Chapter 2 · Origins 03 / 12
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Where Coffee Began

Heirloom varietals, not engineered hybrids

Over ten thousand native cultivars grow wild in the Yirgacheffe highland forests — each carrying a lineage older than any certification label.

The jebena sets what no lab can measure

Three ceremonial rounds — Abol, Tona, Baraka — filter roast quality by hand and by ritual passed through generations of highland roasters.

Altitude is not a marketing number

Beans grown above 1,800 meters develop denser cell structures and brighter acidity under the thin air of the Ethiopian highlands.

Direct trade means knowing the farmer's name

We pay above the export floor before the beans leave the Sidamo and Guji cooperatives — relationship first, contract second.