Cup Characteristics: Medium intensity and low acidity with a light roast profile. A fantastic Ethiopian with remarkable clarity valued for its deep, spice, wine and chocolate-like taste and floral aroma.  This washed Sidamo has a lighter body and less earthy / wild tastes in the cup as their dry-processed kinfolk. (Pictured left: Young women and girls hand sort high quality coffee from Kocher of Sidamo, Ethiopia).

Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and is still a significant producer of high-quality coffee. Arabica coffee is indigenous to Ethiopia and, even today, coffee continues to flourish in the wild.

Ethiopia Sidamo is a type of Arabica coffee. It is a single origin coffee grown exclusively in the Sidamo Province of Ethiopia. Like most African coffees, Ethiopia Sidamo features a small and grayish bean, yet is valued for its deep, spice and wine or chocolate-like taste and floral aroma. Washed Sidamo has a lighter body and less earthy / wild tastes in the cup as their dry-processed kinfolk.

The first wet-processing mills were established in Ethiopia in 1972, and three decades later more and more coffees in the south and west of Ethiopia are being processed using a sophisticated version of the wet method. The immediate removal of fruit involved in wet-processing apparently softens the fruity, wine-like profile of dried-in-the-fruit coffees like Harrars and turns it gentle, round, delicately complex, and fragrant with floral innuendo.

Coffee is the second most widely traded commodity in the world next to petroleum where more than 80 countries cultivate coffee, which is exported as the raw, roasted or soluble product to more than 165 countries worldwide. It is the most important agricultural commodity in the world, and is worth up to $14 billion annually.

At present, coffee is one of the most important cash crops in the Sidamo region and other parts of the country. In the year 2005, Sidamo and Gedeo regions alone produced over 63,562 tons of coffee (Central Statistical Agency, 2005). This is about 1/3 of the total coffee output for the country during the year.

The Sidamo people live in the Southern part of Ethiopia with notable geographical features such as Lake Awassa in the North and Lake Abaya in the South. The population of the Sidamo land is about 5 million at present. The capital city of Sidamo, Awassa, is 275 kms south of Addis Ababa. Sidamo is the fifth largest nation in Ethiopia after Oromo, Amhara, Ogaden and Tigray.

Sidamo is well known for its production of garden coffee. Specialty coffee is grown in many villages. Sidamo has ideal soil type and climatic conditions-including altitude, rainfall and temperature for the production of Arabica coffee. Coffee is predominantly produced in villages organized in 39 primary coffee cooperatives in Shabadino, Dalle, Alata Wondo, Darra, Bansa and many other districts. Almost every household in rural Sidamo outside of the extremely hot lowlands of Awassa, Shabadino and Dalle and the very cold highlands of Hula and Harbagona produces coffee. Thus over half of the total population in Sidamo directly or indirectly depend on coffee for livelihoods.

Over 60% coffee produced in Sidamo region is washed coffee and ready for export while half of the country’s coffee output of about 200,000 tones is consumed domestically. There are over 89 coffee washing stations in Sidamo alone. Thus, about 40% of washed coffee destined to the export market comes directly from the Sidamo region.