A visit to the birthplace of coffee (and humanity).

Ethiopia holds a special place for many of us that work in speciality coffee. One of our industry leaders Peter Guiliano, now director of research for the Speciality Coffee Association , coined a phrase ‘Yirgacheffe moment’. That seminal moment when tasting a coffee turns your opinions and pre-conceptions about what ‘coffee’ tastes like on their head. He’s quoted to say that many baristas, roasters etc had their Yirgacheffe moment and it was then they fell in love with coffee.

I had my Yirgacheffe moment long before I started working in coffee and well before Crankhouse was born. I remember a new shop had opened in Brisbane which was a branch of a well known Sydney business. After a Sunday ride, a few of us stopped at this new fancy spot for our usual post-ride flat white. I noticed a board with a description of the ‘house’ coffee, and then the ‘special’, a natural Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia. I had heard of Ethiopia of course, but ‘Natural Yirgacheffe’ meant nothing to me. I remember asking the barista what it meant and he described Yirgacheffe as a region in Ethiopia and Natural as a way of processing the coffee before export. He said it was much more fruity than their house coffee and tasted of blueberries, and with a little milk, like a blueberry yoghurt. Yeh - right ! It did of course. That was 2003.

Up until about 5 or 6 years ago, if anyone had asked me my favourite coffee origin I would have said Ethiopia. I’d roasted and tasted some delicious washed and naturals from various importers and regions and washing stations such as Sidamo, Guji, Yirgacheffe, Limu, Yukro, Bale Montain, Rocko Mountain... the list goes on. So what happened 5 or 6 years ago to change my mind ? Colombia happened of course. Not that Colombia wasn’t producing good clean washed coffees before that, but what we’ve seen in this period is an explosion of experimental fermentation techniques which have changed the face of post-harvest processing and its influence on flavour profile that just didn’t exist before. The likes of Diego Bermudez, Sebastian Ramirez and Wilton Benitez are just a few of the big names that have become superstars in the last few years, pushing the boundaries of processing with infusions, extended anaerobic fermentations, inoculations with specific yeast cultures and thermal shock. Colombia rocked the speciality coffee world and for me stood head and shoulders above since it now still offered great washed coffee with very different profiles across its growing regions but also great naturals and amazing super processed coffees. Almost a one stop shop for speciality.

It wasn’t that Ethiopian coffees were no longer good, they just weren’t WOW. We’ve had solid washed and naturals on the Crankhouse list over that period and now and again we’ve had something that little bit special. Then last year, at a small cupping event outside of the London Coffee Festival I met Atrie from Coffee Legends, a new importer into the UK market and a family owned business. Super friendly and enthusiastic about the UK marketplace and the coffees he was bringing in from his family's business Daye Bensa in Ethiopia. He gave us some green samples to take away and as soon as we got back we roasted and cupped them. They were both excellent and we ordered some bags immediately of both the washed Boreta and the Natural Rumudamo. For me, these were the best Ethiopians I’d tasted in years.

In November last year, Atrie sent me an email asking if I’d be interested in visiting Ethiopia and seeing the Daye Bensa operation and the washing stations including Boreta and Rumudamo. Of course I would, and with knowledge that Jack and Fran would be able to run the Crankhouse show in my absence, I booked it.

After arriving at Addis Bole airport I was met by Tame, a Daye Bensa driver (one of many) who took me to their own coffee shop Dukamo, to kill some time before my midday flight to Hawassa to meet Atrie. Dukamo would fit in amongst the best speciality shops I’ve been to in any major city. Slick design and decor, a great coffee menu and some tasty sweet and savoury snacks. Plus very friendly baristas, and even though we were waiting at the door for them to open at 8am they were polite and enthusiastic.  The coffee menu was well curated and I opted for the Gatta Shantawene on V60 since this is where I was heading later that day. The manager was particular enthusiastic for me to try ‘traditional’ Ethiopian coffee from a Jebena, another right of passage that I couldn’t turn down. They use a very dark roasted coffee, grind it fine and then boil it in a traditional pot over coals. The result is something so intense and bitter that it was quite a shock to my poor palate.

A short 35 mins flight to the tiny Hawassa airport and I was closer to the birthplace of Coffee than I’d ever been. The view from the small turbo-prop plane coming into land was on of dry arid landscape, and it looked so HOT. Atrie was there to greet me and before setting off for our 3 hr drive to Bensa and then Gatta Farm we had a quick stop at the Dukamo coffee shop in Hawassa. This is where I was first introduced to the owners of Daye Bensa and Atrie’s brother in laws, Asefa and Mulugeta, both huge men (probably 6’6”) and the deference shown to them from people milling around gave me an indication that they were very important and respected. Over the course of the trip, Atrie told me about the size of their family operation, with 3 farms, 76 wet mills, various warehouses and a dry mill in Addis. This year they have targeted 40M kgs cherry and at the time of writing have already received and processed 38M kgs with some wet mills still receiving cherry from the 40000 or so small holder farmers that contribute to them. The turn out ratio used in Ethiopia from Cherry to green is 1 to 6. So, 40/6 = 6.67M kgs green. When we think about logistics a standard container is 19200 kgs of green. So, 364.5 containers.. let’s make it a nice round 365 shall we… ie one container for every day of the year. Of that approximately 70% goes to commercial and 30% speciality. That’s still 110 containers of speciality grade (G1/G2) coffees.

