What does Ethiopian coffee Heirloom mean? Is it Arabica? What does the world's top coffee producing area, Ethiopia, taste like?

As we all know, Qianjie is a coffee bean seller, selling dozens of coffee beans. In the bean list on Qianjie, coffee beans from Ethiopia account for the largest proportion. After all, coffee beans from Ethiopia can definitely be said to be of good quality and low price. Many friends, including Qianjie, have a soft spot for Ethiopia beans.

Then, a friend discovered this situation while shopping: the vast majority of Ethiopian coffee varieties are "Heirloom/native species." This is the case not only in Qianjie, but also in Ethiopian beans sold by other merchants. So people can't help but wonder why most of Ethiopia's coffee bean varieties are "native species"? In fact, the reason why most Ethiopian coffee is native is also shared by Qianjie in previous articles is closely related to local coffee production. So if we want to know the cause of the incident, we first need to know what the native species is.

What is a native species? The so-called native species does not refer to a specific coffee variety. It is a general term for Ethiopian coffee beans, which refers to all coffee beans grown in Ethiopia. In the Oxford English Dictionary, the interpretation of the word "Heirloom" has "a valuable asset for generations." The meaning of this is that since the 9th century AD, local people have begun to utilize wild coffee resources, and these coffees have been passed down from generation to generation as agricultural cultural heritage until today, like heirloom, so Heirloom is also translated as "heirloom", but most of the time, people are still more accustomed to calling it "native species", which means coffee grown locally in Ethiopia. (Mainly refers to coffee that has not been screened by modern breeding and has mixed varieties)

The reason why Ethiopia needs native species to collectively refer to locally produced coffee beans is because this place is different from other coffee-producing countries and there is no way to identify and distinguish each coffee variety. Why? Because as the birthplace of Arabica coffee, Ethiopia is home to thousands of different coffee varieties. Some studies estimate that the number of coffee varieties existing in Ethiopia is as high as 10000, making Ethiopia the largest coffee gene bank in the world.

Precisely because of its large scale, accurate classification and identification have become a huge challenge for Ethiopia. Of course, this is just one reason. In addition, it is also due to the local coffee production model. Only 10% of Ethiopia's coffee comes from large farms or estates, and the remaining 90% comes from wild harvesting and smallholder cultivation. Among them, coffee grown and produced by small farmers accounts for most of the total output, because there are many coffee farmers in Ethiopia who grow coffee in their courtyards or fields. When the coffee is ripe, it is harvested and sent to a nearby processing plant/cooperative for sale.

Whether it is wild coffee harvested deep in the forest or coffee grown by small farmers, it can be said that most of the coffee cherries sent to the processing plant/cooperative are not a single variety, but a mixture of countless unidentified varieties. Batch. Because without any requirements, coffee farmers pick whatever they have and grow whatever they have. They don't care what kind of coffee it is. As long as the quantity is enough, they can be exchanged for money. As a result, the processing plant/cooperative receives coffee of a variety. It is also impossible for the processing plant/cooperative to identify and subdivide these varieties, and they are also mixed together for processing and then sold.

In order to solve the problem of difficult classification of caffeine varieties exported from Ethiopia, after the concept of fine coffee appeared in international trade, people began to use the name 'Heirloom'(native species) to collectively refer to these coffees. This not only solves the problem of export information labeling, but also emphasizes the originality and value of Ethiopian coffee. So this is why most of the coffee produced in Ethiopia today is native! Of course, as Qianjie said, most of the coffee produced in Ethiopia is only native species. There are also some manors and cooperatives that plant and produce a single variety in order to emphasize a single variety. For example, in Qianjie bean list, Qianjie Guixia Village Jinbiao Guixia, Hongbiao Guixia, Qianjie Essei Hamau, ALO and other beans are all single varieties.

Mixed varieties are not a bad thing. Although they are different in size and appearance, the flavor performance will not be confusing, because the flavor of coffee will be more affected by the unique geographical conditions and climate of the production area where they are grown. Impact, what we taste from it is more of the flavor of the production area. For example, the variety in Qianjie Bean List is Qianjie Essei Huakui, the native species. This bean is a more classic Esseguji flavor. The brewed coffee taste is mainly sweet and sour, and the flavor is expressed as citrus, strawberry, oolong tea, pineapple.

Or another bean in Qianjie Bean List that is a native species-Qianjie Yejia Shefei·Guodin. The flavor of this bean is a very pure Yejia Shefei flavor, and the brewed coffee tastes relatively soft., the flavor is expressed as white floral flowers, lemon, green tea, and berries. So the above is all the content shared on Qianjie this time. Interested friends can try it for themselves. Ethiopian coffee is really very good ~

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