Tadias Magazine

As Ethiopians gather in Dallas this week for ESFNA's 29th annual soccer tournament and cultural festival, a local business is also preparing for a seminar targetting event attendees. (Gourmet Coffee Blog)

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Monday, July 2, 2012

Dallas (TADIAS) – Ethiopians are proud that our country is the birthplace of coffee — the second most consumed drink in the world next to water and the second most traded commodity after oil. Yet when it comes to sharing the big profits that the product fetches in the international market, Ethiopian entrepreneurs, however, remain a mere footnote in the grand scheme of things, says Abaye Sieme, founder of Kaffa Coffee Club, a Dallas-based coffee distribution company. Abaye (a.k.a. Abby), says her new venture aims to help change that. “The fact of the matter is we know coffee business has proven to be a recession proof consumer staple,” Abby said in a recent interview with Tadias Magazine. “Even in this economic downturn we are witnessing big corporations like MacDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Subway aggressively diving into the coffee market.” She added: “400 million cups of coffee are sold just in North America every single day. To put this in perspective, there are 255 million coffee drinkers in the U.S. alone with millions paying up to $4.00 per cup and consuming 2 to 3 cups a day. That is a lot of coffee.”

This week the Kaffa Coffee Club is hosting a three-day business seminar in Addision, Texas during the 29th Annual Ethiopian Soccer Tournament hoping to attract potential partners from the Diaspora. “My goal is to galvanize and motivate our community to be involved, to be almost mad and get in the action,” Abby said. “I feel strongly that our larger extended community everywhere can play a big part by partnering with Kaffa Coffee Club and make a huge impact in the industry where we rightfully need to be a part of.”

Abby points out the club specializes in an acid-free, healthier alternative ‘cup of Joe’ than what most Americans drink on a regular basis. “Researchers tell us that there are good and bad effects of coffee,” she said. “The good properties we get from drinking regular coffee come loaded with too much caffeine and acidity which are not beneficial to our health.”

“Did you know that drinking regular coffee makes your body acidic and lowers your pH balance?” Abby asked.

“It helps to understand the difference between alkaline and acidic as well as how pH balance affects our health,” Abby continued. “Human blood pH should be slightly alkaline (7.35 – 7.45), so below or above this range means symptoms and disease. A pH of 7.0 is neutral. A pH below 7.0 is acidic. A pH above 7.0 is alkaline. An acidic pH can occur from an acid-forming diet, emotional stress, toxic overload, and/or immune reactions or any process that deprives the cells of oxygen and other nutrients. The body will try to compensate for acidic pH by using alkaline minerals. If the diet does not contain enough minerals to compensate, a buildup of acids in the cells will occur. Natural and holistic health professionals generally advise their clients to avoid coffee for this reason. You will need to drink 17 cups water just to neutralize the acidic effect of one cup of regular coffee.”

According to Abby the Kaffa Coffee Club offers a solution to this problem. “Our healthy coffee beverages are alkaline and non-acidic with a pH level 7.35, ” she said. “In addition to other health benefits, they will not cause jitters, heart palpitations or caffeine crashes and will not interfere with sleep.”

“This was possible due to the genius of the CEO of the Company we partnered with,” Abby explained. “His extensive research resulted in a break-through that came up with a unique combination of two of the most ancient and powerful treasures of the world: ‘Coffee and Ganoderma Lucidum,’ a true advancement that provides healthier beverages that can be enjoyed with every sip.”

What is Ganoderma Lucidum? “Ganoderma Lucidum (a type of mushroom), also known as the ‘King of Herbal Medicine,’ has been in existence for over 4,000 years and used to be exclusively reserved for Chinese royalty,” Abby said. “In addition to providing over 150 nutritional properties that our body benefits from, this herb defuses the acidity as well as the caffeine present in regular coffee, and effectively delivers delicious alkaline drink with a 7.3 – 7.5 pH level. The 100% certified organic Ganoderma Lucidum that is in our healthy beverages comes from Gano Industrial park, the world’s largest Ganoderma facility in China.”

Abaye (Abby) Sieme.

Abby got in the retail coffee business a few years ago, and opened her first on-site coffee roasting company in Dallas, TX under the name of Kaffa Coffee, which was in operation from 2002 to 2007. “After separating from the business in 2007, I went back to pursuing my professional career as a Financial Advisor working for prominent investment firms,” she said.

The Ethiopian-born, U.S.-educated accountant has a combined 12 year professional experience in corporate America, including six years as a financial analyst at a major airline company. “I have always had a passion for coffee as a consumer and even more so for its history,” Abby told TADIAS. “I want to follow where coffee is going into the future without ever forgetting where it came from.”

Last year, Abby was introduced to the healthy coffee concept and its business opportunity by a prospective client. “I jumped into the business idea immediately because it did not require a huge capital to get started unlike my prior venture,” she said. “This past January, I attended a convention in Las Vegas, Nevada with about 17,000 independent healthy coffee distributors from all walks of life and different parts of the continent.” She added: “While the energy and the excitement were incredible, I was very surprised and dismayed that I did not see or meet a single person from the ‘birth place of coffee.’ I was not sure if our community was not aware or if there was just a disconnect about what is taking place in the coffee industry that is changing for the better and moving at a rampant speed. I felt I needed to reach as many people as possible to share this huge opportunity so we are not left behind.”

What’s the requirement to partner with Kaffa Coffee Club? “To be a part of this fast growing business, one does not have to be a coffee expert, a master roaster or even a coffee consumer for that matter,” Abby said. “We have to understand that there is a huge demand for coffee and offering healthier alternatives is even bigger.”

She added: “As people come from all over to attend this annual soccer event, they can take back valuable information about this opportunity that will make a difference in their lives if they choose to be a part of it,” Abby said. “We need to be able to see the big picture, take action and position ourselves to participate in supplying this huge demand in return for a very meaningful financial reward.”
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If You Go:
Kaffa Coffee Club – Business Seminar
Crown Plaza Hotel
14315 Midway Road
Addision, TX 75001,
Wed. July 4th at 12:30 pm
Thurs. July 5th at 12:30pm
Fri. July 6th at 12:30 pm
To RSVP, please call 972.415.6479
E-Mail: info@kaffacoffeeclub.com
More info at www.kaffacoffeeclub.com
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Photo credit:
Abaye Sieme’s photograph courtesy of Kaffa Coffee Club.