CSC is Technical Partner with Slow Food

As Technical Partner with Slow Food for the coffee Presidia, CSC is committed to realizing and developing the protection of “wild coffee” from the Harenna forest in Ethiopia, the true motherland of coffee and the only place in the world where you can find plants in a wild state. For thousands of years each family has roasted its berries, ground them in a mortar and offered coffee to guests following a solemn ritual involving symbolic displays of hospitality, friendship and respect.

Collaboration with the Slow Food Foundation represents recognition of the quality of work carried out by the Certified Speciality Coffee Association over nearly 15 years of intense activity promoting the culture of quality coffee: an objective pursued through a constant ethical commitment in support of agricultural communities in coffee-producing countries.

The Harenna Forest Wild Coffee Presidium was started in 2006 as part of a project run by Italian Cooperation for Development. The Presidium partners are the NGO EOSA, which is mainly involved with training, and the Association CSC Caffé Speciali Certificati, comprising a group of Italian roasters.
The objectives include: recognizing the value of a unique product with excellent quality (naturally dried wild forest coffee), shortening the chain and also protecting the mountain forest. By supporting the work of the gatherers and producers of coffee, it will be possible to increase the number of local people interested in protecting the forest from illegal felling and create a network of guardians. The future of the mountain rainforest ecosystem depends on reaching a balance between the use and conservation of its resources.

The Harenna forest, one of the largest in Ethiopia, is situated in the mountains of the magnificent Bale National Park, 350 km south of the capital Addis Abeba. Here, at an altitude of around 1800 meters, an arabica coffee grows spontaneously in the shade of tall trees. It has outstanding quality potential which has been little studied or developed. The small farmers of this area mainly live on selling coffee which is their main source of income. The gatherers harvest the ripe fruit by hand, an operation which is often obstructed by baboons, which are very greedy for them.

In 2007, 64 producers took part in a training program held by CSC on the harvesting and drying phases. The two key elements in training were selection of the berries (they have to be picked when completely red and not at various degrees of ripening) and correct drying on properly made suspended frames.
In 2009 the Presidium gatherers (from different villages) set up three registered associations. The next objectives are to formulate production rules which ensure that harvesting and processing are properly carried out and can give quality guarantees for the final product. It is also intended to improve producer skills through further training during the harvesting and post-harvesting phases.

A 300 kg sample of coffee, roasted by CSC, was presented at the Salone del Gusto, in October 2010.