Gorebetochi Blend (Neighbors Community Center) Bags of Coffee

Bright, smooth, and sweet, with hints of plum and lemongrass, from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia. Gorebetochi is the word for Neighbors in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. The coffee beans are organically grown and fairly traded, and air roasted in small batches in Lancaster, Pa.

About the Country
Ethiopia is one of the world’s oldest countries. This land-locked republic is the largest country on the Horn of Africa, with the largest population in the region. The land consists of highlands and lowlands both west and east, with the Great Rift Valley in the middle of the country. Half of the country’s GDP consists of agriculture, and coffee is its most important export. The Sidama region is the leading coffee-producing region of Ethiopia, despite being one of the country’s smallest regional states. Ethiopian people have a cultural tradition of beginning important events with a coffee ceremony. The Sidama region stretches across the rugged mountains of Bensa to the valleys of Dale and Aleta Wendo, which provide a range of quality profiles that exemplify this wealth of production landscapes.

About the Coffee 
Coffee originates from Ethiopia. (Yemen also claims the origin of coffee.) “Kaffa” was the first name for coffee, because it was discovere in the Kaffa region of southwest Ethiopia, where it grew in the wild. To this day, unlike many other coffee-producing regions of the world, coffee grows naturally in Ethiopia. Coffee accounts for about 70% of the country's earnings from exports, and nearly one-quarter of Ethiopians earn their living growing coffee. Coffee growers throughout Ethiopia, range in size from a handful of trees in a family’s garden to a whole hillside forested by wild coffee plants. Ethiopians love coffee, and the country drinks about half of the amount they produce each year. That’s a lot of coffee: after all, Ethiopia is the top coffee producer in Africa, and currently fifth in the world. Coffees produced by SCFCU member cooperatives are shade grown in low densities under the canopies of indigenous trees and enset (false banana), a staple food crop for Sidama families.

About Neighbors Community Center
Lancaster is home to new neighbors from many countries and is frequently referenced as one of the leading immigrant cities in the US. At Neighbors Community Center, people from around the world connect, learn, and celebrate together.

Neighbors Community Center is a multicultural gathering place that provides a variety of programs and services for refugees and immigrants in collaboration with local partners, and hosts a variety of cultural events for the general public.