By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Habte Mesfin, the owner of Revocup in Overland Park, cannot remember when he discovered his passion for coffee but it probably started on the day he was born. In his house in Ethiopia, on the day he arrived, his family made coffee. Friends gathered to celebrate.

Mesfin’s passion continued as a young man with his first taste when he was 14. In the mid 80’s he came to America to attend college. He stayed. But he could not find a cup of coffee like that from his homeland. His family sent him beans and he began, like many of his friends away from Ethiopia, to roast at home. In 2005, coming to Kansas City, he had a dream of opening a coffee shop to share his passion. For three years he experimented with roasting and taste.

He opened his shop in January 2008.

In Ethiopia there is a saying…”Buna dabo naw”…roughly translated as “coffee is our bread.” Mesfin knows coffee and has more in common with a Paris trained wine sommelier with the nose of a perfume chemist. He will tell you that in his country, the coffee ceremony, using the traditional “jebena” pot is a sacred part of the day, a keystone of culture, and a delicate sensual process of aromas, textures, and flavors, where each cup is a work of art.

He will tell you of the integrity of his beans; their origin down to the name of the farmer and the village. The faces of coffee and their spirit are in the bags of roasted beans and the aromatic delicious cups of coffee.

Enjoy your cup this morning…

To learn more about coffee see:

- This article discusses coffee’s origin in Ethiopia

- Production levels by country. Ethiopia produces @ 4.5 million bags/year with a workforce of 12 million people. Brazil produces @ 40 million bags/year with 6 million people. Scientists believe that Ethiopia has over 5,000 genotypes of coffee. Their “medieval” cultivation methods account for the continued diversity of this plant there. Coffee growing countries with a less-diverse plant crop risk blight, but like an ancient Garden of Eden, Ethiopia could, in case of a blight, furnish plants elsewhere.

- Ever had siphon/syphon coffee? This article at CoffeeGeek is excellent. Habte will brew a pot for you tableside…simply elegant!