Today was another day of business cupping at Moplaco.

The cupping table was well organized. The staff of Moplaco worked flawlessly.

What was more interesting was an old story Heleanna shared with us and her episode about there being a coffee god.

Later, we cupped a huge amount of coffee.

In contrast to Wete Ambela, the beans were evenly roasted, and everyone rotated around the cupping table at a consistent interval.

Since we had visited Moplaco already, we were able to check the cupping notes subtly.

I liked some of the cups.

Surprisingly, I could taste the flavors of local food from the coffees.

Even the washed-process coffees had the notes of local food. I wonder if it has to do with anaerobic fermentation.

I think these cup notes come from the environment at the origin. I’d like to cup again after going back to South Korea.

My unforgettable experience in Ethiopia is coming to an end. I feel as if I’d been in a dream this whole time.

When I checked into TYPICA Lab at the beginning of this trip, I set myself a goal of getting deeper into my thoughts and finding something exciting. I could achieve that during this trip. 

I have nothing but gratitude for TYPICA.

In hindsight, I had lost my passion as I went about my humdrum daily life in my comfort zone.

I still remember the feel of a robot toy that I had as a child.

The unusual experiences here in Ethiopia have been a good opportunity for me to reflect on myself. Like the robot toy, this trip will stick with me for years to come.

I’m glad I could see the origin of Ethiopian coffee. At the same time, my heart is throbbing.

Now, I’m going back to my routine work, leaving the soothing landscape and the Ethiopian locals.

I want to do something valuable as a roaster and barista in order to enrich the lives of other people.

Goodbye, Ethiopia.

Business cupping finally got underway. The setup was simple and casual.

It was an important opportunity to choose green coffee to serve to my customers, so I tasted it cautiously and with great concentration.

I guess it is difficult to set up a perfect cupping session in Ethiopia given various circumstances.

To be honest, the session was lacking technical aspects that are important to us, such as roasting profiles and and water hardness.

So I tried to make use of my experience.

I took the technical aspects out of the equation and explored the inherent characteristics of the green beans.

I know that the coffees on the table are packed with the lives of the producers. So I treasured each cup.

Interestingly, the beans selected by the Japanese roasters and myself were different.

I focus on the timing of the arrival of the green beans and keep in mind how they taste when served with ice (which makes up more than 60% of our sales).

That means I gravitated toward fruit-like coffees with good expressions of malic and citric acids.

More precisely, I chose green coffee that expressed quality malic acid.

Simply put, the Japanese roasters placed more emphasis on the overall quality, and I, on the other hand, was looking for something that I think would turn out delicious in a cup.

After the business cupping, we had dinner. It was a wonderful meal.

The moon illuminated us, shining the light on our last night in Ethiopia.

But what seems like an ever-lasting final night in Ethiopia will come to an end tonight. Though drunk as we were, we had to get to our feet and retire for the night.

After breakfast, we prepared to leave . A group of monkeys gathered, as if to see us off on our journey.

We boarded a plane again. I was sad to say goodbye to Yirgacheffe.

Upon arriving in Addis Ababa, we visited Heleana’s dry mill.

I was amazed at the massive facility, so large that I was overwhelmed.

I was impressed by the meticulous attention to detail and cleanliness.

Thanks to Heleanna’s detailed explanation, I was able to more precisely understand the whole process that I had only known from books.

And for the first time in a while, I enjoyed a regular, non-Ethiopian meal.

Heleanna’s cafe attracts customers from many countries, so serves food from all over the world. I especially liked the gelato for dessert.

When we moved on to an inn, I bought some souvenirs.

The Ethiopian coffee ceremony was so memorable that I want my friends back home to experience it, too.

I am so thrilled at the mere thought of my friends experiencing the same ceremony that I couldn’t help but smile. 

We took a short break at the inn and chilled for a while. It was the best feeling to be able to relax for the first time in a while.

During the break, I realized that I had forgotten my everyday life. Maybe it was because the itinerary has been nothing short of perfect.

I am very thankful for that.

Much thanks to everyone at TYPICA for giving me the opportunity to reflect on myself.

