by Habesha Abesha
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 equipment 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.
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.
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.
More Information:
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Source: http://www.PopularArticles.com/article186070.html
