Posted on Mar 8, 2022
East Africa is responsible for America's favorite morning brew
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https://www.npr.org/2022/03/08/ [login to see] /coffee-origins-east-africa
For most people in the United States, coffee is synonymous with chains like Starbucks, or third wave cafes boasting Panamanian pour overs — not necessarily the continent of Africa.
But the place where coffee originated, and where the most diverse varieties of coffee thrive, is Ethiopia and South Sudan, as recently confirmed by a research team led by coffee genetics expert and president of the International Women's Coffee Alliance Sarada Krishnan.
For most people in the United States, coffee is synonymous with chains like Starbucks, or third wave cafes boasting Panamanian pour overs — not necessarily the continent of Africa.
But the place where coffee originated, and where the most diverse varieties of coffee thrive, is Ethiopia and South Sudan, as recently confirmed by a research team led by coffee genetics expert and president of the International Women's Coffee Alliance Sarada Krishnan.
East Africa is responsible for America's favorite morning brew
Posted from npr.org
Food/Chow
Starbucks
Africa
Ethiopia
Sudan
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."These countries are important from a scientific perspective, Krishnan explains, because they are a link to coffee's past and hold the genetic traits that, under climate change, are the keys to sustaining coffee's future.
But what also should be celebrated, she says, is that the region also gave the world the culture of coffee. "Before coffee spread into Yemen and around the world, drinking coffee was a communal event celebrated in Ethiopia."
This connection is something Kenfe Bellay, the owner of Washington D.C.'s landmark coffeehouse Sidamo Coffee and Tea, knows well. For the last 16 years, he has been sharing the ritualized form of consumption — known as the coffee ceremony — with visitors, helping them understand the deeper meaning coffee holds for his homeland. In the United States, he says, "you grab coffee and you run. But in Ethiopia, they don't want to finish it so fast. They want to have more time to talk each other, to exchange information, and to enjoy their coffee."...
..."These countries are important from a scientific perspective, Krishnan explains, because they are a link to coffee's past and hold the genetic traits that, under climate change, are the keys to sustaining coffee's future.
But what also should be celebrated, she says, is that the region also gave the world the culture of coffee. "Before coffee spread into Yemen and around the world, drinking coffee was a communal event celebrated in Ethiopia."
This connection is something Kenfe Bellay, the owner of Washington D.C.'s landmark coffeehouse Sidamo Coffee and Tea, knows well. For the last 16 years, he has been sharing the ritualized form of consumption — known as the coffee ceremony — with visitors, helping them understand the deeper meaning coffee holds for his homeland. In the United States, he says, "you grab coffee and you run. But in Ethiopia, they don't want to finish it so fast. They want to have more time to talk each other, to exchange information, and to enjoy their coffee."...
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