Harrar, Ethiopia

Grown in the eastern highlands around the ancient walled city of Harar, Harrar coffee is among the longest-traded coffees on earth, exported through Red Sea ports for centuries and lending its name to the 'Moka-Harrar' lineage. Almost exclusively dry-processed because of the arid climate, classic Harrar is bold and rustic: heavy body, low acidity, and pronounced blueberry, blackberry, and winey fruit that can verge on the gamey. Cultivated by smallholders between about 1,500 and 2,100 metres, it represents a very different Ethiopian profile from the clean washed coffees of the south, and its name carries deep cultural and historical weight in the Arabica story.

At a glance

• Altitude: 1500–2100 masl
• Typical varieties: Heirloom
• Common processes: Natural
• Harvest: 10, 11, 12, 1

Climate

Semi-arid eastern highland climate that necessitates natural processing.

Soil & terroir

Lighter, drier highland soils than Ethiopia's southwest.