Starbucks celebrates Ethiopia’s coffee legacy with new single-origin coffee
The newest single-origin whole bean coffee is available this winter at Starbucks stores across North America.
In Ethiopia, coffee is everything. It’s the fabric of the economy, culture, and people. Ethiopia is known as the birthplace of coffee, where, according to legend, around 800 A.D., a young goat herder noticed his goats eating coffee cherries and then became so full of energy that he decided to try them. Since those first early samples of the uniquely flavorful Ethiopian coffee, the popularity of it has spread around the world.
This winter, Starbucks Single-Origin Ethiopia whole bean coffee is available in stores across North America, with beans grown and sourced from the Sidama region. The coffee is a washed coffee, where water is used to separate the coffee seed from the outer layer of the cherry. It presents floral aromas and juicy notes of tangerine and lemon balm. And it’s a blonde roast, a lighter roasted coffee, marking the first time that Starbucks has offered an Ethiopian coffee in this roast profile.
Ethiopian coffee flavor is known to be fruitier, brighter, and slightly more acidic, due to many factors including Ethiopia’s higher altitude. The blonde roast helped bring out some of these well-known flavors into this single-origin coffee.
“The blonde roast really highlights the unique flavor range of Ethiopian coffee and enhances the intrinsic origin flavors that we’re looking to bring forth,” shared Leslie Wolford, a coffee developer at Starbucks who developed Single-Origin Ethiopia.
Ethiopia’s coffee legacy and culture
Coffee’s importance in Ethiopia shines through at every turn. Ethiopia is now Africa’s largest coffee producer and coffee is critical to the economy and livelihood. Roughly one in four people in Ethiopia are reliant in some way on coffee for their livelihood, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. From the farmers who work hard to grow the high-quality Arabica coffee to the families who gather for the familiar ritual of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, coffee is personal.
The Ethiopian coffee ceremony, a customary tradition amongst people across the region, is at the heart of connection and love for coffee.
“Coffee is my passion,” said Behailu Gebremariam, an 11-year Starbucks partner (employee) and the general manager of the Starbucks Farmer Support Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he and his team work directly with coffee farmers across the country, helping them solve challenges they face.
Gebremariam said coffee played a crucial role in his family. When his parents got married and moved to an area that was new to his mom, having coffee was a way she got to know her new neighbors, as well as strengthening her bond with her family. All around him, growing up, he saw people drinking coffee as a way to connect.
“In the streets of Addis Ababa all the way up to the rural countryside you have people drinking coffee,” said Gebremariam. “In the countryside they drink coffee three times a day with the coffee ceremony.”
The Ethiopian coffee ceremony, a customary tradition amongst people across the region, is at the heart of connection and love for coffee. During the ceremony, family and friends come together and enjoy coffee prepared from start to finish. It’s a sign of hospitality and is customary when visitors arrive. As the coffee is roasted, steeped, and served, they share stories with one another and enjoy each other’s company. Coffee isn’t just a beverage but a feeling. It’s a moment when time stops, and the pressures of the world are kept safely at bay as the smell of coffee and traditional incense mingle in the warmth of home.
The design of the new Starbucks Single-Origin Ethiopia whole bean coffee bag celebrates and honors this ceremony by featuring the Jebena – the traditional clay coffee brewer used during this ceremony.
In Amharic, the main spoken language in Ethiopia, coffee is referred to as “buna.” For Wolford, the introduction of this coffee into stores is an ode to the birthplace of coffee and to the people of Ethiopia. “We’re celebrating buna,” she said.
Single Origin vs. Blend
Another key element to this coffee is that the beans are grown and sourced from one, single region, hence the name. With single-origin coffee, the distinct flavors of a single region shine.
“Single-origin coffees are a sense of place, and we’re really trying to grab all the amazing flavors (like citrus and other types of fruit) that this coffee presents.”
Leslie Wolford, a coffee developer
“Starbucks has built its legacy on being known as master blenders, with great blends that provide something for everyone,” said Wolford, adding that single-origin coffee can highlight the distinct flavors unique to a particular coffee-growing region. “Single-origin coffees are a sense of place, and we’re really trying to grab all the amazing flavors (like citrus and other types of fruit) that this coffee presents.”
It’s this unique flavor that Wolford said is key to discovering what makes coffee and Single-Origin Ethiopia in particular, so special.
“When I talk about coffee with people, more often than not, Single-Origin Ethiopia is the coffee that opens doors for them in understanding a flavor within coffee,” said Wolford. “It’s a coffee that you learn with and fall in love with immediately.”
For Gebremariam, coffee is in his blood. From drinking it when he was young to now working everyday supporting the future of coffee, it’s a fitting journey for him. To see Ethiopia as a focal point in coffee across the world has been huge for him.
“Coffee is everything to me,” he said. “Creating a thriving coffee farming community that is resilient, sustainable, and economically viable, that is what makes me happy. I’m so proud that Starbucks is launching Single-Origin Ethiopia.”
