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and back into the cars, on our way to Zelelu's farm. The sounds of, "You!" trailed behind us as we drove away. Zelelu's farm lies right in the middle of a thick forest at the end of a one-lane zigzagging road. As we made our way down to his farm, it became more and more apparent that the forest we were cutting through was in fact made of coffee bushes. Coffee seems to grow everywhere in Ethiopia, and even on so-called farms, it is unorga- nized, scattered about randomly in the rich soil—quite different from the neatly arranged rows that we see in so many specialty-coffee farms in Central and South America. We spent the afternoon exploring Zelelu's farm, gazing up at ancient coffee trees that grew as high as 20 feet, and laughing with the crowd of people who were spending their time at the washing station during our visit. One particularly prominent topic of discus- sion was the varieties that Zelelu was growing. We hear all the time about the thousands upon thousands of heirloom varieties that grow in Ethiopia, but Zelelu was positive about the three varieties on his farm: Dega, Welisho, and Kudhume. This revelation led us to scour his farm for the three varieties, tracking them down one by one and documenting the characteristics of each. This data is being compiled into a Café Imports variety database with help from collaborators from across the globe. The cherry on top of all of this came at the end of our visit, when Zelelu told us that he had a gift for us. We all gathered near the dry- ing beds, and Zelelu produced three plastic bags, each of which was filled with parchment. Last year, Jason had asked Zelelu if he could do any type of variety separation for us, and Zelelu said the he would do what he could. Well, the result of this was in the three bags, each of which contained one kilogram of Dega, Wulisho, and Kudhume. We were ecstatic. The variety separations are now safely back in our Minneapolis office, and we can't wait to cup them. These experiments can only be performed with the help of individual farmers, and we are incredibly lucky to have developed this relationship with such an eager partner. L O O K I N G F O R WA R D A N D B A C K I left Ethiopia with an overwhelming feeling of awe. If Costa Rica's specialty-coffee industry is operating at 100-percent effi- ciency, then Ethiopia's is operating at 20 percent. The systems that are in place, the corruption that exists, and the basic lack of infrastructure all result in a very confusing coffee-purchasing environment. Yet, when we in the specialty-coffee industry talk about the best coffees in the world, we're often talking about Ethiopian coffee. If we are reaching this level of quality with cur- rent systems, can you imagine how incredible Ethiopian coffee can be with a little bit of progress? At the same time, thinking about the state of Ethiopian coffee brings me back to one of the most prominent images I hold on to from the trip: I was walking with Ayele through his farm, and we came upon a tree that arched upward of 20 feet into the air. Ayele said that this tree was more than 50 years old. Then he suggest- ed I climb it. As I made my way up the tree, grabbing ripe, red cherries as I went, windows to the rich Ethiopian landscape began to appear through the branches of the tree. I reached the top and looked out over a sea of coffee bushes crushed together every- where below me. Sitting up there, I bit into the cherries I'd pulled on my ascent, and I couldn't help but think that this is how coffee should exist: wild, ancient, and undisturbed. Perhaps coffee is best when we just leave it alone. 47 www.baristamagazine.com