Elias from Wete took us to dinner at a restaurant in Addis Ababa, which was enormous.

It was spacious and there was a show going on that was a feast for the eyes and ears. We indulged in drinks and enjoyed the atmosphere.

When we had gotten a little drunk, an adorable cat came to say hello to us.

I gave it some delicious meat. Take care, cute little thing.

I took a moment to reflect on my days spent in this foreign country and thought about myself.

My head is filled with intricate thoughts. It seems like I won’t be able to fall asleep easily tonight.

In contrast to the quiet of the night, I can hear chirps of birds and cries of monkeys.

The sunlight streaming through the trees is fantastic again today.

I get that same feeling every day. I want to bathe in this light every day.

Before breakfast

It’s time for a demonstration of the false bananas that I have seen so many times during this trip!

The edible parts of the fruits were fermented for three months and made into dough. The host used it to make crepes for us.

They had a different texture and acidity from injera.

Ethiopia has an impressive variety of fermented food.

It seems the country has so much in common with Japan!

Moving on to a meal at the lodge.

Just as delicious as last night’s dinner.

And the owner has taken really good care of us.

So adorable.

And today we are going to visit Moplaco’s washing station.

A long drive, of course.

A road trip has been a big part of this trip.

Here is a fun fact: we assigned a certain theme to every car, such as business management, coffee talk, relaxing room (in name only haha), and so on.

so on

So, as passengers change, so does the conversation, even when talking about the same topic.

And different opinions and ideas are thrown around each time.

In fact, it is almost as if these conversations on the road seem to be the underlying theme of the TYPICA Lab.

Our thoughts are refined as we talk with each other. Everyone’s expressions changed every time we hit the road.

I was no exception.

These conversations gave me countless clues that brought me closer to the goal I had set for myself.

It was a transportation revolution.

I even look forward to long car rides now, even though I used to hate it.

Today was another day of non-stop dialogue.

But we arrived at our destination just when our discussions were getting exciting.

But it’s fine because when discussions are left unfinished, there is room for each of us to think the rest for ourselves.

We arrived at the Homasho area.

I was not familiar with this area, but it is located at an altitude of 2,300 meters above sea level.

Apparently the quality of the cherries here has improved due to global warming.

Global warming has its its downsides, as I witnessed the day before. But it can also mean new regions becoming increasingly suitable for coffee production.

This washing station is an affiliate of Moplaco.

Never would have I been able to hear how they run their facilities firsthand if I hadn’t come here.

Later, we went to the Kokose washing station.

We were welcomed by a song and dance by Ethiopian girls wearing fluorescent Mopraco T-shirts.

I couldn’t help but clap my hands and smile.

Then we were allowed to watch producers as they washed-processed beans.

We were able to see the actual process of cherries being depulped through a pulper before they were put into a fermentation tank.

I had a chance to touch and hold a stick-like thing they use to rake the beans into a fermentation tank. The work was harder than it looked.

Nowadays you can pick up a book or watch a YouTube video to get these kinds of information.

This process of coffee evolving into coffee.

There was something mystical about it.

A picture is worth a thousand words. It really is.

I was wondering what would happen to the contaminated water used for washed-processes

when, as expected, Heleana offered an answer as if she had read my mind.

She said that after collecting the water in a reservoir at the end of the canal, 

it will be cleansed of harmful substances with the surrounding plants’ purification and fermentation

before being released into the river.

She said that they use lime to reduce the foul smell of the water.

Just as I had come to expect, Heleana’s care for the environment really stands out in this aspect too.

Every part of the process is done in a circular manner.

We took another tour around the facility.

I got to see and touch the specially processed cherries. Beautiful. Really.

Everything inside the facility was so big that I was excited the whole time.

After that, we had a small party in a tent at the washing station.

A potato festival. Ethiopian potatoes are delicious. Then we had a homemade honey liquor.

It was quite strong. Delicious.

As we were enjoying the party, the sky was getting cloudier, and it was time for the classic squall. We hurried back inside our cars.

I wish I could have been at the station much longer.

We returned to the lodge for dinner.

We invited Heleana to the Japanese team’s table today.

