August 25, 2005
Addis coffee shops: My favouite place in Ethiopia #4
It is one of the greatest mysteries in Ethiopia – how has Nestlé managed to establish even the smallest market for its vile brew Nescafé here?
As everyone knows, Ethiopia produces the best coffee in the world (sorry Kenya and Colombia but it is true). Coffee was discovered here – by Kaldi the shepherd boy who noticed his goats were getting a little frisky after eating the beans. Only the most superior "arabica" beans grow here. If you can get you hands on them wherever you are, you have to try the almost lemony flavour of Yirgacheffe coffee, or the earthier taste of "Unwashed" Harar. (Does anyone know why it is called "unwashed"? There must be more welcoming brand names.)
In Ethiopia, amazing coffee is also incredibly cheap – much cheaper than a jar of Nescafé. You can get a steaming cup of it at any pavement café in Addis for about 1.25 birr. And there are lots of varieties – simple buna, buna ba wetet (coffee with milk), macchiato etc etc.
And yet, despite all this, some people are clearly buying Nescafé. You can find it in even relatively small shops – all the big supermarkets stock it. I have been offered it a number of times in people's homes. And I can exclusively reveal that there are vast tubs of it in many of the offices in the UN compound at the centre of Addis Ababa. To add to their crime, it is served with powdered Nestlé milk.
Nescafé, as everyone knows, is the vilest excuse for a cup of coffee in the world. It tastes disgusting. When it goes off, as it does quite quickly, it gives off a smell like tar. A friend in the coffee trade once gave me a hair-raising account of how it is made. In case there are any Nestlé lawyers reading this, let's just say it does not come from the cream of the coffee bean crop.
The fact that Nestlé has found someone to sell it to here is nothing short of a capitalistic, free-market miracle. Maybe it is the exoticness of it – a foreign brand seen as better than the home-grown version. Maybe it is its just-add-water "instant" convenience. But if you are really that lazy, coffee shops will deliver a cup of the real stuff on a tray to your home or office in a matter of minutes.
Whatever the reason, if you come to Ethiopia, stick to the local brew. Three of my favourite places to drink it – making them three of my favourite places in Ethiopia – are City Café & Pastry on Bole road, Tomoca below the Piazza, and the wonderful Starbucks rip-off Kaldi's on Bole Tele (photos coming).
UPDATE: If you are in the UK, a great place to order Ethiopian beans is Hill & Valley Coffee Ltd. Here is their East Africa page.
Posted by aheavens at August 25, 2005 8:40 AM
Comments
My favorite coffee shop in Addis http://www.mokarar.com
Posted by: Jonas Vondilo at August 25, 2005 11:30 AM
Hi,
Congratulations for your blog.
My wife and me are just back from Addis, and we went to TOMOCA to enjoy the Ethiopian coffee.
I have posted a couple of pictures of TOMOCA in my blog.See it here: http://fernandezdaniel.blogspot.com/2005/08/5-our-first-guides.html
We have also been in Harar and we bought some coffee for our home. I hope I don't need to wash it...
Regards,
Daniel
Posted by: Daniel Fernandez at August 25, 2005 4:17 PM
Nescafé, yuck! Hard to believe that people in Addis are drinking Nescafé voluntarily (or even worse...offering it to their honored guests). Well, there you have it…big bad corporate America! I suppose it sells there because there’s an over-glorification of anything from the West. In the West however, we drink that cheep stuff only when extremely broke and must buy instant coffee from the 99 cents store. Once one is out of college and has a little bit more money, there is NEVER any reason for Nescafé, thanks to another evil corporate entity, Starbucks!
Posted by: Abby at August 25, 2005 4:28 PM
A quick reply to Abby's post. In reference to your "big bad corporate America" quote, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Nescafe (Nestle) is a European brand (Swiss to be specific)? However, I do agree that Nescafe and especially Nestle milk are a great disservice to coffee lovers everywhere.
Posted by: Yosias T. at August 25, 2005 5:05 PM
I stand corrected. Yes, right... Nestlé (maker of Nescafé) is Swiss but it benefits from HUGE American (or American type) advising and mass production. Nestlé also makes KitKat chocolate... is there anything more ‘American’ than KitKat? lol. That is no Swiss chocolate!
Posted by: Abby at August 25, 2005 6:25 PM
I traveled in Ethiopia in 2002, and enjoyed the coffee quite a bit, although I was quite confused by the local preference for massive amounts of sugar in the coffee. I also noticed that quite often coffee would be brewed in advance and then reheated by the steam wand of an espresso maker, which I'm sure gives less than optimal results (at least this is what I observed at the cafe of the Hotel Merkeb in Mekele, which was fabulously cheap and just across from the bus station).
But nothing beats the smoky flavor of the charcoal-roasted coffee that comes from coffee ceremony service, that is if you decline the sugar-loading.
