Senseless threat to Ethiopian microlots
From George Howell via Tim Wendelboe:
[...] the Ethiopian government determined a few months ago that all availability and traceability of individual coffee lots be scrapped. Regional coffee lots were to be graded by the government’s designated authorities and then lump-blended into large trademarked lots. You could buy Yirgacheffe Grade X and know nothing more. This adds value? After strenuous protests from shocked exporters the government relented somewhat: cooperatives could operate independently and retain traceability but not so with any private mills – who often paid farmers for their cherry more than many coops! So this means, as things stand now, that the organic superb Ademe Bedane we currently have will not be available as new crop this year. Even if they produce a lot as refined and flavorful as the one we currently have, tough – it will be dropped into the leveling sea of other lots all ideally from the same region, but in no way required to be. This is commodity thinking at its worst, the very way to guarantee there are no “Ah-hah!” moments that really determine why certain regions become stars commanding higher prices. We pray Ethiopia will relent even at this late time in the current season. Specialty coffee exporters, when recently protesting, were told they were irrelevant because specialty represented 1% of Ethiopia’s sales. That’s vision!”
This is tragic if accurate. Ethiopia grows some of the finest coffees in the world, and even after years in the industry tasting a new microlot from, say, Aricha can be a mind-blowing experience. It’s senseless to dump them into aggregated lots that, even when very good, don’t have the distinct flavor profile of an outstanding microlot.
I haven’t seen much coverage of this issue so I’m at a loss as to why the Ethiopian government has implemented the policy. It might be part of its strategy for preventing dilution of its regional brands, or it might be that the market for distinguished microlots is just too small to care about. Regardless, the new rules will block trade between farmers and bean buyers who’d gladly pay them a premium for their coffees and deny consumers some of the best Ethiopia has to offer. In the long-run this seems likely to hurt the country’s reputation, giving a competitive advantage to origins that are more transparent and able to reward their highest quality growers. I hope exporters and farmers can apply enough pressure to force a change.
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Jessica Lee
