Coffee ceremony of Ethiopia and Eritrea is a core cultural custom in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

and Eritrea. There is a routine of serving coffee daily, mainly for the purpose of getting together with relatives, neighbors, or other visitors. If coffee is politely declined, then

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

will most likely be served. Loose

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...

is spread on the floor where the coffee ceremony is held, often decorated with small yellow flowers.

Composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

flowers are sometimes used, especially around the celebration of

Meskel Meskel ( gez, መስቀል, Mesk’el) is a Christian holiday in the Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox churches that commemorates the discovery of the True Cross by the Roman Empress Helena (Saint Helena) in the fourth century. Meskel occ ...

(an Orthodox Holiday celebrated by Eritreans and Ethiopians).

Brewing

The ceremony is typically performed by the woman of the household and is considered an honor. The coffee is brewed by first roasting the green coffee beans over an open flame in a pan. This is followed by the grinding of the beans, traditionally in a

wooden Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...

mortar and pestle Mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used from the Stone Age to the present day to prepare ingredients or substances by crushing and grinding them into a fine paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. The ''mortar'' ( ...

. The coffee grounds are then put into a special vessel which contains boiling water and will be left on an open flame for a couple of minutes until it is well mixed with the hot water. After grinding, the coffee is put through a sieve several times. The boiling pot (

jebena Jebena (Amharic: ጀበና, Arabic: جبنة) is a traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean Coffeemaker, coffee pot made of pottery. Locally known as ''jabana'', it is also widely used in Sudan, and the coffee itself is called ''buna''. Overview The ...

) is usually made of

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

and has a spherical base, a neck and pouring spout, and a handle where the neck connects with the base. The jebena also has a straw lid.

Serving

The host pours the coffee for all participants by moving the tilted boiling pot over a tray with small, handleless cups from a height of one foot without stop until each cup is full. The grounds are brewed three times: the first round of coffee is called ''awel'' in

Tigrinya (; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions. History and literatur ...

, the second ''kale'i'' and the third ''baraka'' ('to be blessed'). In Amharic it's ''አቦል'' abol, the second ''tona'' (Amharic: ቶና) and the third ''baraka'' (Amharic: በረካ). The coffee ceremony may also include burning of various traditional

incense Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also b ...

. People add sugar to their coffee, or in the countryside, sometimes

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

or traditional butter (see '' niter kibbeh''). The beverage is accompanied by a small snack such as popcorn,

peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and infl ...

, or

himbasha Himbasha () or Ambasha (), is an Eritrean celebration bread that is slightly sweet. It became popular in Ethiopian cuisine and Eritrean cuisine, often served at special occasions. It is prepared in a number of varieties depending on region and ...

(also called ''ambasha'').

References

External links

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony Video run by ethiopiancoffeeceremony.co
Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony in photos
at Canadian Photographer series on the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony
What is the Coffee Ceremony
a multimedia primer on the Coffee Ceremony run b
Bunna Cafe
{{Coffee, nocat=1 Eritrean culture Ethiopian culture Coffee culture

Brewing

Serving

See also

References

External links