All about coffeeUkers, William H. (William Harrison)
History
All about coffee
Ukers, William H. (William Harrison)
Coffee; Coffee Industry; Drinking customs
The coffee of Harar is known to the trade as Mocha longberry or
Abyssinian longberry. Most of the plantations upon which it is raised
are owned by the native Hararis, Galla, and Abyssinians, although there
are a few Greek, German, and French planters. The trees are planted in
rows about twelve or fifteen feet apart, and comparatively little
attention is given to cultivation. Crops average two a year, and
sometimes even five in two years. The big yield is in December, January,
and February. The average crop is about seventy pounds, and is mostly
from small plots of from fifty to one hundred trees, there being no very
large plantations. All the coffee is brought into the city of Harar,
whence it is sent on mule-back to Dire-Daoua on the Franco-Ethiopian
Railway, and from there by rail to Jibuti. Some of it is exported
directly from Jibuti, and the rest is forwarded to Aden, in Arabia, for
re-exporting.
Abyssinian, or wild, coffee is also known as Kaffa coffee, from one of
the districts where it grows most abundantly in a state of nature. This
coffee has a smaller bean and is less rich in aroma and flavor than the
Harari; but the trees grow in such profusion that the possible supply,
at the minimum of labor in gathering, is practically unlimited. It is
said that in southwestern Abyssinia there are immense forests of it
that have never been encroached upon except at the outskirts, where the
natives lazily pick up the beans that have fallen to the ground. It is
shelled where it is found, in the most primitive fashion, and goes out
in a dirty, mixed condition.
Formerly, much of this Kaffa coffee was sent to market through Boromeda,
Harar, and Dire-Daoua. An average annual crop was about 6,000 bags, or
800,000 pounds, of which something more than one-half usually went
through Harar. A customs and trading station has lately been established
at Gambela, on the Sobat River: and with the development of this outlet,
there has been a substantial and increasing exploitation of the
wild-coffee plants since 1913. Large areas of land have been cleared,
with a view to cultivation, and attention is being given to improved
methods of harvesting and of preparing the coffee for the market. At one
time a fair amount of coffee from this region went to Adis Abeba on the
backs of pack mules, a journey of thirty-five or forty days, and then
was carried to Jibuti, nearly 500 miles, part of the way by rail. Now
practically all of it goes to Gambela, thence by steamers to Khartoum,
and by rail to the shipping-point at Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account