There is something seriously wrong with this world. Just when you are old enough to start enjoying the excitement of travel, you are no longer an 'infant' and your parents have to pay for your air tickets. Just when you are confident enough to go really really high on the swings in the park, you are not allowed on them any more because you have had your 12th birthday. Just when your business reaches a peak in its success, you don't qualify for the Young Business Person of the Year any more because your are over 30. And just when you have finally organized your children and grandchildren and home and ipod and potplants and debit orders for the gas and electricity and want to leave on a truck to circumvent Africa, you can't get travel insurance because you are "not of the age when you should be doing things like this".
Every company I have gone to has shut the door in my face. Amazing! getting medical insurance for this trip sorted was not a problem (a zillion tests and scans and screenings and jabs and more tests and interrogations and x-rays and other unspeakable things later, but still, not a problem). But getting someone to sell you travel insurance for a trip that will last 11 months if you are not living where you are a citizen and do not reside where your address is, if you are not young and tanned and tattooed and pierced and bearded and plugged into your ipod, is downright impossible. And the company with which I am going won't let me on the truck unless I am insured against theft and loss of luggage and passport, legal expenses, personal indemnity, cancellations and the such. Mmmmmmmm...
But -- this morning I felt that familiar flutter of excitement about the trip again when a friend pulled out an Ethiopian jebena she had bought as a gift and wondered at the strange design of it. I googled the Ethiopian coffee ceremony to share with her -- and realized once again that this was just one of the many many fascinating things I am going to be seeing and experiencing on my trip!
The Ethiopians have a lovely coffee ceremony that is part of their daily lives. A little like the Japanese tea ceremony, there are certain procedures to follow and traditions that have withstood the test of time.
The coffee is brewed by first roasting the green coffee beans over hot coals in a brazier. As the coffee begins to crackle as it is roasted, the hostess may add cardamom, cinnamon and cloves to the mix. Once the beans are roasted each participant is given an opportunity to sample the aromatic smoke by wafting it towards them. This is followed by the grinding of the beans, traditionally in a wooden mortar and pestle. The coffee grounds are then put into a special vessel and boiled.The boiling pot or jebena is usually made of pottery and then stained almost black, has a spherical base, a neck and pouring spout and a handle where the neck connects with the base. When the coffee boils up through the neck it is poured in and out of another container to cool it, and then is put back into the boiling pot until it happens again.
To pour the coffee from the boiling pot, a filter made from horsehair or other material is placed in the spout. At this point, the coffee is ready to be served. A tray of very small, handle-less ceramic or glass cups is arranged with the cups very close together. The ceremony performer pours the coffee in a single stream from about a foot above the cups, ideally filling each cup equally without breaking the stream of coffee. The dregs of the coffee remain in the pot. This technique prevents coarse grounds from ending up in the coffee cups.
In some cases, the youngest child may serve the oldest guest the first cup of coffee. Afterward, the performer serves everyone else.
Guests may add their own sugar if they’d like. Milk is not typically offered. After adding sugar, guests bunna tetu --“drink coffee” and praise the hostess for her skill and the coffee for its taste.
After the first round of coffee, there are typically two additional servings. The three servings are known as abol, tona and baraka. Each serving is progressively weaker than the first. Each cup is said to transform the spirit, and the third serving is considered to be a blessing on those who drink it.
