only need to be summarized in one word. In addition to the ancient species Typica and Geisha, farmers are also named after their own distinctions, such as the "Sidamo species" and the "Yegashev species". Jimma Agricultural Research Center under the Ministry of Agriculture is cultivated under the code name. For example, Ninety Plus's Kemgin coffee comes from the variety codes 74110 and 7487.

Ethiopian coffee beans

In the early days, coffee beans produced in Ethiopia were mainly treated by the earth and had more miscellaneous flavors, so water washing treatment was introduced around 1970, adding a clean and pure flavor layer. however, with the pursuit of unique flavor of boutique coffee and the improvement of sun shelf technology, the proportion of sun and water washing now accounts for about half. The growing pattern of coffee is mainly small farmers, and most of them are sold by cooperatives. In recent years, the rise of boutique coffee has gradually increased the single farm system (SINGLE FARM PROJECT, referred to as SFP), bringing new opportunities for transformation to the industry, and people will look forward to it in the future.

The more well-known producing areas are Sidamo SIDAMO, Yegashev YIRGACHEFFE, Cochel KOCHERE, Hara Harar and Jima DJIMMA.

Farmers' planting model is primitive.

Yegashev, Ethiopia. ETHIOPIA YIRGACHEFFE

When it comes to Ethiopian coffee, Yegashev is the most familiar, because of its unique flower aroma and obvious sweet and sour fruit flavor, Yegashev became independent from the SIDAMO producing area of Sidamo in 1995. Officially known as "Yegashev", it covers the producing areas of Vanago WANAGO, Yegashev YIRGACHEFFE, Kochel KOCHERE, Jinrina Ambaya GELENA ABAYA, etc., and the coffee produced in these areas is collectively called Yegashev.

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And 'Yegashev' is a synonym for "flavor" and stands for "Yegashev coffee flavor", so in ECX's trading system, coffee beans in Yegashev producing areas are divided into ECXA: Yegashev coffee beans ECXB: coffee beans without Yegashev flavor, so even if you buy Yegashev coffee, it doesn't mean it has Yegashev flavor. It also depends on whether the cup has the "Yegashev coffee flavor", while the espresso introduces G1 grade boutique coffee beans with unique Yegashev flavor, which is worth savoring carefully.

Grading system of Ethiopian Coffee

In the early Ethiopian coffee grading system, only water-washed beans had the grade of G1--G2, while the grade of sun-dried beans began with G3. However, with the development of the sun-drying method and the market demand for grading of fine sun-dried beans, after the implementation of the ECX trading system, both sun-washed beans and sun-washed beans had G1--G5 grades. However, because the higher the level, the higher the export tax, so many traders still adopt the traditional grading method in order to avoid it.

In addition to the familiar G1--G5 rating, ECX will also grade G1--G3 coffee beans in SCAA cups, and then divide the coffee beans into the highest grade Q1 and the second highest grade Q2 level II (SPECIALTY COFFEE).

The establishment of the classification system is mainly used to distinguish the proportion of defective beans, and can not judge whether the flavor is good or bad, and the evaluation of the main flavor still needs to be measured through the cup flavor spectrum; the care of defective beans removal will also affect the flavor of a cup of coffee.

What is the ECX transaction system?

ECX's full name is ETHIOPIAN COMMODITIES EXCHANGE, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange. Simplify the supply chain of local agricultural products through the government mechanism to ensure that buyers and sellers can be protected and make their products internationalized and transparent, so that farmers can have reasonable selling prices without being subjected to multiple levels of exploitation.

​ 's move is of positive help to most agricultural and coffee farmers, but for the third wave of boutique coffee, which emphasizes traceability and unique flavor, it is impossible to grasp the origin of this collective sales classification method. Therefore, many cooperatives or single farms will bypass ECX and adopt their own sales method to enhance the flavor of other producing areas. This will be a new trend in the future.

Since ancient times, Ethiopian people have been planted, harvested, processed and cooked by hand. In the 1970s and 1980s of industrialization, the country also benefited from misfortune because it promoted socialism and retained small-scale production under the prohibition of the military regime Derg. Until modern times, the planting mode of farmers is also quite primitive. In the western forest areas (Kaffa, Illubabor), they will use local materials to harvest coffee fruits (Forest Coffees) from wild fruit trees. They don't fertilize or cut tree trunks, so their production capacity is very low. In the Semi Forest Farming model, farmers move trees from the forest to farmland and irrigate them with organic manure. The most common Garden farming is family farming, which is planned by the nursery. More than half of farmers also operate in the most common model in Africa.

After harvest, farmers will sell the fruit to nearby treatment plants. However, because Egypt has registered the production areas (Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Harar), the law stipulates that farmers in the same area can only be sold to the treatment plants in the same area. The price is also regulated by the government. With the exception of a few accredited cooperatives, all coffee is mixed and auctioned by the Commodity Exchange (ECX). For example, the exchange code WSDB coffee, is the first-class and second-class water wash Sidamo. But this shipment is actually a mixture of Aleda, Wondo, Amaro, Dale, Wensho and other nine producing areas in Sidamo province! Under the tide of boutique products that like to "find out the root and ask the bottom", the practice of the authorities is going against the trend.