What’s special about Ethiopia and coffee?
spilling the beans about Ethiopia and coffee!
“Coffee and love taste best when hot.”
What’s special about Ethiopia and coffee?
The Ethiopian flag - colourful and full of hope
You may know that I love to travel even more than I love coffee - and that’s a lot! I’ve been very fortunate to have travelled, worked and lived all around the world.
One of the most special places I visited - and the place with the best coffee by far - was Ethiopia.
Here are some quick facts about Ethiopia to ponder while you enjoy a cup of fresh brewed coffee.
1. ETHIOPIA IS THE BIRTHPLACE OF COFFEE
Coffee has been a popular beverage here for literally hundreds of years.
Scroll down for the full scoop on how coffee was discovered about 1200 years ago. True! People have been enjoying coffee for at least 12 centuries!
2. ETHIOPIA HAS ITS OWN COFFEE RITUAL
Ethiopians love coffee and drink a ton of it. About half of the coffee grown in Ethiopia is exported - the rest is consumed domestically. This is unlike its neighbours Tanzania and Kenya which also grow excellent coffee but export almost all of it.
Making a cup of coffee in an Ethiopian home is completely different from the Canadian experience. Coffee is a full ritual with a ceremony that is performed daily in many households.
It involves roasting green coffee, grinding it, brewing in a special coffee pot, then drinking 3 rounds of coffee. This ceremony can take 2 hours - pretty different from the grab & go coffee culture of Canada!
Scroll down for a fuller recount of an Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
3. ETHIOPIA IS THE LARGEST AFRICAN PRODUCER - AND CONSUMER - OF COFFEE
Ethiopia is a small country geographically yet is the 5th largest producer of coffee in the world. And only about half of its coffee is exported. Ethiopians keep and drink up the rest!
Ethiopia has a mountainous and diverse geography, much of it ideal for coffee growing.
The country literally runs on coffee. Coffee accounts for about 30% of Ethiopia’s exports and employs about a quarter of the population. Millions of workers across the country depend on coffee to make a living, mostly as farmers and farm workers.
Most Ethiopian coffee is traded on the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) which got started in 2008. The ECX has mostly been beneficial for Ethiopian coffee farmers but, like most things, it is not perfect. Perfect Daily Grind has a great article about the ECX: What Is The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange?
4. THE ARK OF THE COVENANT IS IN ETHIOPIA
Contrary to what you saw in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, many people believe that the Ark of the Covenant is in a church in Ethiopia and has been there for about 3,000 years.
The Ark was brought to Ethiopia from Jerusalem by the Queen of Sheba and placed for safekeeping in one of Ethiopia’s many churches. (You did know that Ethiopia is predominantly Christian, right? The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has been around since the 4th or 5th century!) The Ark is said to be kept in The Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum. Though every Ethiopian church has a replica in its inner sanctum and only the guardian of the ark knows for sure - no-one else is permitted to even look at it.
5. ADDIS ABABA IS FULL OF ITALIAN-STYLE ESPRESSO BARS
I was surprised when I visited Ethiopia to find many Italian-style espresso bars in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. Why Italian-style cafes?
Ethiopia is the only African country that was not colonized in the 1800s and 1900s. However, it was occupied by the Italians from 1936-1941 which brought a large number of Italians to Ethiopia and many of them stayed after the occupation ended.
When I visited, Addis Ababa’s espresso bars had wonderful cappuccinos and pastries, plus delicious fruit juices. Fresh squeezed from local fruits, so enjoyable when sitting on a patio, watching the hustle and bustle of the city.