The Coffee Ceremony

Ethiopians take much pride in their culture, and, unlike many of their neighbors and most African nations, Ethiopia has resisted change. Ethiopians have shown a limited desire to adopt Western ways, and outside influences have yet to dramatically influence their traditional culture.

Among the many inherited customs is the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony, an event that makes the country unique among producing nations. Ethiopians show an appreciation for coffee that is almost god-like in its tribute. Their homage to the beverage is sometimes ornate, but always overtly ceremonial.

The ritual begins by spreading a bed of straw and then strewing fresh, colorful flowers on top. Amidst this confusion is the centerpiece—the traditional black Ethiopian earthenware coffeepot—which is filled with water and placed on top of hot coals.

Nearby sits what looks like a hibachi grill, also filled with hot wood coals. A large, open wok-shaped pan rests on top, and inside the pan green coffee beans roast slowly. One person—usually a woman—conducts the cooking and the ceremony. Normally, she has a few assistants who fetch water at the proper time and fan the coals to keep them hot. She stirs the green coffee beans constantly so as not to burn them. Upon closer inspection, however, many are over-roasted and some under-roasted.

The water reaches the appropriate temperature at about the same time the beans finish cooking. The woman then dumps the hot beans into a hollow stump and uses a crude, mallet-shaped mortar with a long handle to crush them. Specialty coffee professionals know the importance of a consistent grind in the preparation of coffee. The archaic method used by Ethiopians, however, results in a grind that can be called anything but even.

Finally, the woman dumps the coffee through the small opening at the top of the coffee vessel and allows it to steep. After only a few minutes, an assistant arrives with a tray of small, demi-size cups, and the conductor of the ceremony pours and serves the coffee to the family and friends who have waited and watched the procedure for the past half-hour. They consume the beverage quickly. Smiles and slurping generally accompany kudos about both taste and flavor. 

At the first of the many coffee ceremonies I attended, I remember thinking, "How is it possible, with what we know about the importance of precise and even roasting and consistent and proper grinding, that a process of brewing similar to the one used to make cowboy coffee could result in a palatable beverage? Impossible... the coffee experts say. I would have agreed until I tasted Ethiopian coffee. A true and undeniable testimony to the quality of this coffee is in the cup produced at this ceremony... one of the best cups of coffee I have ever tasted.

Small is Beautiful
Most coffee in Ethiopia is grown by farmers and individuals who care for their coffee like my Italian father babied his tomato plants. There are no mega-zillion hectare farms or complex growing procedures. The growers' love of the land and their love for the product results in a crop, that is, in my opinion, unsurpassed in flavor and exuberance.

As our crew was filming the harvest on a small quarter-acre plot, one landowner told us we must stop filming for the day. We all wondered why—there looked to be many more ripe, red cherries waiting to be picked. But this farmer knew his coffee well, and he felt that every cherry that was ready had already been harvested. He would not allow our film project to continue for the sake of art... his coffee took precedence. 

More than 90 percent of all Ethiopian coffee is grown in the forest, in semi-forest conditions or in gardens. A few corporate farms exist, but they can hardly be considered large from a worldwide coffee perspective.

Garden coffee is grown in the vicinity of the farmer's residence and is usually interspersed with other crops, such as bananas or vegetables. The coffee is generally fertilized with composted organic waste from the household. 

Forest coffee is found in southwestern Ethiopia, which is where arabica coffee originated. Forest coffee is self-sown and grown under the full coverage of a natural forest canopy. It is widely diverse in selection and highly resistant to disease. 

For semi-forest, farmers acquire forestland and thin the trees to obtain the correct balance between sunlight and shade. 

Plantation coffee farms are usually owned by the state, but occasionally by individuals. Some of these farms have become models for small growers, as many are quite well managed. The production here is closer to moderately sized estates in other producing countries, where coffee plants are properly spaced and pruned and farmers apply chemical fertilizer. Overall, however, less than five percent of Ethiopia's farmers currently use chemical fertilizers or herbicides.