I asked her many questions that I wanted to ask her.

I asked her what she thinks about the COE. Her answer was so illuminative that I found some negative aspects about the contest that I can’t go into much detail in this post.

Then she explained the difficult aspects of the people of Ethiopia. 

Through this conversation, I got a glimpse of all the hardships that Heleana must have had to go through.

She is such an honest person that

she told us about both the bright and the dark sides of her country.

It was a truly memorable conversation.

I’m sure I will share it with so many people once I’m back in Japan.

As night fell, we returned to our rooms. It was the last night at the lodge.

I thought I was going to take a bath, but then the power went out.

This is just another day at the lodge.

Tomorrow we are going back to the capital.

Today was the last day in a production area.

I went to sleep while reminiscing about all the things I have experienced so far.

In Narita on the evening of February 11.

I was elated and excited to check into my flight, but a strange sense of nervousness came over me.

Little did I know that my visa had not come through for some reason and that I may very well have been denied boarding.

But I had no time to stay shocked.

After exploring ways to get clearance, I was allowed to board the flight with a written oath.

Later, when waiting for visa approval at Addis Ababa,

and when I purchased a SIM during transit to a domestic flight within a limited time, again and again I faced a precarious situation after another.

Things just didn’t seem to be going as planned. Still, I banked on the slimmest of chances and managed to walk the tightrope to my first destination.

I felt like I had forced my way out of difficult situations. It was as if my will was being tested by the world I was about to step into.

At the end of this miraculous journey, both Japanese and Taiwanese members developed a sense of camaraderie.

From there, we visited Moplaco and had a conversation with people there. I am still at the beginning of this journey, but my head is already bursting with a whirlwind mix of relief and dreaminess.

I will probably never forget the glaring sun, the unusual intensity of the wind, and the feeling of exhaustion in my body.

watanabe

After arriving in Ethiopia and meeting up with the roasters from Taiwan, our journey began…

From the first day, we knew this wasn’t going to be a normal trip. That was the common understanding that resonated from our group, even from our first self-introductions and discussions.

“For the past few years, why has the price of Ethiopian coffee been increasing as the quality keeps going down?”

We had barely been introduced to Heleanna, the director of Moplaco, when one of the roasters from Taiwan posed the question that had been playing on all of our minds.

(My personal goal for coming to Ethiopia was not to enjoy a vacation, but to discover various problems or contradictions that might be occurring. Along the way, I had the chance to learn about various issues and the current state of affairs, so I will detail them in this blog. I feel like perhaps this was my role in the roaster group we were traveling with. I wanted to share the problems that the Ethiopian coffee industry is currently experiencing. Unfortunately, there aren’t many pictures I can share because I ended up losing my GoPro during the trip…)

The following are things that Heleanna discussed with us.

(*Some of the information may not be accurate, so please keep that in mind as you read on.)

There are two major reasons why the quality of Ethiopian coffee hasn’t been as good these past two to three years. The first is that coffee is being used as a “means” to obtain foreign currency through exports, hence quality is not the focus, and the second is that the unique Ethiopian soil and forest that has been ideal for coffee cultivation is being lost. The overall quality is thus being eroded away.

1) The country is heavily dependent on imports, as the produced items locally are limited. Due to the high demand of Foreign Currency for the imports, Importers have obtained licences to export coffee, so as to generate dollars that could be used for their import needs. This has created a high competition among actors that are no longer coffee people but rather importers that use coffee as a foreign currency earner. Low quality coffee is what they focus on, compromising on the quality to achieve higher returns, with commercial lots.

Coffee Cherry prices have been pushed unreasonably high, creating a market that is no longer internationally competitive.

While other countries average around 60 cents per kilo for red cherries, Ethiopia is currently one of the most expensive countries in the world, with prices ranging around 80 cents per kilo. This year, the price of Sidamo soared from $1.20 to about $1.90. Assuming a simplified price of $2.00, it takes 6 kilos of cherries to produce 1 kilo of green beans, so if a coffee supplier or exporter wants to buy 1 kilo of green beans, the cost is already $12.00. If that is the original buying price, then the finished coffee needs to be sold for at least $16.00/kg.

