Ethiopian Coffee

 

Locally roasted Ethiopian Coffee.

Saturday, Carol and Nat offered us a cup of Ethiopian coffee made with steamed milk, using beans that they buy from the Hyperion local coffee roasters in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  It was quite delicious. Carol has been experimenting with various types of Ethiopian-grown coffee, which are processed somewhat differently than other single-origin coffee beans. In response to her enthusiasm, I've been looking into the story of Ethiopian coffee and local sources of Ethiopian beans. The fact that the coffee plant is native to Ethiopia and that coffee cultivation began there makes it all the more interesting.

I find single-origin coffees to be very appealing, for example, the coffees from Costa Rica, which we sometimes buy as a result of our visit to a coffee processing collective in Costa Rica, or coffee from Peru, which is rather hard to find but which we found delicious when traveling there. After visiting a coffee plantation in Hawaii, I often ordered coffee shipped directly from there, but it became too expensive.

Several of the local small-scale coffee roasters are very aware of a number of issues about coffee. They care about the welfare of coffee plantation workers in the far corners of the world, and make an effort to have ethically-grown products.

The various methods of processing coffee beans are also interesting, for example, washing the raw beans or allowing them to dry without washing them or removing the "coffee cherry" attached to the beans. Ethiopian coffee uses this "natural" method of processing, which affects the flavor of the coffee. There are also various ways that coffee beans undergo a fermentation process before they are roasted.

Ethiopian Coffee from Roos Roast.

A picture of this Ethiopian single-origin coffee is on the Roos Roast website, but their only single-origin selection at the moment seems to be from Indonesia. Our current favorite coffees are Roos Roast blends of beans from multiple origins.

Roos Roast makes an effort to find ethical sources for their coffee, and most of their product is Fair Trade Organic, meaning that they focus on ethical treatment of workers as well as on organic agricultural methods. They are very aware of environmental issues in their processing as well -- they use a high-efficiency roaster that produces much less smoke than most equipment. Recently, their entire roof has been covered with solar panels to conserve energy. 

The Roos Roast building is in walking distance of my house, so we often walk there when we need to buy coffee. When we were isolating from contact with people, Roos Roast also made it very easy to buy coffee safely, so we have used their coffee consistently. I'm looking forward to being able to drink coffee in the café part of the shop when it fully reopens.

Another local roaster's selection of
Ethiopian coffee beans.

A bit further from our home, but a place we sometimes shop is the well-known food business Zingerman's. Here is what Zingerman's has to say about their Ethiopian coffee beans:

"Here at Zingerman’s, we are committed to traditionally-made, full-flavored food. For that reason, we find Ethiopia a really interesting coffee growing region. It is, of course, the birthplace of coffee — and we’ve all heard the story of Kaldi and his goats. But we are also fascinated by the stunning amount of flavor variety found in coffees from Ethiopia. Various combinations of plant genetics, micro-climate, and processing method produce cup profiles that range from citrusy, floral, bright, and elegant, to rustic, spicy, and deeply fruity.

"This coffee falls squarely in the rustic camp. It is a 'natural' or 'dry' processed coffee, meaning that the fruit flesh from the coffee cherry was left attached to the bean as it dried. Natural processed coffees, and this one in particular, have intense fruit characteristics. Famed the world over for its distinctive blueberry mocha flavor, Harrar coffee fetches some of the highest prices for unwashed coffee in the world market."

I don't know if I'll experiment with Ethiopian coffee or not, but I am curious about all the many flavors and origins of coffee that are available around us. I notice that amazon.com has a very wide selection of Ethiopian coffee available, but I'm really happy that I now feel safe shopping in person! We have so many local roasters here that it's really fun to check out all the possibilities.

Blog post © 2021 mae sander, images as credited.