A 2011 trip to farms and washing stations in Western Ethiopia coffee lands.
Okay, so it wasn’t that frosty, but the nights were cold, I swear. I am uploading some not-so-recent travelogues to the the world wide interweb, and realized this trip to Western EthiopiaEthiopia, formerly known as Abyssinia, or a coffee cultivar: Ethiopia, or more specifically the Empire under Haile Selassie, was known as Abyssinia. The name is Latin, derived from... ...more from January 2011 had some amusing images. I have made quite a few trips out there since but this was the first time I landed in the farther reaches of Illubabor, as well as covering Jimma pretty well.
There is a lot of promise for wet-processed coffee in the West, which was traditionally sold as low grade, undifferentiated dry-process coffee. With the new work we are doing there, farmers are receiving premiums far beyond what they ever could get for natural coffees of a commercial level.
And much of this is based on the fantastic work of Technoserve to provide business advice, agricultural assistance, and market support to these cooperatives. – Tom
Rounding out a great trip, some great fasting food in Addis. Tenestelem, Ethiopia! 
The Red Fox of coffee. Now a big tattoo on somebody’s body… 
Basically the best photo of white honey every taken. Don’t steal it! Getting all Macro-like at coche. It’s the birthplace of coffee, and don’t you say it isn’t! Fou knocks your socks off. Definitely filling stuff though… A downright cheery guy. But the cooperative is a bit of a mess… X means No…. You don’t even know how difficult it is to say “Tibs” with the correct pronunciation. You could work at it for years and still not get it right. Definitely makes me want a cold Bedele beer. How about you? We had to stop at the world-famous Bedele brewery, and see the fantasic mural of the drunk monkey. Government forest, government pines, official stuff. Chicken wire, rake, emptiness. So sad. Where’s the coffee? Mergia, charm and grace in one package! 
Just hanging out on wrecked construction equipment. It’s kinda a “thing” I’m into… at origin. Call me odd, whatever. 
I wish we had a warehouse manager like her, sigh. Fanta is basically the name for a soda in much of Africa. So you wonder what Fanta’s parents were thinking Classic Carl, off in the shrubs, at Baro. in Oromifa, a lot of vowels are added as a clue to correct pronunciation. So Baro becomes Baaroo. Fiseha is an easy gping guy with a lot of coffee experience. Classic machine found all over Ethiopia. Amazing honey in Yayo, Ethiopia. All the honey in the west is pretty spectacular. Agaro is a good town to buy honey. 
Something seems mildly wrong with brewing Colombia in Ethiopia. But I didn’t bring coffee – it was Aleco’s selection of some pretty amazing Stumptown coffee from Pedregal. Breakfast at Yayo Town, Illubabor, Ethiopia At Breakfast at Yayo Town, Illubabor, Ethiopia So this was basically a trucker prostitute place we ahd to stay at on our way to the far west. The room was clean, and I survived. Enough said. The water quality is a bit of an issue in the Jimma lab, but the quality of the roasting has greatly improved since our first visit. They have a single-barrel electric Probat. 
Hopefully this is not an omen about the quality of Ethiopia coffee this year. I had time only to do a couple roast to check the function, not to really dial in the machine. My first roast stalled a bit, but that was just because I was being too gentle with the heat. I brought a 220 volt version of the Quest to Addis to test for use out in the field, or in more remote cupping labs. It worked really well! A no-go kinda place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
One Response
Feel free to make comments on this travelogue