Discover the Diverse Flavors of Ethiopian Coffees: Each Region Offers a Unique Taste Experience

Ethiopia has long been labeled as the birthplace of coffee (this is in the commercial sense of coffee as we know it today). Ethiopia has a number of different coffee growing regions, each lending something a bit different to what your brewed cup tastes like. This has a lot to do with how the coffee is processed (natural, full natural, washed, honey, fermented, or some combination of these) and where they are grown. 

Personally, I absolutely LOVE coffees from Ethiopia. I normally have at least 2 offerings from Ethiopia on the menu year-round and by Halloween we’ll have 4 listed. I think they are complex, diverse and unique. Complexity comes from proper roasting and understanding of what each coffee can offer or where it may fall short in some cases. Anyone can roast a coffee dark but roasting an Ethiopia coffee light or medium is where the skill of coffee roaster really shines. I have always roasted our Ethiopia Guji on the lighter end as I know it just gets muddled and falls flat when roasted too dark.

Growing Regions

The main growing regions in Ethiopia are Sidama (including Yirgacheffe), Harrar, Guji, Kaffa, Limmu, Bale, Bebeka, Tepi, & Lekempti. We have offered coffee from most of these regions while others are not offered in the states very often. This means the coffee is grown for use within the Country of Ethiopia. Each of these regions offers something a little different with each coffee produced. That’s the great thing about coffee in general. You can have one farm growing one variety of coffee, produce something totally different than a farm right next to it growing the exact same thing. You can kind of compare it to apples. Go to an apple farm and find Honeycrisp growing right next to Granny Smith. Both are apples but wow what a difference in taste. While apples don’t have the need for further processing and roasting, coffee is still considered a fruit.

Here is a bit more detail on the growing regions and what to expect when drinking each coffee. Please note that certain spellings of each region may differ a bit based on how you interact with suppliers. The spellings we use are based on our experience with our suppliers.

Sidama is a large growing region we work with a great deal. This region includes the Guji and Yirgacheffe areas (kind of like subregions). We find a great deal of naturally processed coffees from these areas where water is at a premium most times. These coffees offer distinct chocolate notes, heavy berry tones, deep florals, sugar-sweet stone fruit, black tea and some tart fruit acidity. We have purchased washed coffees from this area in the past and they are much more tart, crisp and winey.

Harrar coffees almost always naturally processed and offer some amazing chocolate notes, nutty tones and are very full bodied (heavy). We have not seen a great deal of these offered in the past few years and are holding out for a solid offering soon.

Limmu coffees are well balanced with winey notes and some fermented tastes.

Kaffa is the birthplace of Arabica coffee. It has been called the coffee forest for a number of years as the coffee was originally found growing wild in the forests of Kaffa. Today, most coffee from Kaffa is grow in small farms or gardens and is of heirloom variety from the forest. You will get notes of black tea, chocolate and stone fruit from these offerings.

Shipping

All Ethiopian coffee ships from the port of Djibouti which is a 600-mile trip from Ethiopia’s coffee hub. The cost of fuel and labor has increased in the country since COVID and larger issues loom in the shipping world. The ships that normally take the Red Sea route through the Suez Canal have sustained damage from the fighting going on in the Middle East. This has pushed the ships to take the much longer and more costly route around the entire continent of Africa. There, they have to deal with pirates. Most of the ships have now hired large armed security forces that travel on the ships to deter takeovers. Try hiring an additional 10 crew members that are military trained and are willing to live on a ship for 90 days at a time. Multiply that by the number of ships leaving the port each day. According to vesselfinder.com, at least 13 ships have departed in the past 24 hours. This is another added cost to getting the coffee to the United States. Once it arrives (if nothing holds it up) we’re faced with issues of fuel and cost of labor increases here in the states. This has caused the shipping cost alone for a full pallet of coffee increase roughly 75% from 4 years ago. This is just a small part of where increased costs are hitting our bottom line.

Summary

While this is not an exhaustive list of the growing regions, these are the most popular areas growing coffee for world use. Ethiopia offers coffee with flavor notes of berries, chocolate and deep florals. These coffees are not interchangeable with something else from around the world. They are extremely unique and highly respected.

Access to these areas of the country is difficult and costly. All coffee ships out of the port of Djibouti which is a 600-mile trip over partially paved roads. Once it arrives at port, it is loaded onto ships to navigate the seas where they face increased problems. Recently, we have seen ships discontinue use of the Red Sea trade route due to missile attacks on all vessels in the region. This has forced them to travel the longer route around the African continent costing a great deal more time and money.  

It’s not what you want to hear but costs will continue to rise and ability to grow coffee across Ethiopia will become more difficult. Simple supply and demand. Enjoy the amazing offerings we have today and take pride in knowing that you’re helping our small business survive. Stay caffeinated!