KAFFA

Kaffa is the forest region in southwestern Ethiopia where Arabica coffee first grew — and, many scholars believe, the root of the word 'coffee' itself. The brief: an artisanal, premium coffee brand and café that carries that heritage without turning it into a costume.

The identity is built on the jebena, the clay pot at the heart of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Three arcs rise from it for the ceremony's three rounds — Abol, Tona, Baraka — framed by the hand-painted dot pattern potters trace around its shoulder. Warm clay, bark and highland-gold tones; a literary serif paired with an honest sans.