From Addis, with love

From being here almost one month now, I am actually starting to get a hang of this place. But for those of you who do not know Ethiopia, I have listed my favourite fun facts about Ethiopia below.

1. Over 80 languages are spoken in this country. The most widely spoken local languages are Oromo, Amharic, Somali and Tigrinya.
2. Addis Ababa, is the highest capital city in Africa, at 2,400 metres!
3. Allegedly, the Ark of the Covenant that holds the 10 Commandments,  is in a church in this country! However, only one man knows how true this is, and he is the only one who guards it. Raiders of the lost ark anyone ?
4. Ethiopia fought against the Scramble for Africa, and it is one of the few countries that were not colonized, though Italians occupied it for at least five years. Leading to a lot of Italian influence in Addis, you can basically find lasagna everywhere!
5. Coffee was discovered in this country, in Kaffa region. But you already knew that right?!
6. The oldest fossil of Early man was discovered here! And Lucy is in the National Ethiopian Museum.
7. About 70% of the mountains of Africa are in Ethiopia!
8. Ethiopia has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. The nine sites are Aksum, Fasil Ghebbi, Harar, Konso Cultural Landscape, Lower Valley of the Awash, Lower Valley of the Omo, Rock-Hewn Churches, Simien National Park and Tiya. And in the Simien National park, is the only place you can find the Ethiopian wolf, which is nearly extinct and super cute.
9. The Ethiopian Calendar has 13 months and it is 7 ½ years behind the Gregorian calendar. New Year in Ethiopia starts on 11th September and a day later in a leap year. So I am currently in 2010……Back to the future ?!
10. And in Ethiopia, they have their own timeset. When the sun goes up, it is 01.00. And from there you have days consisting of 12 hours. And 12 hours at night. Weirdly enough this works, because you plan you day based on the sun and its appearance.

Ethiopia is also very much known for their strong and proud culture. Music, art and dance I something you see everywhere here. And it is so cool, because Addis is flowering with art galleries, concerts and fashion.

But what Ethiopia also has, is amazing people. And here you can read about the top three of the litter, all working with us in our lab here in Addis. Of course, all ladies “woop woop”

Maranatha Yonas – Lab assistant

Maranatha is new in the field of coffee. But she likes coffee a lot. Especially the Harar coffee. Ethiopia is a country with many different cultures of making coffee. Even if there are so many different types of coffees the way they make coffee is almost same. The way they roast, the way they grind it is so different even it has its own ceremony of making coffee. Marantha likes the traditional way of making it.

Marantha joined the company in January 2018. She works as a lab assistant, and helps out with daily tasks of sorting coffee, packing samples, preparing cuppings and making sure everyone is happy. And she has just started her roast training this week !

Bizuayehu Dagne – Lab Manager 

Bizuayehu joined our company in December 2015, as a cleaner and coffee sorter. But know, being in our lab for quite some time, she is responsible for the lab here in Addis. Roasting samples, making sure all the lab equipment is running properly, filing and recording of incoming samples and sending out samples to our customers. She also assists Seife with stuffing the containers and collect samples from our suppliers. And Bizuayehu also has control on all the coffees that enter our lab, meaning she is our Oracle.

Bizuayehu’s favourite coffee is Yirgacheffe coffees.

Name: Martha Asres – logistics Manager

Martha Works As a logistics manager who is assigned to control over all the logistics process that the company engaged. that consist of  follow up all the process  by linking of suppliers and buyers once the coffee sold out to the clients. Corresponding with exporters, buyers, shipping companies forwarders and other stakeholder who are engaged through the process of documentation & others, while shipping of the coffee from the origin to the final destination.

Martha joined Tropiq Ethiopia in January, 2018.

Relationship with coffee: Since Ethiopia is the origin of coffee most of the people loves coffee also Martha loves drinking coffee. Her favourite coffee is Harar coffee (which is more of cherry flavour) and Sidama coffee which is tasty. Also likes to eat Buna kela, the coffee cherry prepared with sorghum, spice, butter and pepper.