Harvesting — Discovery of the coffee bean by a goat herder

01 — Ethiopia Buufata Konga

Printing Methods: Risograph
Size: W270mm x H380mm
Color: 3C (Metallic Gold, Moon-Beam Silver, Orange)
Paper: 1319-209, Deep-Mat (Olive), 116gsm, Heiwa
Edition: 35

Story

Ethiopia Buufata Konga is based on the origin of the beloved berries. Roman professor Faustus Nairon’s writing,The Sleepless Monastery(1671) is one of the earliest documents about the coffee’s origin. Set in 16th century Ethiopia, the story tells how the goat herder Kaldi notices the hyperactive behaviours of his goats after having red berries. The flock becomes abnormally energetic and remains sleepless at night. It comes to the discovery of coffee trees after investigation. Kaldi shares these energising berries to abbots, for them to drink the juice and stay wide awake in the evening prayer. The berries turned out to be the coffee beans we love today. 

Inspired by the legendary story of the goat herder, the coffee discoverer – goat, is transformed into the protagonist of the art print. Dressed in Ethiopian tribal clothes, a goat savouring coffee beans picked from the grasses is depicted as personification of the initial step of coffee making – bean picking.