May 5th, 2021, 9:30AM / BY Justine Bowe, Ruth Bennett and Scott Sillett
If we want what’s best for birds, it’s good to go wild (Robert Rice, Smithsonian s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)
About 300 miles southwest of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the shaded understory of Kafa Biosphere Reserve’s montane rainforests, one of the world’s most traded commodities still grows wild. Silvery-cheeked hornbills and other birds eat its red fruits and disperse the large seeds over hundreds of miles. Local people roast handfuls of the seeds at a time, which are then brewed into a delicious drink that is sipped slowly in traditional, hours-long ceremonies. Ethiopia’s forest-grown Coffea arabica is the mother of all arabica coffees farmed around the world from Colombia to Sumatra and beloved globally.