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Almost Home -
2/21/2012
Posted By:
Steve Hawthorne
I’m winding down my 17 day voyage around Africa. While this trip has been really educational and a lot of fun, I starting to hear a Stone Creek latte calling my name!
After wrapping up the EAFCA Conference on Saturday evening, I took off for southern Ethiopia to visit the Sidamo and Yirgacheffe growing regions. We’ve had coffee from these regions for many years, so it has been great to finally see where these coffees come from.
Most of the coffee has already been bagged and sent for export this year, so I didn’t get to see much coffee. I did have the opportunity to tour the washing stations that handle the majority of the coffee from these regions. Ethiopian processing is slightly different than other parts of the world. I’ve appreciated learning about what makes this coffee what it is.
What I didn’t get to see in coffee, I made up for in meeting people. I’ve been all over the world now, and I can honestly say that people in Ethiopia are some of the friendliest that I’ve ever met. Anyone that knows even a few words of English has tried to have a conversation with me.
Today I am heading to the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange warehouse to cup some coffees before going to the airport for my 1:30am flight home. In just under 38 hours, I will finally be crawling into my own bed to bide time until I can get a delicious latte from the Bay View store.
I’ll have a recap report for my entire trip once I get settled into the office. See you state side!
Sip slowly,
Steve
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