Coffee is native to Ethiopia, and the country is the only place in the world where coffee grows wild. For thousands of years Ethiopian families have roasted their own coffee beans, grinding them in a mortar and offering the drink to guests following a solemn ritual involving symbolic displays of hospitality, friendship and respect.

The preparation of coffee-an integral part of daily Ethiopian life-is a traditional ceremony covering all social classes: The guest is welcomed by a woman in charge and by a carpet of freshly cut grass and flowers spread before a small table holding the traditional small handle-less cups. The shelled coffee beans are washed and roasted until they are the right color and then shown to the guests. The aroma of the coffee permeates the air, wafted by delicate hand movements. The beans are ground in a mortar, then the powder is poured into a jabana, the traditional coffee pot, full of boiling water. The first coffee (abol), already sugared, is served to the oldest person, then the next two are made (tona and baraka), by adding water to the jabana as required. The three coffees are served with corn, wheat or toasted barley.

The Harenna forest, one of the largest in Ethiopia, is situated in the mountains of the magnificent Bale National Park, 350 km south of the capital Addis Abeba. Here, at an altitude of around 1,800 meters, Arabica coffee grows wild in the shade of tall trees. Its outstanding quality potential merits further study and development. Selling coffee is the main source of income for local small-scale farmers. The gatherers harvest the ripe berries by hand, often competing with the baboons who love to eat the fruit.

The berries do not require stripping or washing, crucial stages for the coffee from the Latin American Presidia. It is truly a "natural" coffee: After the berries are harvested they are simply dried in the sun on suspended nets.