Origin
About this lot
ORIGIN Ethiopia holds near-legendary status in the global story of coffee. Unlike many coffee-growing countries, the plant was not introduced as a cash crop though colonization. Instead, the species Arabica evolved and adapted over hundreds of years to the shade canopy of the biodiverse sub-tropical rainforests in the East and West of the Great Rift Valley. Heirloom varieties are coffee plants that grow indigenously and there are thousands of varieties that offer up a kaleidoscope of flavour potential. Ethiopia’s coffee production also supports the trade balance of a country with more than 100 million people. It is the main source of the country’s foreign currency income and is estimated that more than a quarter of the population depend directly on coffee production. The majority of smallholder producers cultivate less than one hectare of land and their ‘garden coffee’ grows alongside su