You Might Want to Ration Your Ethiopian Coffee

by Monika Bartyzel, Posted Mar 30th 2009 @ 3:00PM

One of the most delightful and plentiful coffee bean regions is Ethiopia, offering "percs" that include Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Harrar and Limu. As a home coffee roaster, one of my greatest delights is pulling out some Harrar, letting the roasting smells infiltrate my apartment, and then partake in its smooth, rich and reliable flavor. And if you think it's just coffee snobbery, a report once stated that Harrar was "the single most requested coffee from our customers and partners" at Starbucks.

But the whole rich and diverse world of Ethiopian coffee might be in danger.

As The New York Times reports, the Ethiopian government has suspended the licenses of the largest coffee exporters, meaning that for the time being, no coffee is leaving Ethiopia. But there's a little more to it. See, the government thinks that exporters are keeping coffee off the market to get the prices to rise. So, to make sure all beans get an adequate price, the government mandated that growers sell their crops through the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange.

While great in theory, it has one big flaw -- roasters outside of Ethiopia wouldn't be able to buy beans from a specific, beloved farmer. The prevalent fear: This means the end of location-specific Ethiopian purchases -- so buying Yirgacheffe coffee wouldn't be the bean we've come to know, but rather a sort of all-round brand.

The ordeal is still playing out, but popular stores like The Green Beanery are already selling out some Ethiopian brands, so if you have a deep love for a specific, tasty region, you might want to to pick up some extra.

Filed Under: Business, Food Politics
Tags: coffee, coffee importation, CoffeeImportation, Ethiopian coffee, EthiopianCoffee, roasting, Yirgacheffe

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-30-2009 @5:25PM Bear said... That's hideous, actually. The link between producers in-country and coffee buyers here has been the key to improving quality in specialty coffee, and my impression has been that that process has done a lot for wages for coffee workers everywhere. To hear that it has been reversed in Ethiopia, of all places, is horrible news.
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3-30-2009 @6:56PM David Johnson said... I hate it when they do that. That's all we need, another government as a middle-man in the world market. Isn't it enough already that the government of Ethiopia has the corner on the finest coffees in the world?
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