The 3 hr drive out of Hawassa towards Bensa and Gatta Farm started well. Smooth tarmac’d roads with the occasional bumpy dirt or muddy section. As time went on the broken bits got worse, longer with deeper ruts and I was thankful of our 4WD. I asked Atrie why the roads were so bad even though the tarmac sections looked relatively new. He explained that the original contractors had run out of money and the roads were left unfinished.. until a Chinese firm took on the contract and finished it. They’d requested more money and weren’t successful so put the top tarmac layer down over unfinished hard-top (the necessary layers underneath). So, presto - a bit of rain and time and the tarmac broke up and it reverted to a dirt track.

By the time we’d turned off this main highway (which would have gone on through Yirgacheffe and beyond to the Kenyan border and to Nairobi), the roads were far worse (or so I thought). At Bensa it was evident there was a major road construction project ongoing and the 9kms from Bensa to Gatta took it to a whole new level. I can’t remember how many times we drove that 9km stretch in the next couple of days, but it felt a lot.  We arrived to Gatta farm as dark fell and I was shown my lodge. Gatta farm is split in two, Shantawene and Bombe, with Shantawene consisting of a drying station, a QC lab, a meeting room and as of very recently 10 lodges for guests to stay. Quick drop of the bags and back in the car for the first return journey on the bumpy 9km dirt track for dinner at 2021 CoE winner Timaru Tedesse Tesema's house along with some Chinese guests from Grand Cru coffee and KW Coffee. See what I did there.. dinner at CoE winner’s house, just like that !

The morning of day 1 was spent at Gatta farm itself where we were shown around the drying beds and processing areas by Birtukan a young and knowledgable host. It turns out she’s a Q processing professional and cupper. Birtukan came through the trainee program that Daye Bensa have been running for the past 5 years. There are 30 spots available each year and about 200 fresh graduates apply, with the final 30 selected by in person interview. We sat down for a traditionally processed coffee (60 mins from cherry to cup) with this year’s trainees and had a little Q&A. Some spoke good English and were interested about what the white visitor did and I happily obliged. I asked them their degrees and they came from a mixture of Plant Science, Horticulture, Agro Business and Food Engineering, all with some natural science background.  The best of them will be offered permanent positions at Daye Bensa in some capacity (like Birtukan) and the remainder will be given 6 month contracts whilst they look for employment elsewhere.

Then along the 9km dirt track for lunch and a quick visit to the Bensa warehouse and small de-hulling operation for naturals that come through, and my first cupping in the Bensa QC lab with Bensa’s head of quality and Q-grader Umar and his protege Abate. On the table were a selection of washed, naturals and anaerobics from some familiar names, Boreta and Rumudamo amongst them. It’s always interesting cupping with quality professionals in their own environment. They roast and cup approximately 30 coffees a day 6 days a week during the harvest period as coffees arrive in the warehouse. Every coffee is scored according to the SCA system, and logged in the head office QC database assigned with a unique lot number related to the washing station and cherry delivery date, alongside information such as arrival date to the mill, lot size etc. One of the coffees (the Rumudamo natural) was poorly roasted in their manual Probat barrel roaster and I struggled tasting through the roast to identify if it was fundamentally a good coffee. Umar assured me that it was and they would as a matter of course, re-roast that coffee and cup it again. After a couple of rounds we discussed the coffees and I knew immediately which mill has Umar’s heart. Rumudamo has only been in the Daye Bensa lineup for a few years. Prior to that under the previous ownership it has placed very highly (2nd and 3rd places) in CoE competition and is considered by many to be the jewel in the Daye Bensa crown. The washed and the anaerobic natural were both stunning coffees and both Umar and Abate swore the natural would be just as good. Difficult to argue with two men with beaming smiles as big as theirs.

Umar showed me the data entry system for the QC database and one descriptor occurred quite often that I’d never heard of ‘Rue’. It’s a plant/herb that grows all over the Sidama region and has a strong citrus aroma and medicinal properties. I was told it’s commonly used when the traditional Jebena coffee is served. Just a few leaves dropped into the cup. I made a note to try this at the next available opportunity.

