Kaffa (wild coffee forests)

Kaffa, in the forested highlands of south-west Ethiopia, is where arabica coffee is thought to have begun. Here coffee still grows wild, under the forest canopy, with thousands of genetic variants, and some of it is still picked from those wild trees. Since 2010 much of the area has been the Kafa Biosphere Reserve, and the name Kaffa is one of Ethiopia’s regional coffee designations.

The short version

• The birthplace of wild arabica, by most accounts.
• Wild forest coffee at about 1,400–2,100 m.
• A gene bank: thousands of variants, and the first coffee berry disease resistance.
• A biosphere reserve of 760,114 hectares since 2010.
• Berries, chocolate and gentle acidity, according to roasters who sell it.

Is Kaffa really where coffee began?

As far as anyone can say. Wikipedia describes the Kafa Zone as the centre of origin and genetic diversity of wild arabica, and the World Bank calls it the birthplace of wild arabica, with thousands of genetic variants of coffee in the rainforest of the biosphere reserve. The popular story of Kaldi, the goat herder who noticed the effect coffee had on his flock, is a legend: Wikipedia notes it was first written down in 1671.

What is forest coffee?

Coffee from wild trees. Wikipedia sorts Ethiopia’s coffee into forest, garden and plantation coffee, and says forest coffee comes mostly from the south-west. Kaffa coffee, it says, grows wild in deep forests at 1,400 to 2,100 metres, neither planted nor tended, though it is also found as semi-forest coffee. One roaster selling it says only ripe cherries are picked, by hand, by smallholders using traditional organic methods.

What does Kaffa coffee taste like?

There’s no official profile; these are roasters’ and importers’ descriptions:

Description	Source
Wild berries, delicate sweetness and a chocolate aroma; gentle acidity, a soft, balanced body and a clean finish; grown at 1,400–2,200 m	Impact Roasters, via The Way to Coffee
Light acidity, a well-balanced flavour and a pleasant fruitiness; grown at 1,400–2,100 m	Univers du Thé, an importer in Brussels

The Kafa Biosphere Reserve

Declared in 2010, the reserve covers 760,114 hectares around the town of Bonga, about 460 km south-west of Addis Ababa, and is home to about 608,000 people, Wikipedia says. The Kafa Zone holds more than half of Ethiopia’s remaining montane forest, with bamboo, cloud and Afromontane forests and wetlands, and wild coffee is one of its most common plants.

Its coffee matters well beyond Ethiopia. The first coffee plants with natural resistance to coffee berry disease were found in the Bonga forest, near Wushwush, according to the Key Biodiversity Areas factsheet, which also warns that Ethiopia’s high-altitude forest is severely threatened. The World Bank describes the reserve as a seed bank of wild arabica at risk from climate change.

How much coffee does it grow?

Kaffa belongs to the South West Ethiopia region, which grows 13.7% of Ethiopia’s coffee, according to the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, quoted by USDA. In 2025/26, when the south had a smaller crop, the western and south-western areas, Kaffa among them, had stable to above-average harvests, helped by well-spread rain and dry weather at picking time, USDA reports.

When is it harvested?

During Ethiopia’s main harvest, from October to December, USDA says.

Kaffa and other Ethiopian origins

• Coffee in Ethiopia: the whole country, its harvest and its history.
• Sidamo and Yirgacheffe: the bright coffees of the south.
• Kuti: Ethiopia’s coffee-leaf tea.