Where is the origin of Ethiopian coffee? What are the characteristics of Kafa Forest Coffee?

In Ethiopia, coffee cultivation can be divided into three modes, namely courtyard cultivation, manor cultivation and forest cultivation. Courtyard planting is when coffee trees are planted by farmers in their own backyard or mixed with other crops in their fields, and finally handed over to nearby treatment stations or cooperatives for treatment and export. These methods are most common in Ethiopia, accounting for half of the country's total coffee production.

Manor cultivation is like the Rosa Village manor, which covers a large area and has its own processing plant and laboratory, but this model is relatively rare in Ethiopia, where only about 10% of the country is a coffee farm.

In addition, the most special in Ethiopia is the forest planting model, which is mainly in the Kaffa Zone region of southwestern Ethiopia, where coffee was first found and is the hometown of coffee. At present, there are still countless wild Arabica coffee mother trees growing in the local Kafa forest, under protection.

According to historical records, the reason why the area is called Kaffa comes from an ancient kingdom in history, the Kingdom of Kafa (Kingdom of Kaffa). The kingdom was annexed by the Ethiopian Empire at the end of the 19th century and became part of Ethiopia.

But in the earliest days when coffee was not systematically planted, coffee trees grew wild in the wild south of Ethiopia and formed a dense rainforest. However, due to people's land development, deforestation and other activities, caused damage to the forest. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the exploitation rate of Kafa forest reached 11000 hectares per year between 1988 and 2008.

So the government divided the area into a Kafa Biosphere Reserve (Kafa Biosphere Reserve), which is surrounded by a number of national parks. The Midwest is the Gesha National Forest Reserve, where the famous Rosa species in Panama come from.

The Kafa Biosphere Reserve covers an area of about 760144 hectares, of which the forest area is 422260 hectares and the forest area is more than 50 per cent. It seems that the Kafa forest is not very different from the ordinary tropical rain forest, which is rich in original ecology, red soil, rainfall and rich vegetation and biology. the difference is that the Kafa forest is made up of coffee trees to a large extent. Coffee trees grow at an altitude of 1400-2100 meters.

Coffee plants will naturally fall with the seeds, or will be transported by animals and birds to other parts of the forest to make them reproduce naturally. At present, the Kafa Forest has given birth to about 5000 coffee tree species, which is the richest gene pool for Arabica coffee varieties. At present, about 30 coffee producers' cooperatives have been established around the Kafa protected area, where farmers harvest coffee berries from the forest during coffee maturity and sell them after treatment.

Qianjie also got a kind of coffee beans from Kafa Forest, which was washed and roasted in medium and shallow, with a faint scent of flowers, bright lemon acidity and sweet orange and bergamot flavor. Huigan has a nutty aroma and tastes like green tea.

For more information about coffee producing areas, please scan the code directly and follow: coffee comments.

Long press the QR code to follow: