Page 84 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 8

MY AFRIKA

can't tell you really that coffee
is my go-to beverage among
the multitudes of beverages
I available in the market. Some-
how coffee stands out in the world
of beverages and mood-enhancing
drinks. Personally, I think I love
coffee for its fine aroma more than I
love it for its taste. The aroma always
hit the right spot in my brain. And
oh before I forget, coffee is my go-
to beverage when mixed with milk.
I love the mix and it's perfect. But I berries began to spread. As word one of my favorite Afrikan countries
am a sincere hater of black coffee, moved east and coffee reached the and this was not the case up until late
apologies to those diehard fans of Arabian Peninsula, it began a jour- 2018 when my wife and I visited that
black coffee. ney which would cause these beans beautiful country. One of the many
to traverse the globe. things that caught my attention on
Like everything we have in our world our first day, right at the airport, was
today, there is one origin story or an- Ethiopia first started exporting cof- the professional demeanor of the
other about their source. Coffee is fee in the 15th century. Coffee was immigration officer who stamped
one of those heart-blessing beverag- brought by Somali merchants to my passport, after asking just a few
es with a rich history which emanat- Yemen where Sufi mystics drank it questions unlike, what I have been
ed from Ethiopia in East Afrika. I so that they could better concentrate asked in other airports. You know
hope that's not just the reason I am on their chanting. A couple of cen- when your passport says "Nigerian",
writing about coffee in this issue. I turies later, the Ethiopian Orthodox some kind of unseen antennas are
didn't tell you, I love Ethiopia to bits, Church banned coffee altogether. quickly raised, but he was more in-
and everything coming out of Afrika Ethiopians only went back to con- terested in whether I knew where I
has now become a thing passion for suming coffee in the late 19th cen- was going in the capital, Addis, and
me. Well, now you know. tury thanks to Emperor Menelik II whether I had the phone number of
who himself was fond of the bev- my host. Of which I responded in
erage. After that, Ethiopia’s coffee the affirmative. He seemed more in-
History of coffee production and exportation soared. terested in my safety than the many
No one knows exactly how or when Today, coffee accounts for about other unnecessary issues one faces
coffee was discovered, though there 70% of all export earnings and is es- at airports, and with a big fine smile,
are many legends about its origin. sential to the country’s economy. An as warm as a mug of milky coffee, he
Coffee grown worldwide can trace estimated 15 million Ethiopians—a said "welcome to Ethiopia."
its heritage back centuries to the an- quarter of the country’s popula-
cient coffee forests on the Ethiopian tion—make their living from growing I remember a few days after our ar-
plateau. There, legend says the goat coffee. rival in Addis, my wife and I took a
herder Kaldi first discovered the po- little tour of Addis. We went to En-
tential of these beloved beans. The With the exception of a few large toto Mountain situated nine kilome-
story goes that that Kaldi discovered government-run estates, nearly all ters north of the city center, Addis
coffee after he noticed that after eat- of Ethiopia’s coffee is grown by Ababa with the altitudinal location
ing the berries from a certain tree, small-scale farmers who continue ranging from 2,600 to 3,200 meters
his goats became so energetic that to implement traditional methods. above sea level. Entoto Mountain
they did not want to sleep at night. Coffee farmers grow the so-called houses one Ethiopia's heritage mon-
Kaldi reported his findings to the “garden coffees” on smallholdings. asteries, Entoto St. Mary church. It
abbot of the local monastery, who These plots usually cover less than a is a beautiful sight to behold from
made a drink with the berries and hectare of land and yield on average the exterior from where we stood to
found that it kept him alert through around 300 kg of coffee per year. view the edifice. From the way the
the long hours of evening prayer. locals in that mountain responded
The abbot shared his discovery with Ethiopia to our presence, you could tell this
the other monks at the monastery, was home for anyone looking for a
and knowledge of the energizing Somehow, Ethiopia has become

84 | Heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika