Harar

Harar is the oldest name in Ethiopian coffee export, and the most distinctive. Grown in the dry eastern highlands and processed almost entirely natural, it tastes like nothing else in the country.

The classic Harar profile is heady and wine-like — wild blueberry, warm spice, a fruit intensity that comes from cherries drying slowly on the fruit under a hard, bright sun.

It is also the most fragile of Ethiopia's origins. Water is scarce, the region is warming, and khat competes hard for the same land. Buying Harar well means buying it deliberately.