Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu has a dream: that everyone should one day taste hand-roasted Ethiopian coffee.<\/p>\n

Widely acknowledged as the\u00a0birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia is one of the world\u2019s\u00a0largest coffee bean producers\u00a0and Africa\u2019s top grower of the plant. Coffee is also brewed and drank in the Horn of Africa nation in elaborate ceremonies, often using crafting techniques passed down from generations over centuries. As an entrepreneur, Alemu always wanted to replicate this dynamic experience\u2014what she calls \u201cthe magical process\u201d\u2014to coffee lovers worldwide.<\/p>\n

And so was born in 2016 the idea for\u00a0Garden of Coffee, a brand that uses artisanal methods to source, process, roast, and package Ethiopia\u2019s legendary beans. Twenty workers at the company\u2019s atelier in Addis Ababa currently oversee this activity, roasting\u00a0five types of coffee\u00a0beans only for individual orders and shipping them to over 20 countries including Russia, Sweden, Germany, and the United States.<\/p>\n

This personalised roasting, Alemu says, helps preserve the quality of the coffee for the final customer, reduces the ecological footprint associated with factory roasting, and creates a business model that values local manufacturing. This is especially vital as Ethiopia takes crucial steps in\u00a0improving governance\u00a0and accelerating poverty reduction and\u00a0economic growth\u00a0through job creation.<\/p>\n

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China-bound<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Alemu is now venturing out of Ethiopia. In August, Garden of Coffee launched in China, a tea-loving market that is increasingly turning towards coffee. Starbucks,\u00a0Coca-Cola, e-commerce giant Alibaba, hedge fund manager\u00a0Bill Ackman, and local Chinese start-up\u00a0Luckin Coffee\u00a0have in recent years all bet big on China\u2019s nascent coffee scene. Java House, East Africa\u2019s largest chain of coffee shops, also said in August it would\u00a0capitalise on this increased demand\u00a0for specialty coffee to supply the Chinese market.<\/p>\n
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Through a deal with Suzhou Reyto trading company, GOC says it will ship 12 tons of hand-roasted coffee to China in the first year. The company has also launched advertisement and marketing on the multi-purpose messaging and social media app WeChat, will soon place its product on the shopping site Taobao. But it\u2019s big plan is\u00a0 to open over 100 caf\u00e9 roasteries across China by 2022. Through a subscription service, customers will also be able to receive their favorite coffee of choice in one, two, or four-week intervals.<\/p>\n
By embracing traditional Ethiopian roasting methods and taking them globally, Alemu says she hopes to shape the\u00a0\u201cfourth wave\u201d\u00a0that is defining coffee\u2019s evolution. The first wave involved the mass drinking of the brew, the second grew with the rise of a coffee culture through brands like Starbucks, while the third focused on artisanal coffee making. The fourth wave now focuses\u00a0less on commercialization,\u00a0more on long-term sustainability, besides promoting and preserving local ways of farming.\u00a0Placing Ethiopian coffee at the heart of this movement is only pragmatic, argues Alemu. But it is also a judicious growth strategy: because of demand, Garden of Coffee is set to increase its hand-roasting artisans to 300 by 2021.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are doing this not only because hand-roasting coffee is an ancient art that we strongly feel is worth preserving and promoting, but because we believe this method of coffee roasting is the key to unlocking Ethiopian coffee\u2019s true magical tastes,\u201d says Alemu. \u201cThat\u2019s the critical distinction.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Source: Quartz<\/div>\n<\/div>
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