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.

We said goodbye to the monkeys and drove out of the forest to Awassa Airport early in the morning.

We took a propeller plane back to Addis Ababa.

Heleanna, who was our guide during this trip, invited us to her dry mill.

There, we learned a vast and accurate amount of information about a system that is used to produce the highest quality green beans.

I found the information to be worth paying for.

I enjoyed a great meal and gelato at Moplaco’s cafe, one of the best I’ve had in a long time.

Eating something that was not African food somehow reminded me that I am in Ethiopia.

Perhaps it was because I’ve been so engrossed in Ethiopia that I forgot what I have been accustomed to in South Korea.

Helena had this to say: “Coffee brings people together.”

And it actually did. It is entirely thanks to coffee that this trip came together.

We connected with roasters from other countries, and we laughed together with the people at the farms.

We met children who waved at us.

This is all because of coffee.

Thank you, coffee!

We spent our last night in Yirga Chefe in a traditional lodge where we could hear the cries of hyenas.

A long off-road drive to a washing station took its toll on my back.

Coffee in Ethiopia is the major Foreign Exchange earner for the country, hence it plays an important economic role.

However the yields that the variety of Arabica TYPICA gives are very low and this, combined with the lack of proper management of the plants, makes the coffee an unprofitable crop for most farmers, who then turn their attention in planting other cash crops that are more rewarding.

Khat and Eucalyptus have taken over as the economic returns of these plants – that may seem short term to us as coffee lovers – are truly important for the farmers that are in need of fast cash.

Ethiopia, however, has the environment necessary for Moplaco, from Sidamo’s soil to the altitude to the rain to the wind.

That’s why they use mostly classic processes.

What’s original has a glow all its own, and there is no need to add anything to it.

Sometimes, it can backfire if you try to improve upon it.

Moplaco’s Heleanna has challenged the basic aspects of the problem and has solved it.

What is good for nature is good for coffee, and that means it will be good for humans.

That was the conclusion of any discussions we had.

I look forward to coffee as gentle and delicate as her garden in the guesthouse.

We are going back to Addis Ababa tomorrow.

For a few days, I spent some time in the forest with coffee, meeting other roasters and sharing conversations.

Now that the biases I have developed over my many years of work have pretty much evaporated, my ideas about myself as a roaster and about good coffee have also changed.

This will probably show in the cuppings to come.

There are coffee trees on a slope.

Beans are dried on African beds on this hill.

The slope is very steep, but also dynamic.

The heat of the day and the chilly breeze of the night sweep down the hill. That is probably what creates the dynamic flavor of Sidamo coffees.

The farm at Sidamo feels like the current epicenter of Ethiopia’s specialty coffee.

Harvest is over, and we look down at the quiet farm, trying to imagine the sights and sounds of many people moving briskly on the farm just a few days ago.

The hearty meal and coffee ceremony. I wholeheartedly embraced Ethiopia.

This is the power of coffee that I have always felt.

It’s as though Ethiopian children were standing at the top of a steep hill.

Some of them might give up, or get tired, and want to stop climbing.

But if they stop halfway up, they will tumble all the way down.

TYPICA, together with a foundation called Costa, which built a school, is helping to resolve these situations.

Specialty coffee brings happiness to urban people, but how does it actually contribute to their impoverished lives and livelihoods?

Thanks to the kindness of Wete Ambela, I had the chance to plant a coffee seedling.

I poured passion and hope into the single coffee tree.

Now, what does one child get in return?

It would be a great shame if coffee as a commodity takes priority over humans.

That moment, coffee, which I thought was simply a crop destined for distribution, felt a little heavier.

Nowadays, it is beginning to feel difficult to live in harmony with the rest of the world.

I’ll start with what I can do.

Just as I did when I started working in coffee.

Starting today, we’ll be visiting coffee farms.

We drove our way through bumpy, unpaved roads, up a mountain to a farm.

Climbing all the way up to 2,000 meters high is an extraordinary experience.

On the way up, I wasn’t able to see what I expected to see in Ethiopia.

We drove past children and local residents taking a leisurely stroll and waving at us.

It was in the middle of the day. I wondered if they were doing something, or if they didn’t have to do anything.

Passing them by, I realized how distracted I was by so many things, and how fast-paced my life was. Was I being carried away by the momentum of my day-to-day life without even realizing it?

As we drove farther and farther from the village, there were tall trees lining the street. A cool breeze swept through, as we made our way over a lush verdant hill.

In the car, I dozed off while listening to the comforting lullaby of a coffee talk between Mr. Goto and two roasters. The bumpy ride lasted for more than five hours.

The roads looked as though no one lived there, but people came out of houses one after another.

Mr. Nomura fell sound asleep right away.

We were almost there.

I am breathing in Ethiopia.

I touched the soil under the coffee trees and smelled it. So this is Ethiopia.

Injera was being dried alongside coffee beans, which gave me a sense of people’s everyday lives here. The highlight of the day was not the meal but the coffee ceremony.

The aroma of a deeply brewed hot cup of coffee blew away my thirst and heat.

We hopped back in the car for another six-hour plus drive back.

A quick rain that lasted longer than squall brought with it a cool breeze. This is the Ethiopian wind, I thought. I closed my eyes to feel it in my skin.

To every question I asked Heleanna from Moplaco, she had a clear answer. I knew right away that she has a solid philosophy behind coffee production.

Perhaps that is the pride of running a three-generation coffee firm. The inventor of the world’s first natural washing. I love fully washed, but I can’t help but marvel at just how much ingenuity humans have.

I’ve been using Moplaco’s beans, but finally I got to see their farm firsthand, in the middle of the night.

They gave us a warm welcome. I danced with them around a bonfire.

Their souls tugged at my heartstrings.

The coffee they made with charcoal burned on the spot paired beautifully with Ethiopian wine.

The wild guest house I’ll be staying in for the night will give me a sense of what it’s like to wake up at the farm and see the sunrise at 2,000 meters high.

Long before I was born, this farm has received sunlight every morning. I have gratitude and respect for everything at the farm.

Good night.

There’ve been times when I’ve had to focus on keeping the business afloat. But coffee still has the magical power to bring various people together, creating connections between coffee lovers and baristas, baristas and roasters, and roasters and producers. Whether or not we are aware of these connections, we are inseparably tied together, creating something more than a cup of coffee. We’ve all been through a lot of experiences thanks to coffee, and these experiences have made us realize that we should create a culture together, rather than just focusing on making money.

Along the way, I came across an online platform called TYPICA. It was an interesting platform where roasters of all sizes, even the smallest ones, can join.

It’s very exciting to be able to be a part of this community and share a trip to a coffee origin with other roasters who must have gone through the same struggles and soul-searching as I did, but in other cultures and other environments. I hope the fun and rich stories told by us roasters will reach all the coffee lovers across the world through TYPICA Lab. I’m merely one roaster from a back alley in Seoul, but I’m grateful for this opportunity.