Experts Rank Ethiopia’s Coffee Among Best

January 21, 2015

Marthe van der Wolf

Ethiopian Coffee

Ethiopia’s coffee has been ranked as the best in the world by an international group of coffee connoisseurs. Not surprisingly, coffee is a top export for the country. But at home it is a source of pride.

International coffee experts travel the world to find the best tasting cup. They keep coming back to Ethiopia, where importers like Morton Wennersgaard say the climate produces quality coffee beans.

“You have different ancient varieties referred to as Ethiopian heirdom. They are grown in places with perfect soil, perfect altitude, and micro climates that are really suitable for coffee processing, such as drying and things like that,” he explains.

Finding the best beans is a matter of taste, literally. The intense process is known as cupping – tasting and comparing coffee from different roasted beans, grading and then pricing them.

Coffee labs

But before international experts come to taste, coffee beans go through analysis in small coffee labs, where Helen Assefa describes the process.

“When the coffee comes to the lab, we assess the coffee quality first by recording the details. Then we weigh the moisture level and we screen the beans for analysis. After that we grind the coffee beans and taste the samples. At the end we check for defective beans,” Assefa explains.

And that screening is a very difficult and lengthy process, says lab worker Mubarik Abaoli.

“We sort out the defects manually, by hand. And we sort out the defect according to the defect types. The types are immature, paste damage, foxy, black – all has to be sorted out according to the severity of the defects,” Mubarik Abaoli says.

Cashing in abroad

Nevertheless, Ethiopia is cashing in on its coffee reputation with consumers in more than 120 countries and a yearly export revenue of more than $840 million.

But not all the best coffee leaves Ethiopia. With 40 percent of the coffee production consumed at home, it remains an important part of everyday life at work, at home and at ceremonies just to celebrate that special cup.

 

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Ethiopian Airlines to Expand Service to Dublin and Los Angeles

January 19, 2015

EAL-ChangiAirport1

Good news for international travelers toEurope, California and Africa: Ethiopian Airlines has finalized preparations to commence flights to Dublin and Los Angeles starting from June 2015.

Ethiopian flights to Dublin and Los Angeles will be operated three times a week with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The flights will be the only direct service connecting Africa with Ireland and the West Coast of the United States. The flights will also be the only direct service between Dublin and Los Angeles.

“Our new flights connecting Addis Ababa, Dublin and Los Angeles will play a critical role in the expansion of trade and tourism investment between the fast-growing continent of Africa, the United States and Ireland,” Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group, said in a statement. “As these flights will be the first and only direct air route linking Africa with Ireland and the West Coat of the U.S., they will bring these two seemingly distant cities much closer to Africa and will facilitate mobility and connectivity for businesses and the large African Diaspora community living in the West Coast of the United States.”

With the addition of Dublin, the airline’s 11th European city, and Los Angeles, its fourth point in the Americas, the Ethiopian Airlines international network will cover 85 destinations across five continents.

Ethiopian currently serves 83 international destinations across five continents with over 200 daily departures.

Source: Trave agent central

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