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.
If you find yourself as a guest in an Ethiopians house, you would be quick to notice the never-failing coffee service they prepare for their guests.
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 Ethiopian coffee ritual is hardly a brief affair, and it usually starts with the ceremonial equipments being arranged upon a bed of long scented grasses. Thereafter, the coffee goes through a long process starting with the coffee being roasted on a flat roaster over a small charcoal stove.
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.
As the coffee gets ready to be served, the youngest individual is picked to announce the start of the coffee ritual. At which time, the very person (usually) will stand by prepared to hand over the coffees being poured in the small china cups, by the woman in charge. The first cup is, almost all the time, served to the eldest person in the room, with the youngest being the last.
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. - 30241
If you find yourself as a guest in an Ethiopians house, you would be quick to notice the never-failing coffee service they prepare for their guests.
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 Ethiopian coffee ritual is hardly a brief affair, and it usually starts with the ceremonial equipments being arranged upon a bed of long scented grasses. Thereafter, the coffee goes through a long process starting with the coffee being roasted on a flat roaster over a small charcoal stove.
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.
As the coffee gets ready to be served, the youngest individual is picked to announce the start of the coffee ritual. At which time, the very person (usually) will stand by prepared to hand over the coffees being poured in the small china cups, by the woman in charge. The first cup is, almost all the time, served to the eldest person in the room, with the youngest being the last.
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. - 30241
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