Ethiopian Coffee History and Ritual
The coffee ceremony in Ethiopia is an important part of their social life and cultural life. Whenever you are invited by an Ethiopian to his/her traditional coffee ceremony, it means you have been accepted as a friend and you have also earned their respect. It is an excellent example of their hospitality.
For Ethiopians, performing a coffee ceremony is almost obligatory in the presence of a guest or a visitor, whatever the time of day. If you are in a hurry, the Ethiopian coffee ceremony is not for you, as this special ceremony can take a few hours.
Their homage to coffee is sometimes ornate, and always beautifully ceremonial. The ceremony is usually conducted by one young woman wearing her traditional Ethiopian clothing of a white dress, with woven borders made up myriads of spectacular colors.
The extended Ethiopian coffee ceremony starts with the ceremonial equipments being arranged upon a bed of long scented grasses. After that, the coffee is roasted on a level roaster above a small charcoal furnace, the aromatic smell blending with the heady scent of incense that is also customarily burned during the Ethiopian coffee tradition.
Next, the woman who is in charge of the coffee ceremony carefully washes the handful of coffee beans on the heated furnace, then stirs and shakes the remains away. Once the coffee beans have turned black and shining and the aromatic oil is coaxed out of them, they are ground by a pestle and a long handled mortar.
The ground coffee is slowly stirred into the black clay coffee pot locally known as ‘jebena’, which is round at the bottom with a straw lid.
Due to the archaic method used by Ethiopians, the ground 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.
At last, the woman in charge of the ceremony will serve the coffee to friends, who have patiently waited and watched the coffee ceremony for the past twenty to forty minutes.
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