Two days at the conference

0219
The first day of the Conference – the presentations are good, a certain US coffee reviewer has some notions, but I think he forgets stuff. Initial impressions of the new ECX system are that it seems pretty fucked up for specialty and can potentially grind everything to a standstill this year while they try and get things figured out as pertains to quality. Mr Coofee is in rare form, trying to stir things up.

Meanwhile, I got to go to Ogsadey’s dry mill and office, which is an enormous treat. I saw the entire operation, all the mechanical sorting and then the hand sorting that goes on. I took tons of photos, hopefully more than just a few will be keepers. * Turns out, quite a few are keepers, and the ones I’m uploading for public viewing now are not even the best ones – I’m saving those for later…*

Also meanwhile, I’m getting texts from both Jackson and Hunter, as well as Michelle, letting me know they miss me and are taking good care of the dog. My sister, on the other hand, texts me with REALLY important news, that Ken Griffey Junior is once again a Seattle Mariner! For some strange reason, I can’t get anyone here in Dire Dawa to react with the same sort of enthusiasm this news had on me.

0220
I order a breakfast traditional to the Harar area – fetira, which is a lovely pie-shaped flatbread, and either plain or filled with egg. Then you put the curry-spiced butter on it or fresh honey. I get the one with egg and smear both all over it. It is delicious, especially after last night’s oily goat-fest dinner. I was introduced last night to a sort of ketchup for the meat, a monstrously spicy and hot affair that I liked quite a bit.

The conference wraps up, not too many conclusions drawn, but a number of situations very much worth monitoring here in Ethiopia, especially in the next few months as the ECX complications continue to unfold or resolve somehow. The main worry is the homogenization of Ethiopian coffee. Immediate reactions by the buyers here is near panic – why, when all the world is moving in the opposite direction, towards greater transparency and delineation of coffees at extremely micro levels, back all the way to individual plots of land, why does the Ethiopian government feel that this clearinghouse ECX system is the proper way to do business? Well, it has to do with many factors. I tend to be one of those not shouting “fire” at this point. The greater good of the peasant Ethiopian coffee farmer will ultimately be served by the ecx system, in my opinion. This does not mean that specialty lots will benefit, or specialty roasters, they will suffer because the transparency is lost, and there is no way to be assured the lot you want is the lot you will get. This is indeed a scary notion, and enough to keep specialty buyers from doing business in Ethiopia in the near term. We’ll see. Perhaps this ecx can be a temporary step in the right direction, providing these peasant farmers with the incentives they need to realize decent prices and begin to understand how they can participate in the business of coffee without being taken advantage of. That’s a big perhaps.

I don’t have great fears because I want to buy certified organic coffee anyway, which actually can NOT trade through the ECX because of the traceability requirements.

After the conference wraps we drive to the city of Harar. Wow, the ancient walled city of Harar, built in the mid 1500’s. I took lots of pictures, we walked through the market and the old city. After dinner we drove out to see the hyena feeding. Anybody see “The Great Outdoors” with John Candy and Dan Akroyd? The Hyena feeding was like going to the bear dump. They’ve got a big bag of meat strips and you hold a stick (about the size of a pencil) out, they lay a strip of meat on it, and about six hyenas start jumping up, a foot in front of you, to get to the meat first. Yes, I took a turn. I fed four hyenas, they look like they could be sort of cute, in a doggish sort of way, but they are really actually pretty damn ugly and all kinds of meesed-up shaped, what with the shorter back legs than the front. All in all, a fairly dumb touristy-type gig, but interesting nonetheless to be in such close proximity to the beasts with no fence or anything.