STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 41 Photo courtesy Kew Gardens Things have quieted, but life in Ethiopia is full of surprises waiting to disrupt the supply chain. Overton says the threat to investors and business figures like himself is low, but "It's a rapidly shift- ing country, so you have to be smart," he said. Diligence is a price that producers are willing to pay in coffee paradise. Growing good coffee trees in Ethiopia isn't rocket science. Overton ex- plains that with even minimal effort growers har- vest respectable coffee. The best of the best But a superior coffee land attracts ambitious cof- fee people. Overton isn't just trying to grow good coffee — he wants to grow the best coffee. And that requires a a lot more work. It starts with choosing the right seedlings, and it would be hard to go wrong with the famed Gesha variety. The strain originated in Ethiopia, but it got its fame via Panama, when family-owned plantation Hacienda la Esmeralda brought it onto the scene in 2004 and shocked the coffee world with its unique flavor. Last year a Gesha lot broke the Best of Pan- ama auction record selling for $803 per pound. The coffee it beat was another Gesha vari- ety that sold for $601 per pound the year before, also grown in Panama. Swelling coffee markets are leading to a high-priced niche market for the world's crème de la creme, and coffee connois- seurs in Tokyo, Seoul, Dubai, and Paris are willing to pay — as much as $68 a cup in Dubai, accord- ing to media reports. The gold rush for top-shelf specialty beans is spurring producers to double down on quality. If Gesha coffees from Panama can break records year after year, it seems the birthplace of the vari- ety might stand a chance of retaking that throne, or at least joining the upper echelons of vexingly expensive beans. If it's done right. Overton has chosen to run his estate, named Gesha Village, not far from the Gori Gesha forest where the bean originated. "What we're doing is trying to squeeze out that last 10-20% to really be the top," said Overton. "It's more involved. No- body is doing the management we're doing." His estate employs the law of variety to achieve that goal. While most estates offer an average of eight samples, Overton and his partner at Gesha Village are chopping their 471 hectare plot so they can offer around 130 different samples and let roasters and judges choose the top scoring, best tasting coffees. The fruits of that labor are mostly headed east, to his three largest markets, all located in Asia: Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. China will take some, Overton says, but despite its size the Asian giant is half asleep on the specialty coffee craze. Overton's situation is rare in Ethiopia. He owns a giant piece of prime coffee real estate. He can hire a great farm manager. He visits roasters in Seoul and around Asia. This doesn't tell the story of the average Ethiopian coffee farmer, most of whom are garden coffee growers who balance their crop with vegetables to ride out the year after the coffee harvest. Many don't have access to the internet or the funds to set up an office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital. This makes it difficult for small farmers to engage in direct trade. "You have to be a certain size to afford a staff, a cupping lab. All that doesn't work if you only have 50 bags of coffee," said Overton. As such, coffee cooperatives and joint wash- ing stations are essential. The Ethiopian Com- modities Exchange (ECX) has done wonders in connecting smallholder farmers marketing their beans. Coffee accounted for 35% of the country's export revenues between 2000 and 2014, divvied up between 4.2 million smallholders. ECX also has its problems, like stripping away recognition for small farmers and making trace- ability more difficult. But an amendment in 2017 attempts to remedy that, making traceability to local cooperatives and private mills easier. It also made it possible for farmers growing at least 20 quintals of coffee (units of 100 kilograms) to en- gage in trade directly. The industry is still developing, and further re- forms will help connect Ethiopian coffee producers with roasters around the world. That means higher incomes for farmers, which can add up to greater efforts and higher quality coffee. Nature decided a long time ago that Ethiopia was the ideal place for coffee. Producers in Ethiopia are doing what they can to harness that perfection and get it into cups around the world. But the true success of Coffee Brand Ethiopia will depend on keeping politics out of the way.

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