<< A Short Afternoon Walk

12/13/19 - Coffee Ceremony

Here we were where it all began. This was it, the ancestral home of the caffeinated bean that let Starbucks, Peets, and Chase and Sanborn happen. We were in a village was just a local plant that had berries one could use to make a pleasing beverage, so we had to enjoy the Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

We settled down in the pavilion, and our hostess started by setting up her fire and threshing the dried beans, removing their husks. She used a mortar and pestle to loosen the husks, then separated the beans from the husks by hand. Then, she roasted the beans over the fire. From time to time, she would adjust the fire and stir the beans so they roasted evenly.

Slowly, the beans browned and we could smell the coffee. She ground the beans in the mortar and pestle and brewed the coffee with boiling water in a big iron pot. Then, she poured us each a cup. It was one of the best cups of coffee we had ever had, rich and delicious. Interestingly, it didn't have the fruity notes were used to in Ethiopian coffee imported into the US. It was perfectly balanced, as one might expect.


Our hostess checking out the breans

Separating the husks

Roasting the beans

More roasting

The beans turning brown

Our driver enjoying Ethiopia's excellent cell phone coverage - He did not text and drive.

Roasted coffee beans

Heating the water

Brewing coffee

Just add water, after doing everything else

A great cup of coffee

A bit of the coffee village

More coffee trees

Keywords: ethiopia