In addition to the increased number of players in the market- Imagine Brazil exports about 50M bags of coffee but the number of exporters that are truly active is about 60, and Ethiopia exports about 6M bags of coffee but the number of registered exporters is more than 2000- , there has been a lof of speculation over the upcoming devaluation of the local currency. As traders anticipate that they can make windfall profits from Devaluations, they are also active in increasing coffee cherry prices. One would wonder why they would do this, but their thinking is focused mainly on creating a monopoly environment, where they will be alone controling coffee as other people cannot afford such price hikes. But as the devaluation has not come as anticipated, many exporters are faced with stocks that are very expensive but impossible to sell. To sell they reduce the quality in order to reduce the average cost.

2) Each year, two million children are being born in Ethiopia.In the past 15 years alone, more than 30M people have been raised in Ethiopia. The Exponential increase of the population has put an extreme pressure on the land and on the farming families. It is a vicious circle that is difficult to break. More children, means more land to use, and this land is now remaining in the forests of Ethiopia. In addition as the population has little job opportunities, the opportunity to find work other than farming is becoming very difficult. Hence more and more forests are being deforested, in order to obtain land, and more and more biodiversity and coffee is being lost.

The unfortunate event is that the increased cost of living is putting further pressure on these farming families,who also want to grow and live more comfortably hence they turn into cash crops with short returns and high cash yields. Such as Khat and Eucalyptus trees that are more profitable than coffee.

Khat to grow needs direct sunlight, hence the forest is removed around it, and Eucalyptus acidifies the soil, and sucks out every drop of water as well as every mineral in the soil. Nothing grows around Eucalyptus nor after it, as the soil becomes barren and infertile.

How could exporters such as Moplaco, that are focused on Coffee ONLY, actually maintain their quality and demand the fair price, when the market is not displaying a competitive climate that will allow such prices to be charged?

This is a daily question for many exporters that are focused on coffee, and coffee farming.

They were tending to the Ethiopian bananas before breakfast.

They said the bananas are helpful in growing coffee trees because they improve the soil and provide shade.

Apparently, bananas are an indispensable food in Ethiopia, and are said to be a produce with nothing to throw away, from the stem to the leaves.

But I heard that many pregnant Ethiopian women give birth to their　children alone in the woods on a bed of Ethiopian banana leaves. It is a sad reality.

Perhaps because of the high altitude, I found myself short of breath after moving just a little. It is tough. Is this because I’ve gained weight recently?

Maybe I just want to convince myself that it’s because of that….

I hear the cries of hyenas and monkeys all night long, and I need a little more sleep. Maybe it’s because I’m not feeling well.

We have a long drive ahead today. I prepared myself mentally and set off.

During the journey, Hiro-san talked to us about the Japanese coffee culture. There was something I wanted to ask him about roasting, but I missed the chance to do so… I realized that I had to prepare in advance to overcome the language barrier.

Anyway, it was interesting to hear about Starbucks’ roasting profile.

Finally, we arrived at a washing station where the Bensa River flows.

There was a pleasant welcoming ceremony at the Kokosa washing station, and I felt like all the fatigue from the ride seemed to disappear.

Various diverse processes were taking place before our eyes: a machine to peel cherries, a washed process by using water from the river, a honey process by moving peeled cherries onto an African bed, and a natural process by drying the cherries intact.

It was such a valuable experience.

Sometimes I found that my previous knowledge was different from the actual processes.

Nowadays, it seems that the Yirgacheffe and Gedev regions are facing the problem of too much population growth and not enough space to plant coffee. The government should step in to help solve this problem, but it appears that the current government is not interested in coffee.

This is very unfortunate news for consumers like myself.

At the end of today’s itinerary, we had dinner at the inn.

I enjoyed the ramen prepared by the representative of FAABS Coffee, and it tasted even better than usual when eaten abroad. I was thankful for this meal.

The next day, we were treated to the scenery of traditional houses passing by as we drove through the Sidama Region. We were on our way to observe two washing stations that were operated by or had a partnership with Moplaco.

