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Ethiopian heirloom landraces

Arabica · Associated with Ethiopia

Not a single variety but the term commonly used for Ethiopia's vast number of local, uncatalogued arabica landraces — a genuine reflection of Ethiopia's status as arabica's centre of origin and greatest genetic diversity, rather than a gap in CoffeeHQ's data. Unlike SL28, Castillo or the various Bourbon-descended varieties covered elsewhere in this catalogue, most Ethiopian farms grow a mix of local landrace populations that have not been individually classified, selected or named in the way varieties are elsewhere — "heirloom" or "landrace" is the honest description many sources use, not a specific cultivar. Gesha (covered separately) is one specific, now-famous landrace population that was collected, exported and later named; most Ethiopian heirloom material has not had that same individual attention.

This page is a short reference entry. The full account of the subject is the Ethiopia origin guide.

Commonly grown in

The Coffee Expert lesson Species and varieties covers this ground in order, with exercises you can do at home.