Summary

It's 2010 and Ethiopia, in the global consciousness, is shedding its history of drought, famine, and war. It's doing so by embracing the heritage and potential of its defining crop, coffee, a plant first accounted for in legend over 3,000 years ago that now ranks among the world's ten most-valued commodities. Coffee Story: Ethiopia is the story of that process: a visual and narrative tale of opportunity, resources, education, and heritage.Author Majka Burhardt's prose weaves its way into the fabric of the Ethiopian coffee story with precision, humility, and curiosity. The result is both informative and illuminating. Coffee Story: Ethiopia is a unique co-venture by US-based Origin Point Press and Shama Books, an Ethiopian publishing company. It is thus the only coffee story that is both about and from Ethiopia. Ethiopia's coffee story unfolds through photos, vignettes, and extended captions that allow easy entry onto any page. Coffee Story: Ethiopia also transcends coffee itself to explore Ethiopia's larger landscape and peoples. With a foreword by coffee maven Joseph Brodsky, elegant photography by Travis Horn and Helmut Horn, original artwork by illustrator Molly Holmberg, and elucidating guest essays from top coffee-industry insiders, Coffee Story: Ethiopia will prove an invaluable addition to the library of the coffee professional, the coffee consumer, and anyone interested in this ancient plant and in exploring Ethiopia's territory and tales.