Aster* and her harvest.
At first light, Aster chooses the ripest red cherries. The care in that harvest deserves a price she can understand and a voice in how her coffee is sold. I want to be able to show both, with evidence.
Coffee started somewhere. Let’s go there.
Coffee has deep roots in Ethiopia. Here is what I’ve learned about the plant, the people and the stories people tell.
Questions worth exploring.
Keep learning about the people, plants, flavours and prices behind a cup. Our free coffee library is a good place to start.
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Photographs shared with Grounds4Schools. They show coffee growing, sorting and sampling; they do not identify a confirmed supplier.
A legend, not a verified discovery
Kaldi and the dancing goats.
One curious goatherd. A handful of red berries. A story told across generations.
- 01
Something in the berries.
In a popular Ethiopian legend, a goatherd named Kaldi notices his goats becoming unusually lively after eating red berries from a shrub.
- 02
Curiosity takes over.
Intrigued, Kaldi tries the berries and feels their energising effect. He shares what he has found with a local religious leader.
- 03
A story begins to travel.
In different retellings, a drink made from the berries helps with long prayers. The tale becomes a memorable way to explain coffee’s beginnings.
Retold from accounts collected by UC Irvine Libraries and UNESCO. Versions differ; Kaldi is a legendary figure, not a historically verified discoverer. The familiar story should not be treated as proof of when coffee was discovered.
A real example from Ethiopia
What if more of a coffee sale stayed with the people who grew it?
Kata Muduga is a union of coffee cooperatives around Agaro in Ethiopia’s Jimma region. It helps member cooperatives reach international buyers and sell their coffee.
In a 2020 interview, its manager Asnake Nigat explained that 90% of a sale’s price went to the member cooperative, which could then pay farmers and share dividends. Coffee importer Crop to Cup has also reported member cooperatives investing in schools, roads and electricity.
That is the kind of connection I want to understand: what a coffee buyer pays, what reaches farmers, and what a community chooses to build. Grounds4Schools does not source from or partner with Kata Muduga at present.
The 90% figure describes the union’s arrangement with cooperatives in 2020; it is not an individual farmer’s share or a current Grounds4Schools claim.
Explore Ethiopia’s coffee history and sources
Roots in the wild.
Arabica’s native range includes southwestern Ethiopia, eastern South Sudan and northern Kenya. Ethiopia’s coffee forests are part of a living botanical heritage, long before coffee became a global drink.
Source: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew · Coffea arabicaFrom Ethiopia,
out into the world.
Coffee became popular in Yemen by the 15th century, connected with Sufi religious practice. It spread through the Ottoman world and reached Europe in the 17th century, becoming part of social and intellectual life.
Source: UNESCO · Ethiopia, the home of coffeeMore than a drink.
A reason to gather.
In Ethiopian coffee ceremonies, beans are roasted, ground and brewed in a clay pot called a jebena. Sharing successive servings makes room for conversation and hospitality. Coffee brings neighbours, friends and relatives together.
Source: UNESCO · Ethiopia, the home of coffeeThe next chapter
should include everyone.
We want coffee’s next chapter to honour the people who grow it: careful sourcing, fairer prices and evidence of what reaches farmers. Alongside that, our proposed school contribution would support children’s learning.
Explore the coffee concept ↗Explore the places.
Follow the process.
See our research map, then discover how coffee moves from a harvested cherry to a finished cup. These explain the wider industry; our own suppliers are still to be confirmed.
From crop to cup.
Coffee cherries are harvested and processed. Green beans are milled, traded and transported, then roasted and packaged before grinding and brewing.
Source: World Economic Forum / Visual Capitalist · From crop to cup