Illubabor is a wet, forested zone of western Oromia with a lot of coffee. Its name is less familiar than others, but it lies behind many Ethiopian coffees: two of the country’s most widely grown varieties, 74110 and 74112, came from its forests.
Zone: Illubabor · Oromia
Towns: Metu, Gore
Farming: Forest, semi-forest and gardens
Varieties born here: 74110 and 74112
Collected in: 1974
Altitude of Metu: 1,550 m
The home of 74110 and 74112
In the 1970s, the Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC) searched the forests of the south-west for coffee plants resistant to coffee berry disease, which was devastating harvests. In 1974 it collected two of its most important selections in Illubabor: 74110, from a mother tree in the village of Bishari, and 74112, from the Metu-Bishari forest. Both were released in the late 1970s and are now grown throughout the country.
When you see “74110” or “74112” on the label of an Ethiopian coffee, as on several of ours, that plant comes from here.
Landscape and coffee
Illubabor’s capital is Metu and it is one of the important producing zones of the west. Some importers include part of Illubabor in commercial “Limu”. In a study of JARC varieties, Metu (at 1,550 metres) was the location where the cup scored lowest compared with higher sites: altitude matters.
We have not found reliable data on cup profile or washing stations in Illubabor.
Frequently asked questions
What do 74110 and 74112 mean?
They are two JARC selections collected in 1974 in the forests of Illubabor and released in the late 1970s.
What is Metu-Bishari?
A forest in Illubabor from which the 74112 variety comes.