AICS Developing the Coffee Value Chain in Ethiopia

This video story is produced by The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and was originally published on their YouTube channel.

The Coffee Training Center in Addis Ababa represents a national excellence in the Ethiopian coffee sector, both for staff training and marketing of the final product. The Center, established with the technical support from UNIDO and Illy Caffe, is the first of its kind in Ethiopia – and in Africa – and is equipped with the main coffee laboratories (green coffee grading, sensory laboratory, industrial processing laboratory, roasting laboratory) with two classrooms, a conference room, a coffee bar (espresso + slow preparation), a cafeteria and other service rooms. The establishment of the CTC realizes the goal of adding considerable quality and value to coffee production, particularly at the post-harvest and processing stage.

The CTC offers training on green coffee quality verification and control, cupping (tasting and certification of gradation of organoleptic qualities), roasting and blending, packaging, and training of counter staff, all of which benefit the provision of high-quality support services that in turn contribute to the development of the product supply chain. To date, hundreds of students have graduated, with one or more modules, and there are thousands of candidates already registered to participate in future sessions. In addition, the CTC aims to establish itself as a center of excellence outside national borders as well, projecting its training offerings to the entire region through training courses targeted at people from other African countries as well. Given the success of the CTC and its contribution to the coffee supply chain, AICS is committed to building a new CTC in the city of Jimma as well.