As Ethiopia’s coffee export grows to the tune of over USD one billion, according to the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Development and Marketing Authority, Ethiopian coffees have once again dominated the Good Food Awards this year as the world’s best coffee. All the coffees named as such hail from Ethiopia.
The Award based in the United States has had a love affair with a number of Ethiopian coffee brands awarding it more than 50 awards since 2010. The nation’s important sources of foreign exchange, Ethiopia continues to invest in the production of its coffee and invite foreign investors.
From Hambela, Banko Goliti, Tikur Anbessa, Gedeb, Limu Dabesa, Bishan Fugu and almost a dozen others were announced the recipients of the award. Known as the home of coffee, Ethiopian coffee has been gaining popularity, competing with those from Columbia, Vietnam and Brazil and sold at cafes around the world, notably at Starbucks locations in the United States and Europe.
“The basic qualification to compete is all the entries are to be made without GM ingredients, using good animal husbandry and without the use of artificial ingredients, hormones, synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer and most importantly, crafted in the US,” according to the organizers. “To quality for entry, roasters and coffee farmers must emphasize fairness and transparency from seed to cup.”
For Ethiopia, coffee production is a source of needed foreign exchange and accounts three percent of the world’s coffee market. Coffee is about 30 percent of its export earnings according to the National Bank of Ethiopia. The country is known as the producer of some of the best Arabica coffee, including noted brands such as Harar, Sidamo and Yirgachefe.
Based in the United States, the competition aims to showcases the best food producers and farmers and recognizes “the food we all want to eat: tasty, authentic and responsibly produced”.
[www.thereporterethiopia.com]