Tomoca Coffee

Overview

Tomoca opened in February 1953 in Addis Ababa's Piazza district as Ethiopia's first commercial coffee roastery — the name is shortened from the Italian Torrefazione Moderna Café. Family-owned for over seven decades, it now runs 22 branches across Addis plus international outposts in Tokyo (2015) and Nairobi's Two Rivers Mall (2020), and is the de facto reference point for Ethiopian-style espresso macchiato anywhere in the world.

Known for

• Ethiopia's first commercial coffee roastery (founded 1953)
• Defining reference for the Ethiopian-Italian-style espresso macchiato
• First international branch in Tokyo (2015) — early Ethiopian roaster export to Asia
• First sub-Saharan international branch at Two Rivers Mall, Nairobi (September 2020)
• Italian-made roasting machines used since the 1950s; sources Harrar, Yirgacheffe, Sidamo and Limu single origins

Why it matters

Tomoca is the longest-running specialty coffee operation on the African continent and the institutional memory of Ethiopian coffee. While the rest of the world's specialty industry treats 1953 as pre-history, Tomoca was already roasting traceable highland Arabica then — and it still occupies the same Piazza shop, run by the same family.

Production

destoning

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head roaster

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color sorting

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roaster machine

Italian-made roasting machines

filter equipment

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cupping frequency

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roastery location

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

espresso equipment

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annual volume tonnes

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Café

Wavel Street, Piazza, Addis Ababa

Recognitions

• Best Café in Addis Ababa 2025 (Hulunem)
• First commercial coffee roastery in Ethiopia (since 1953)

Sources

• https://www.tomocacoffeeafrica.com/about-us/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomoca_Coffee
• https://cnewa.org/magazine/brewed-to-perfection-33581/
• https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293791-d1214081-Reviews-Tomoca_Coffee-Addis_Ababa.html
• https://hulunem.com/place/ethiopia/addis-ababa/addis-ababa/tomoca-coffee-atlas/