Journey through the Origins of Ethiopian Coffee

Explore the history of coffee in the place where it all started. Visit the vast coffee forests, learn about local farming and advance your tastes by trying new coffee flavours.



The Ethiopian Coffee Company has partnered with YellowWood Adventures to bring you an incredible 10-day adventure: Discover the wonderful culture of Ethiopia whilst following the amazing ‘crop to cup’ journey of Ethiopian coffee from the wild forests of Bonga to their Islington coffee shop ‘Ground Control’.



Coffee originates from Ethiopia. The word ‘coffee’ comes from the word ‘Kafa’; the green jungle region in the southwest of the country. Walking through beautiful jungle with Colobus Monkeys swinging overhead, we will experience the beauty of its diverse flora, fauna, wildlife and local people; visiting the coffee plantations and villagers who work there, learning everything about the processes that allow the beans to be exported to the international market.



The Kafa Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO-protected site, is one of the few remaining wild coffee forests in the world. One day a shepherd here saw that his flock of goats acting strangely after eating the red berries, so he took some home to his wife – and lo, the wonders of coffee were discovered!



We will partake in the local coffee ceremony (coffee is Ethiopia’s national drink), experience ‘cupping’ where you can learn about its many varied flavours, and visit a local company’s production line in Addis Ababa. There is the option to ride horses in some of the places we visit, for those that are interested. Although the tour is centred primarily around coffee, we also have the opportunity to visit small scale honey and spice producers, and a tea plantation. For those less interested in coffee as a commodity, just being in this protected and truly magical region is an experience unto itself. We fully believe in, and practice Responsible Tourism, using hotels run by locals. We put time and effort into building our relationship with them to ensure you have a a great trip. We choose hotels based on cleanliness, comfort, safety, proximity to our route (to avoid unnecessary extra travel), and a warm client welcome, as well as reliability in their service to us. Some hotels will be basic, and in modern buildings and or in towns. Wherever we can, we will choose smaller more characterful, individual hotels, but in areas where tourism is still developing, this may not be available.

An aspect of our adventures is to escape the ‘trappings’ of modern Western lifestyles and to experience new things which is exciting and memorable, and reflects the countries we are visiting. This is adventure travel and on occasion the advertised services at a hotel (eg wifi, or hot showers!) may not be functional on our arrival. This tends to occur in the smaller, more remote hotels. Very rarely a hotel lets us down and we are required to find alternative suitable accommodation that might not be our first choice.

This trip involves hotel and guesthouse accommodation. The list below gives information on our first choice of accommodation for this adventure. Where hotels and refuges are fully booked or unavailable, we will use an alternative of a similar standard, and equally well situated. We will provide you with an accurate list of accommodation, with contact information to leave with relatives, prior to departure on your adventure.

Addis Ababa (Day 1,2 & 9): Monarch Hotel (www.monarchaddis.com) Address: Cameroon Street near Edna Mall, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Phone: +251 116672480. Wifi & Pool (though may not have water!)

Bonga (Day 3-7): Kafa Development Association Guesthouse, Bonga, Ethiopia, Tel: +251 0924660703 www.kafa-biosphere.com/accommodation). Rustic and fairly basic, though clean, and en-suite. Based in stunning grounds

Jimma (Day 8): Hotel Dololo, Jimma, Ethiopia. Tel: +251 471119000 or +251 983876767. Fully functional modern hotel with ensuite rooms & wifi