In Ethiopia, there’s wild coffee. And then there’s wild forest coffee. Locals in the Bench Maji zone have enjoyed these coffees for multiplied centuries, but now the rest of us get in on the experience.
As it turns out, Ethiopian coffee production is divided into four types: forest, semi-forest, garden, and plantation. The Bench Maji zone falls into the Forest coffee category. Self-sown, shaded by natural forest trees, these coffees offer great diversity, and are well adapted to their environment, yielding exceptional aromas and flavors. Only 10% of Ethiopian coffee is forest grown, so sipping a cup of specialty coffee from the Bench Maji zone is a rare treat indeed.