By the way, Andrew, I am excited to have found your blog. It makes me very jealous of your ability to live in Addis. I concur with your previous post on the mini-bus cabs. They are a marvel of efficiency.
Posted by: Christopher at August 26, 2005 12:14 AM
Andrew, I love your blog! Yes, Nescafé is vile, and for some reason the only coffee on the shelves when I lived in London many years ago. I still see it on shelves here in the US. I don't know how they manage to continue marketing that brand. Sadly, many Ethiopians consider anything from the West to be better than home grown. Only when such mentality changes will small industries prevail at home.
Posted by: Teddy at August 26, 2005 12:36 AM
Some marketing genius- "sell ice to the escimos"- Nescafe to Ethiopians. That person probably earns a wad of cash that'll see all of Ethiopia's coffee farmers comfortably through a whole year. Buy local whenever you can- imported stuff is mostly cheap junk, except for wine maybe
Posted by: Dina at August 26, 2005 7:37 AM
have you tried Moka Harar? Much better cup than Tomoca. really one of the best in the city.
Posted by: chad at August 26, 2005 8:39 AM
Hi Andrew this is not about the coffee I just want to say thank you for putting my blog link on Ur Blog and check out some things I put if U get some time....one more and...and don't give much attention to the comments coz Truth is hard to swallow....u R doing superb job man
Posted by: nani at August 26, 2005 1:02 PM
Hi Andrew
It is not about coffee I just want to say Thank you for putting my Blog on your Blog short list and Please don't give much attention for the comments coz u are doing a superb job.
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cheers
Posted by: Senay at August 26, 2005 1:14 PM
Hi,
How about where should you go to get tasty pastry/cake?
Some say Enrico or Eneriko(not sure spelling) is the best. What do people think?
Thanks
Posted by: Arada at August 27, 2005 2:21 AM
Hey Andrew,
You are shying away from the reality on the ground. We were expecting some facts, interviews and stories from you regarding the newly realsed EU report. May be you are busy of other things. Soory, I didn't see you as active as before about current situation.
Cheers
Posted by: manyiferalmot at August 27, 2005 9:04 AM
On a related note, Starbucks in the US is trying to trademark Ethiopian Coffee! I'm not sure what this means legally but it seems to be an affront to the birthplace of the brew. The link to the article is below.
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=116376&d=122&h=24&f=46
Posted by: Gio at August 27, 2005 5:18 PM
to enlighted the uneducated:
"unwashed" coffee - refers to the method of processing. The cherry is dried whole in the sun, and then hulled to reveal the dried green beans inside.
In the "wet" process, the cherry has the pulpy flesh taken off, and the beans are then washed and dried in the sun, before finally being hulled to remove the papery 'parchment' skin leaving the dried green bean.
Other countries sometimes refer to the "unwashed" coffee as "natural", which, I'm sure you'll agree, demonstrates a more sensitive approach to marketing..
And btw, you're just plain wrong wrong wrong. Kenyan coffee is the best. Just look at the prices to see how the international market values it! (actually, if you look at it this way, Jamaican Blue Mountain is the best, but that wrong. Oh, I'm getting hoisted by my own logical petard and will now go on to prove that black is white etc etc)
Posted by: your old pal at August 29, 2005 6:51 AM
I wonder whether the UN uses Nescafe for "security' reasons? What a lovely metaphor this would be for the relationship between quality of life and what the US calls "Homeland Security".
Fear of unprocessed food of foreign origin notwithstanding, Dean's Beans in the US (http://www.deansbeans.com/results.html?query=ethiopian) offer a blend of Yirgacheffe, Sidamo and Jimma. They also have green Yirgacheffe/Sidamo beans.
BTW, is there any truth in the suggestion that young people in Ethiopia are giving up coffee altogether?
Posted by: stewart dutfield at August 31, 2005 5:46 PM
Mokarar, located at Theodros Square, has tasty coffee. They roast their coffee using wood, which gives it an excellent taste. I hear former president Jimmy Carter buys his coffee at this place.
Cheers!
Posted by: Nebiyou at September 1, 2005 8:01 AM
Do you know if Nescafe has their own Coffee Shop like Starbucks in Columbia?
Posted by: Andrew at November 3, 2005 1:44 PM
emmmmm. we ethiopians have a good realtionship with amarican people so it is really make me feel good when they use and drink our coffee. emmmmm
Posted by: selamawit Mulu at December 15, 2005 6:22 AM
Hi, We have just returned from Ethiopia, were there for 2 weeks. I loved the coffee and was wondering if it would be possible to import Ethiopian (Tomoca) coffee into Canada. If you have any advice please let me know - I would first have to get an import licence - but I need to have a contact in Ethiopia first.
Also, after the initial culture shock, I loved Ethiopia - especially the people we met - we flew to Lalibela, and drove the 700km south back to Addis.
Thank-you for this page. Rita M.
Posted by: rita methorst at November 27, 2006 4:57 PM