Ethiopia
Steals the Show at World’s Largest Coffee Gathering
By: Eyob Tekalign
Tolina
May 14, 2008
For the 8,000 attendees at
the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) 20th Annual
Conference & Exhibition it was all about the coffee—and Ethiopia.
From May 2-5 in Minneapolis,
Ethiopia and its legendary coffees were on full display during the SCAA
Conference, which is the largest gathering of coffee professionals in the
world. Ethiopia was featured prominently
due to its role as the Portrait Country Sponsor—the first time an African
nation has been selected for that honor.
From the opening ceremony,
which featured Ethiopian musicians and swirling dancers in colorful attire and
keynote presentations by Ethiopian dignitaries, to seminars, exhibits, a
sophisticated exhibitor booth and a
traditional coffee ceremony, Ethiopia was everywhere. It was simply impossible
for conference participants to ignore Ethiopia—tremendous banners in the colors
of the Ethiopian flag featuring the traditional jebena coffee pot hung from the convention center floor to the
upper reaches of the building’s skywalk.
Recognized as the birthplace
of coffee, Ethiopia saw the SCAA gathering as a major opportunity to build upon
the momentum its surging coffee industry has been experiencing, helped in no
small part by Ethiopia’s partnership with coffee giant Starbucks.
Evidence of just how
seriously Ethiopia took its role as the featured country could be found in the
60-person delegation that it sent to Minnesota. In addition to 40 coffee exporters and 10 farmers’ cooperative
representatives, Ethiopia also sent 10 official representatives, including
high-level government officials.
Yacob Yalla, State Minister
of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Dr. Samuel Assefa, Ethiopia’s
Ambassador to the U.S., made the rounds at this year’s conference discussing
the latest advances made by the government to boost Ethiopia’s coffee
industry. Joining them was Getachew
Mengistie, the Director General of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office
and the brains behind Ethiopia’s campaign to trademark its luxury coffee
brands, including Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Harar.
Tadesse Meskela, the head of the Oromia Coffee Farmers
Cooperative Union was also present, and was recognized by a number of
conference-goers who were first introduced to him on-screen in the coffee
documentary Black Gold.
A major highlight of the SCAA
fete was the series of addresses delivered by Ambassador Assefa, State Minister
Yalla, and Mengiste . During his speech,
which brought some in the audience to tears, Assefa explained how Ethiopia’s
trademarking and licensing of its luxury coffees is improving the lives of
famers who harvest the nation’s “black gold.”
(Click
here to read the full text of Ambassador Assefa’s speech)
Assefa said that Ethiopia was
“delighted to have been chosen as the
portrait country sponsor at such a preeminent global coffee event,” and described
the SCAA conference as “an unparalleled opportunity to present the fruits of
our efforts to produce the world’s finest coffees.” The event also enabled Ethiopia to “share the unique culture and
heritage that help make Ethiopia such a fascinating country,” he added.
In
his remarks, State Minister Yalla, dressed in traditional Ethiopian attire for
the occasion, touched upon the rich history and traditions of Ethiopia. He also
explained the lengths to which the Ethiopian government is going to ensure that
Ethiopia’s coffee beans remain the finest in the world.
Mengistie, the Director General of the Ethiopian
Intellectual Property Office in Addis Ababa, said, “Ethiopia grows some of the
world’s matchless single origin coffees with their most unique range of flavor
and aroma profiles. As the Portrait Country of the SCAA conference, the land
that introduced this gift to the world showcased its millennium-long love
affair with coffee before the ultimate coffee connoisseurs.”
During the conference’s welcome
reception, the sights, smells and sounds of Ethiopia were on full display. More than 15 members of the Ethiopian
cultural band provided the soundtrack as dazzling Ethiopian models in
traditional dress and dancers wowed conference delegates as they feasted on
traditional Ethiopian cuisine.
Adding to the excitement
generated by its delegation and the various activities at the conference,
Caribou Coffee’s organic-certified Ethiopian Yirgacheffe won the top honors
during the Conference’s Roasters Choice competition for best coffee.
Ethiopia recently inked a
licensing agreement Caribou Coffee, having previously signed a similar deal
with Starbucks. Ethiopia now enjoys
strong relationships with both of America’s top two coffee companies.
During the SCAA conference,
Ethiopia also attracted thousands of visitors to its booth, which featured information
about its coffee industry and trademarking and licensing initiatives. On-hand at the booth at all times was a wide
range of Ethiopian coffee exporters and experts. Delegates also were drawn to the Ethiopian booth in order to
experience a traditional coffee ceremony, which were held throughout the
duration of the conference. .
The Ethiopian coffee ceremony
typically begins with a young woman dressed in traditional garb roasting coffee
beans in a flat pan over a small charcoal stove as incense burns. The woman conducting the ceremony washes
coffee beans on the heated pan and visitors are invited to inhale the aromatic
scent. The beans are stirred, the husks
shaken away, and the coffee beans are then ground by hand in a mortar and
pestle.
The coffee grinds are slowly
stirred into a clay coffee pot known as a jebena,
which is rounded at the bottom, has a long, thin neck and is topped by a straw
lid. Once the coffee has been brought
to a boil and the grounds have been given a chance to settle, the coffee it is
poured into tiny china cups and served to the guests.
The impression that Ethiopia
left on conference-goers will not easily be forgotten. Both the coffee and the country itself
combined to create an experience and impression of the country that appears
destined to last for years to come.
Many of the delegates were overheard commenting that the efforts by
Ethiopia helped to make this the best SCAA conference ever.
Coming off the success of
those efforts, senior members of the delegation then traveled to Seattle for
meetings with top Starbucks executives, including CEO Howard Schultz. The purpose of the discussions was to
discuss ongoing cooperative efforts and to follow-up on a series of meetings
held last November in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
-- Eyob Tekalign Tolina is
the head of the economic and business section of the Ethiopian Embassy in
Washington. He can be reached via email at eyobjobt@yahoo.com or by phone at
202-274-4562 or fax at 202-587-0195.
---Ethiopia, the
birthplace of coffee, is Africa’s leading arabica coffee producer and exporter.
Sources: Embassy of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian
Intellectual Property Office.