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Ethiopia Sidama Natural

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This month we are featuring our natural processed coffee from the Sidama region of Ethiopia. This isn’t one of our newest offerings. It’s certainly not unique to Heine Brothers’.  It’s not even a “seasonal”; we are usually able to stock this coffee year round.  But these facts and the general ubiquity of the name Sidama (aka Sidamo) among specialty coffee roasters make this coffee no less remarkable. In fact, among Heine Brothers’ offerings, Ethiopia Sidama is always atop my list of favorites.  It speaks volumes to the expertise and ingenuity of the farmers (nearly 80,000 of them) organized under the Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (SCFCU) that they are so well known in the coffee world, and produce such a unique and interesting cup profile season after season. This natural, or dry processed, coffee is handled with the fruit on for the drying stage of processing.  The whole cherries dry in the sun for weeks until the desiccated skin resembles fruit leather.  Processi

የተጫዋቾች የዝውውር ረቂቅ ሰነድ ለምን አነጋጋሪ ሆነ?

የኢትዮጵያ እግር ኳስ ሕጋዊ ሰውነት አግኝቶ መንቀሳቀስ ከጀመረ ከስድስት አሠርታት በላይ እንዳስቆጠረ ማስረጃዎች ያመለክታሉ፡፡ በዚህ ታሪካዊ ጉዞው ፌዴሬሽኑም ሆነ ክለቦች ከመነሻው እንደሌሎቹ አገሮች ወጥ የሆነ አደረጃጀት ኖሯቸው ሊቀጥሉ ባለመቻላቸው ዛሬም በተለያዩ የአሠራር ክፍተቶች እሰጣ ገባ ውስጥ ይገኛሉ፡፡ የዓለም አቀፉ እግር ኳስ ማኅበር (ፊፋ)፣ የአገሪቱ ክለቦች በፊፋ የክለብ አደረጃጀትና የተጨዋቾች የዝውውር መርሕ እንዲተዳደሩ የተለያዩ ሥልጠናዎችን ሲሰጥ መቆየቱ እንደማሳያ ሊወሰድ እንደሚገባውም የሚናገሩ አሉ፡፡  የኢትዮጵያ እግር ኳስ ፌዴሬሽንና ክለቦች በአገሪቱ የሚፈፀመው የእግር ኳስ ተጨዋቾች ደረጃና ዝውውር በሕግና በሥርዓት እንዲመራ በፊፋ ዝቅተኛውን የተጨዋቾች ደረጃና ዝውውር መስፈርት ያሟላ እንዲሆን፣ በተጨማሪም አሠራሩ በሕጋዊ ወኪል እንዲመራና ሒደቱም ተጨዋቾችን፣ ክለቦችንና መንግሥትን ተጠቃሚ በማድረግ ለአገሪቱ የእግር ኳስ ዕድገት መፋጠን የራሱን አወንታዊ ሚና ይጫወታል በሚል የተለያዩ አንቀፆችን የያዘ የተጨዋቾች ደረጃና የዝውውር መመሪያ ረቂቅ ሰነድ ለውይይት አቅርበዋል፡፡ ረቂቅ ሰነዱ ከጥር 25 ቀን 2007 ዓ.ም. በኋላ ሕጋዊ መመሪያ ሆኖ በፌዴሬሽኑ ሥራ አስፈጻሚ ኮሚቴ እንደሚፀድቅና እስከዚያ ግን ክለቦች በረቂቅ ሰነዱ በተካተቱ ነጥቦች ውስጥ አለን የሚሉትን ሐሳብ እንዲያንሸራሽሩ ጥር 12 ቀን 2007 ዓ.ም. ፌዴሬሽኑና ክለቦች በካፒታል ሆቴል ባደረጉት የመጀመሪያ የውይይት መድረክ ከስምምነት ደርሰዋል፡፡ ሆኖም ግን መመሪያው ደንብ ሆኖ ሥራ ላይ ከመዋሉ በፊት ረቂቅ ሰነዱ ለክለቦች ቀደም ብሎ እንዲደርስ ተደርጎ በተለይ የክለብ አስተዳዳሪዎችና ባለቤቶች ጉዳዩን በሰከነና በጥልቀት እንዲመክሩበት መደረግ ነበረበት በሚል አንዳ

Can Ethiopia’s Resource Wealth Contribute to its Growth and Transformation?

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Ethiopia has averaged a 10.7% economic growth rate over the last 10 years, more than double the annual average of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, which was around 5.2%. However, despite having a huge potential to contribute to Ethiopia’s economy, the development of oil, gas, and mineral resources are not among the key drivers of the country’s growth.  Although the country has geological potential for the discovery of new, sizeable oil, gas and mineral deposits, most of its extractive industry is still in its infancy stage. Currently, there is one large-scale gold mine in operation, while a growing number of large mining projects are under development and exploration for oil and natural gas is intensifying after significant discoveries in neighboring countries. Ethiopia also has an extensive and unique artisanal mining sector; the government estimates there are around 1 million miners, making it an important source of job creation, and an important source of foreign c

The exciting potential for sensors and drones to combat global hunger

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There’s plenty of food the in the world. The issue is getting it to the places in need. (Mark Elias/Bloomberg) In 2013, I made my first trip to Ethiopia. Knowing a bit about the country’s economic circumstances, I fully expected the grim poverty that I’d later encounter. After all, like millions of Americans, I watched the devastating famine there unfold on television in the 1980s. At the same time, Ethiopia has made great strides since then. Ethiopia halved the number of its undernourished people from 75 percent to 35 percent in two decades, according to the United Nations. Still, that 35 percent is considerable – the U.N.’s World Food Programme estimates that 3.2 million  Ethiopians need food relief assistance. So imagine my surprise when I entered a restroom in a small town outside Addis, the capital, and found sensorized urinals – the kind that self-flush. I don’t normally notice urinals, but in Ethiopia, where electricity and indoor plumbing are unreliable at best, sensori

Modjo-Hawassa Expressway Kicks Off By Impact Assessment

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The Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) has completed the environmental and social impacts and Resettlement Action Plan for the 202km Modjo-Hawassa Expressway. The civil work of the project is to be financed by the Ethiopian Government and four other financiers namely the African Development Bank, World Bank, the Korean and the Chinese Export Import (EXIM) Banks. The reasons such as high traffic in the area which is beyond the capacity of the current road, the frequent accident in the road, pollution in towns because of congested traffic, and the failure of the existing road to accommodate the traffic flow to the area initiated the construction of the expressway. The study and design of the Modjo- Hawassa expressway was awarded to Techniplan International Consulting firm with the studies to be further reviewed by Ethio-Infra Engineering PLC. The new road will be the connection the country will have with the 10,000Km Cairo- Gaborone- Cape Town highway and to alternative ports in