With great genetic diversity and ideal growing conditions, Ethiopia is considered by many to produce some of the best coffees in the world. The birthplace of coffee, this country cultivates varieties from a gene pool that dates back more than a millennium. It is no wonder that such richly complex and beautiful coffees can be found coming from Ethiopia. Unlike the rest of the coffee producing world, Ethiopia still has many wild growing coffee plants. Varieties have evolved naturally and as such are incredibly well adapted to their surroundings. To the point that chemical inputs (fertilizers), pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are rarely found in Ethiopia. The majority of coffee produced there is organic in the truest sense of the word (whether certified as such or not). The landraces in Ethiopia are genetically very similar to the Typica varieties of Yemen that made their way to Indonesia, by way of India, in the 1600's. 

Kochere is an area within the greater Sidama region in Southern Ethiopia. Sidama is home to several of the best known sub-areas in Ethiopian coffee. Rather than coming from individual larger farms like many coffees in the Americas, most coffees from East Africa are compiled from many small producers harvesting both wild and cultivated coffee. The coffee cherry is delivered to a local washing station for processing, and eventually graded and sold at a central government-run marketplace, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX). Most ECX coffees are sold under wider regional names, but higher scoring coffees from certain sub-areas like Kochere are labelled for better (but not perfect) traceability.

We purchased this coffee from the Collaborative Coffee Source, an Oslo-based importer we've collaborated with over the past several years as they have established operations in the United States. In turn, they partner with MOPLACO, a unique exporting company in Ethiopia. Since the 2007-2008 harvest, when coffee began to be sold through the exchange by government mandate, MOPLACO adapted to a new strategy in which they purchased coffees thorugh the change, then further clean them to the buyer's specification (in this case, Collaborative Coffee Source).