Then off we set, back along the 9km of dirt and continued beyond Gatta to the northern most of the Bensa mills Karamo WS. This mill had only processed naturals this season and was still receiving a small amount of cherry from outlier famers at higher altitudes as well and the last strip picking from others. This means there’s a mixture of qualities, some of which will immediately get a G1 designation and go to speciality, the remainder G2 and below (G1 being the highest quality 85+, G2 between 80 and 85 and G3, G4 and G5 all grades with increasing levels of defects and destined for the commodity or local market. G2s (washed and naturals) also go into the speciality market generally to the big boys and girls (Starbucks and the like) who buy them as components for blends and single origin espresso.  This designation is made by the quality control manager at the mill on reception of the cherries, and immediate payment is made accordingly (if the mill has enough cash at hand). Since we had arrived in the early evening (about 6pm) all the drying cherries were covered to keep the heat in overnight and protect them from any rain showers.

Additional stops were at Wassa WS and Buncho WS before darkness fell (it gets very dark very quickly) and we ventured back to Bensa (yes, along the 9km of dirt) for dinner. A slight hiccup to our journey was a fallen tree blocking the road, which had clearly just happened and a crowd was quickly gathering. Some eager motorcycle taxi riders were lifting their bikes with significant help over the tree. One man turned up with a small axe and started hacking.. then another man who clearly knew his business turned up with a bigger axe, stood on top of the fallen tree and went at it. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t wearing steel capped boots (looked like sandals to me), but his precision and speed was impressive. I wish I’d timed it since I reckon he’d do well in those tree cutting comps those obscure sports channels show now and again.

One of the things I learned quickly is that food is ordered for the table.. not the person. A large plate with a sour pancake looking flat bread (Injera) with meats and sometimes fried cabbage placed in the centre. Before being served, someone comes around with a pot and pan of water for you to wash your hands (obviously it’s not bottled water), and then you just tuck in (after someone offers a prayer). Tear a bit of the Injera off and scrunch up some of the filling and in your mouth in one.. all with your right hand. Always the right… never the left.. never. I don’t think I need to go into detail about what the left hand is reserved for do I ?

The next day we met up with head of QC Umar and Berhanu, the head of quality for Bensa and the warehouse manager in Addis. We ventured to the Arbegona district and visits to Wachabo, Boreta, Rumudamo and finally Bochesa washing station for lunch hosted by mill manager Magane and his sons (who have all returned after their respective university courses to help their father). Umar was like a giddy school kid at Rumudamo. He hadn’t been to this mill before and it was something of a special treat for him to see the operations on the ground and where his favourite coffees comes from. It was of course special for me too, having bought coffee from Boreta and Rumudamo last year. Lunch was a huge plate of ground false banana. Not to be mistaken with actual banana, this is the fermented (3-6 months underground) pith taken from the stem of the Ensete ventricosum plant. Sour and substantial and under this huge pile was meat  (sheep), with a little cabbage. Hand washing first then right hand only, in we went. Clearly there’s a technique which I hadn’t mastered. Grabbing a handful of relatively dry powdery starch and some meat and cabbage and then moulding it with one hand and scooping it into your mouth was challenging. I’m sure half of mine ended up in my lap or on the ground.  One of the managers was chatting to Atrie and I sensed they were talking about me and I asked what was said. Apparently he was impressed that I had joined in and was eating their food with them. I smiled and said the alternative was to starve which I wasn’t that keen on, which got a few laughs after translation. During the lengthy lunch Atrie was animated and clearly he had something planned for me. He’d sent someone out to get some Tej.. a fermented honey drink which is apparently a little like mead sitting at 11-12% alcohol. A large plastic bottle arrived a one glass. Clearly I was drinking alone. Some was poured and all of a sudden everyone went quiet. I felt all eyes were on me and were waiting for me to try it. I took a sip and YUM - just like fresh Mango juice to me. No hint of booze, just super sweet Mango. Turns out the person that had gone shopping hadn't quite understood the remit of his task and had brought 'Birz', a honey-fruit juice instead. The hospitality shown by Magane and his family was a perfect way to finish the mill visits.

The second half of the trip was based in Addis and included visits to the Daye Bensa offices, warehouse and dry mill with a cupping of freshly arrived G2 coffees with Kenean Dukamo, their Head of Coffee (and Asafa's son), an incredibly entertaining evening of food and dance (not me) at a cultural restaurant, and a visit to the new under construction warehouse and dry mill. Of all the trips I’ve done, I tasted/cupped/drank the least amount of coffee, but it was by far the most culturally engaging. I’ve given my feedback to Atrie regarding the layout of the trip. Personally I would have liked to have extended the farm and mill visits by another day or two, perhaps incorporating Yirgacheffe and Guji with a little less time in Addis.

All in all an amazing trip and I feel extremely privileged to have been able to visit the birthplace of coffee as a guest of Atrie from The Coffee Legends. Thank you Atrie for your incredible generosity and enlightening me into some of the Ethiopian culture and coffee production.