The Coffee Ceremony

At Easter at Wuhib's house and again the next weekend at Rebecca's house, we were treated to the traditional coffee ceremony. Ethiopia's coffee ceremony is an integral part of their social and cultural life. An invitation to attend a coffee ceremony is considered a mark of friendship or respect and is an excellent example of Ethiopian hospitality. Performing the ceremony is almost obligatory in the presence of a visitor, whatever the time of day. You learn to not be in a hurry though - this special ceremony can take a few hours. You simply sit back and enjoy because it is most definitely not instant and certainly worth the wait.

The Ethiopian homage to coffee is sometimes ornate and always beautifully ceremonial. The ceremony is usually conducted by one young woman, often dressed in the traditional Ethiopian costume of a white dress with colored woven borders. The long involved process starts with the ceremonial apparatus being arranged upon a bed of long scented grasses. The roasting of the coffee beans is done in a flat pan over a tiny charcoal stove, the pungent smell mingling with the heady scent of incense that is always burned during the ceremony. The lady who is conducting the ceremony gently washes a handful of coffee beans on the heated pan, then stirs and shakes the husks away. When the coffee beans have turned black and shining and the aromatic oil is coaxed out of them, they are ground in a wooden mortar with a long handled pestle. The ground coffee is slowly stirred into the black clay coffee pot locally known as a 'jebena', which is round at the bottom with a straw lid. Due to the archaic method used by Ethiopians, the ground coffee result can be called anything but even, so the coffee is strained through a fine sieve several times. The youngest child is then sent out to announce when it is to be served and stands ready to bring a cup of coffee first to the eldest in the room and then to the others, connecting all the generations. The lady finally serves the coffee in tiny china cups to her family, friends and neighbours who have waited and watched the procedure for the past half-hour. Gracefully pouring a thin golden stream of coffee into each little cup from a height of one foot without an interruption requires years of practice.

The coffee is usually taken with plenty of sugar (or in the countryside, salt) but no milk and is generally accompanied by lavish praise for its flavor and skillful preparation. Often it is complemented by a traditional snack food, such as sugared popcorn (kettlecorn), peanuts or cooked barley. In most parts of Ethiopia, the coffee ceremony takes place three times a day - in the morning, at noon and in the evening. It is the main social event and a time to discuss the community, politics, life and about who did what with whom. Forget about any work happening during coffee time. When at a home ceremony it is considered impolite to retire until you have consumed at least three cups, as the third round is considered to bestow a blessing. Transformation of the spirit is said to take place during the coffee ceremony through the completion of 'Abol' (the first round), 'Tona' (second round) and 'Baraka' (third round). This is three separate boilings of the grounds with the first being the most delicious (and strongest of course) and the final tasting quite a bit like weak Folger's or Maxwell House. You know, the kind you can see through.

According to national folklore, the origin of coffee is firmly rooted in Ethiopia's history. Their most popular legend concerns the goat herder named Kaldi from Kaffa, where the plants still grow wild in the forest hills. After discovering his goats to be excited, almost dancing on their hind legs, he noticed a few mangled branches of the coffee plant which was hung with bright red berries. He tried the berries himself and rushed home to his wife who told him that he must tell the monks. The monks tossed the sinful drug into the flames, an action soon to be followed by the smell we are all so familiar with now. They crushed the beans, raked them out of the fire, and distilled the stimulating substance in boiling water. Within minutes the monastery filled with the heavenly aroma of roasting beans, and the other monks gathered to investigate. After sitting up all night, they found a renewed energy to their holy devotions. The rest, as they say, is history.

I have a video of the one Rebecca performed at the Easter dinner. The steps are:

1. Take a handful of green coffee beans and blow away the husks
2. Wash the beans
3. Roast in a pan until wonderfully dark
4. Pick out the "blonde" beans, they make the coffee really bitter
5. Grind
6. Boil all of the grind in a Jebuna (or a teapot) in about 3 cups of water
7. Serve in expresso cups, likely through a strainer
8. Boil in 3 cups of water again while enjoying the 1st cup (Abol).
9. Serve in expresso cups, likely through a strainer
10. Boil in 3 cups of water again, while enjoying the 2nd cup (Tona).
11. Serve in expresso cups, likely through a strainer
12. Enjoy the 3rd cup (Baraka) and receive your blessing.

Try it, there is nothing else like it in the world. If you are lucky, Courtney or Michael will share some of theirs with you.