May 2025 Discovery Coffee

MAY 2025 DISCOVERY - ETHIOPIA

ETHIOPIA | KECHO ANDERACHA
JASMINE, LEMONGRASS, AGAVE
REGION | Kecho Anderacha, Jimma Zone
PROCESS | Washed
SPECIES | Arabica 
VARIETY | Heirloom
ALTITUDE | 1700-2310 MASL

ABOUT KECHO ANDERACHA

The Kecho Anderacha Cooperative is based in Agaro, in the Jimma Zone southwest of Addis Ababa. This legendary coffee-producing region of Ethiopia sometimes plays second fiddle to its more celebrated neighbour Yirgachefe, 250km to the south - but its fruits are just as worthy of praise.

The Kecho Anderacha Cooperative is a member of the Kata Muduga Multipurpose Farmers' Cooperative Union, founded in 2015. 

Kata Muduga is an umbrella organization for cooperatives in the Jimma Area, providing marketing and administrative services to its members. The union also sells and exports the cooperatives' coffees on their behalf. However, Kata Muduga doesn't take position on the coffees - it doesn't sell them under its own name, but rather acts as a sales agent.

HISTORY OF COFFEE IN ETHIOPIA

Known as the horn of Africa, Ethiopia is a northern African nation steeped in history. Bordering Somalia to the East, and Eritrea to the north, it remains surprisingly politically and economically stable given its neighbours. Exporting through the port of Djibouti, Ethiopia exports over 3m bags of coffee per annum. Mountainous, forested and arid deserts, Ethiopia has a vast array of landscapes and climates. The Central Government is managed from the Capital city of Addis Ababa – one of the highest cities in Africa, and the base for one of the United Nations largest headquarters.

Ethiopia is not only the largest coffee producer in Africa, it also has the largest domestic consumption on the continent too. This well-developed domestic consumption of coffee has been driven by the long history with coffee the country has: home to the famous “Kaldi”, the goat herder who supposedly first discovered coffee’s ‘caffeinated’ qualities. Many coffee species are indigenous to Ethiopia, with Heirloom now the most common. Coffee is produced in a number of regional zones to the west and south of the capital Addis Ababa, most famously Sidamo and Yirgacheffe.

Bench Maji, a lesser known zone to the west of Djimma is starting to make a name for itself in the exporting world, as coffee aficionados look further afield for more exotic coffees. Ethiopia has an abundance of varied flavour profiles – depending on the process and region the coffee is produced – from strawberry fruit, to mango, passion fruit and pineapple. If sweet juicy fruits are your thing – Ethiopia is the answer.