Wild coffee in the Kaffa and Yayu forests
Arabica growing naturally under the canopy in a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Deep shade, high humidity and beautiful light shafts. Fast lenses and a plan for damp.
Filming location · Oromia and South West Ethiopia
Filming in Jimma and the Coffee Forests
Every coffee film wants to shoot the origin, and this is it: arabica growing wild in the shade of a montane forest, harvested by hand by families who have done it for generations, then roasted in a pan over coals in front of you. The whole chain is filmable within a two-hour radius, and the harvest window makes the scheduling decision for you.
Short answer
South-west Ethiopia is the birthplace of arabica coffee, which still grows wild under the canopy of the Kaffa and Yayu forests, and Jimma is the regional centre and easiest base for filming it. The harvest runs roughly from October to December, when smallholders pick, and washing stations, drying beds and cooperatives are all active. This is the strongest sequence available anywhere for a coffee story, from wild forest coffee through smallholder picking to the traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony, and it is straightforward to arrange with regional permissions and cooperative consent.
- Region
- Oromia and South West Ethiopia
- Altitude
- 1,600 to 2,000 m
- Nearest airport
- Jimma Airport, domestic flights from Addis Ababa
- Best time
- October to December for the harvest
- From Addis Ababa
- 1 hour by air, or roughly 8 hours by road
What to film here
Smallholder harvest
Hand picking of red cherry from October to December, families working together. The most human part of the story and easy to arrange with cooperative introductions.
Washing stations and drying beds
Pulping, fermentation, washing channels and raised drying beds, with strong process and pattern material. Cooperatives are generally welcoming with advance notice.
The coffee ceremony
Green beans roasted in a pan, ground by hand, brewed in a jebena and served in three rounds with incense. A genuine daily ritual, not a performance, and it will anchor your film.
Jimma town and the Aba Jifar palace
The regional centre, with the nineteenth-century palace of Abba Jifar II on a hill above the town for historical context.
From our shoots
Nearby and related
Other Ethiopian locations
Start a production
Filming in Jimma and the Coffee Forests?
Send your dates and shot list. We will come back with the permit route, the access position, realistic travel times and an itemised cost — usually within a working day.