I’d gotten fairly used to life at an altitude of over 2,000 meters but running still left me out of breath. Even on the road, it was hard to tell where passersby were coming from or going to. I’d felt the same way while visiting certain places in Central America. Whenever it happened, I’d try to accustom myself to the feeling, but I noticed that it always seemed to limit my range of activity. It was a little frustrating because it felt like as long as my legs were up to it, I should be able to go anywhere I wanted.

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The first washing station we visited was called “Homasho.” For several years, Moplaco has been working with them as an operating partner. Moplaco has exerted a great amount of influence on Ethiopian coffee as a whole, and their policy of efficiently using both in-house and partnership operations to cover a wide range of coffee beans provides much food for thought to anyone involved in company management. Heleanna and her colleagues seem to be fully aware of how much they are supporting the country as they endeavor to create a coffee production cycle that is beneficial to both producers and nature. It makes me wonder if the taste of their products is really the only way they can convey their conviction, passion, and the sum of all their efforts to consumers.

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The second washing station we visited was called “Kokosa,” operated in-house by Moplaco. Upon arrival, many women greeted us with a song and dance. Heleanna told us that they were performing traditional songs of the region. They sang us one song after the next, clapping their hands and pounding the earth as their clear voices carried over the horizon. Although I didn’t know any of the words, somehow, I clearly understood the feelings each song was trying to convey.

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A few days later when Heleanna asked us, “What was your best memory of the trip?” I told her that this scene had impacted me the most. It was almost like a spiritual experience that I can’t describe in words. The memory was unconsciously engraved into my mind. Even after returning to Japan, sometimes I still get sudden flashbacks of those melodies.

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After observing various processes being carried out at the washing stations, we were given a coffee ceremony at the back building. The table was covered with potatoes and passion fruit, as well as a buttery substance that was smeared across a jar. We also enjoyed some of Ethiopia’s traditional alcohol made with honey. When drinking coffee in a production area, there’s so much more to experience than just the taste of the product. I’ve felt this way multiple times now. While drinking my cup of coffee surrounded by the environment that nurtured it, I couldn’t help but feel extremely grateful.

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It started to rain, so we had to quickly leave the mountain. While it was adorable to see the many children who innocently chased after the car as we drove away, passing by a young woman who emphasized her breasts to us in hopes of being “bought” was a jarring experience. It made me realize that as overseas visitors, we weren’t just seen as “coffee buyers,” but our presence had various meanings to the local people. They were living just to survive.

As the rain lifted, I was lost in thought as I gazed out at the pastoral landscape of grazing cows.

The finale of this trip was a visit to Moplaco’s farm.

I was amazed at the size of the farm as well as how much they have accomplished more than I thought they had.

I don’t think the size of the farm itself is all that important.

Because it depends on destiny.

What is more important is to think about the bigger picture of how we all interact with each other in our respective positions.

I wonder if I am fulfilling my role in the position I am in and passing it onto the next person.

These beans travel from the other side of the world through numerous channels before reaching me.

And someone drinks the coffee I brew.

All these events are created by coffee.

Everything that happens in this chain is possible thanks to coffee.

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I am tired. And I’m worried about my shop. Part of me wants to go home, but another part of me wants to stay here forever.

I do feel that this short trip has deepened my relationship with Ethiopia.

I hope my love for Ethiopia will grow stronger whenever I think back to this trip in my daily life.

So long, Ethiopia.

We had a cupping session at Wete Ambela’s farm.

I could sense lingering traces of the homecoming party that Elias hosted for us last night.

He told me, “You have to be calm when doing business, but when it comes to coffee, some things are more important than business!”

The cupping session at the farm had a casual atmosphere.

I followed my own routine when tasting the coffees.

Those who always critique and look for a better coffee are not prepared to make coffee their career.

All roasters should respect all the farmers who grow green coffee.

Things that humans create are more significant than those that technology creates.

What I felt this week reinforced this view.

Tonight is the last night in Ethiopia.

The moon over the equator is bright because it’s closest to the earth. 

I’ve lived my life together with coffee.

My experiences in Ethiopia have become part of my life, too.

When I hit some obstacles in coffee, these experiences will be something for me to fall back on.