Legacy varieties

The varieties are the inheritance.

Arabica began here, and Ethiopia is the only country that grows it where it is native. These are the named landraces and selections behind the cup — eleven of them, with the areas they belong to.

Named, not generic

A named variety is worth more than a region alone.

Most Ethiopian coffee still sells as “heirloom” — a word that covers thousands of distinct populations and tells a buyer nothing. Recording the variety with the lot is how that value comes back to the grower.

Sidama

Kurume

wine-like, berry, heavy body

1 700–2 200 m

Gedeo

Wolisho

rich, chocolate, full body

1 700–2 100 m

Gedeo

Dega

jasmine, lemon, delicate

1 900–2 300 m

Ethiopia — the origin of the name

Gesha

jasmine, bergamot, tropical

1 800–2 200 m

Hararghe

Harar Longberry

blueberry, mocha, wine-like

Illubabor

JARC 74110

sweet, clean, citrus

1 500–2 100 m

Illubabor

JARC 74112

berry, chocolate, apricot, floral

1 600–2 200 m

Jimma

JARC 74148

balanced, nutty, medium body

1 400–1 900 m

Jimma

JARC 74158

blueberry, balanced, chocolate

1 700–2 300 m

Kaffa and the southwest forests

Wild / semi-forest arabica

forest-wild, herbal

Every growing area

Mixed regional heirloom

the character of its area

JARC selections are released by the Jimma Agricultural Research Center. Kurume, Wolisho and Dega are the Sidama and Gedeo landraces behind most washed Yirgacheffe and Sidamo lots.

Custodianship

Ethiopia holds the genetic base for the whole species.

Every arabica grown anywhere traces back to this forest. That makes the association’s job custodial as much as commercial — the varieties are recorded, not licensed away.