The story of coffee has its beginnings in Ethiopia, the original home of the coffee plant; Coffea arabica, which still grows wild in the forest of the highlands. While nobody is sure exactly how coffee was originally discovered as a beverage, One generation followed another and here we are in the 21st century when coffee has become the world’s second most popular non-alcoholic beverage after tea.

Ethiopia produces 3 to 4.6 million bags of coffee per year on 400,000 ha accounting for approximately 5% of the world’s coffee production. Ethiopia is the 10th largest producer in the World. Over 25% of Ethiopia’s GNP and over 55% of its export revenues are related to coffee. More than 25% of Ethiopia’s population depends on coffee, making it the life blood of the country. 85% of production is produced in the forests or semi forest areas or on small farms by smallholders or farmers. Only 5% of coffee is grown on large plantations.

Top 10 Coffee Producing Countries (2007/2008)

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Top 15 Coffee consuming Countries (most recent)

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