Producers in Ethiopia pulp their cherries within 24 hours of picking; ferment and wash them in long water channels and then dry the beans in sun for 9 to 14 days, depending on the weather.

It’s believed that Ethiopia began to export coffee to Yemen and the Middle East in the 1600s. While Yemen was the first to cultivate it as a crop, Ethiopians had been picking wild coffee from the forests for long before that, and enjoying it as a fruit before that.