Coffee Ceremony
There are many universal languages.
Math, food, music, beer, and the blessed coffee.
In Ethiopia, most known for the birthplace of such blessing, this is not only a pleasant drink or energy provider, it is a part of the social and cultural life.
The coffee ceremony is a sign of friendship and respect. No matter the time of the day, this ceremony will be performed for a visitor.
We have been in Ethiopia for 17 days and I cannot count how many times we have participated in the ceremony. It turns on your 5 senses. It captures the room.
It is customary that this ritual is performed by a woman, the hostess. Her job is to perfectly process raw unwashed coffee beans into an aromatic perfect cup of coffee. She carefully performs each stage of the ceremony in front of all the guests.
The art of roasting beans
The ceremony starts with the setup.
The “grass like” mat is placed in the middle of the room with the wooden coffee table on top.
The hostess sets the jebena in the hot red burning coals to start boiling the water.
In a small pan, the green beans are carefully placed to start the roasting.
Over the coals, she slowly roasts and cleans the beans. As she gently stirs the pot your ears appreciate the shaking of the beans in the fire and the shells begin to separate themselves from the beans. Slowly the grey-green color beans start turning into a dark chocolate brown And the aroma fills the room.
The hostess is attentive and stirs the beans constantly to keep the beans evenly roasted.
The perfectly roasted beans are ground by the hostess (maybe your hostess used a mortar type of utensil to grind yours – but this is the 21st century people, and we just used a blender)
Back to the novelty.
She crushes the beans into course grounds and adds them to the boiling water. She brings the mixture up to a boil at least twice, doing circular motions to stir the coffee and to maintain the grounds in the bottom.
At this point, the coffee is ready to be served.
In the wooden tray, small handless glass cups are set and from the perfect distance from the cup the hostess pours out a stream of aromatic coffee. The unbroken stream of coffee is crucial for maintaining the grounds in the bottom of the pot.
Everyone is served. Sugar can be added.
The circle formed by the coffee ceremony is a special place, where laughter, conversations, and memories are formed in the fog and history of roasted coffee beans. Creating another dialect of the coffee language.
