Try Ethiopian coffee ritual in city for great bonding

Fancy bonding over a fragrant dark brew to discuss your problems and find solutions? Head to the Ethiopian Cultural Centre here where this East African nation’s traditional coffee ceremony is held.

It’s largely an all-women affair, but outside of Ethiopia, men occasionally join it.
“In Ethiopia, women do not have enough time. They work for 17 to 18 hours a day. The only time they have to themselves is during the coffee ceremony in the village,” says Ethiopian ambassador to India Genner Zewide.

“One woman prepares the coffee in her house and invites other women of the village.”
“They talk about their problems — family problems, health problems and share their experiences. They usually try to find solutions over cups of coffee,” says Zewide.

Back home, the coffee ceremony is usually held twice a day — sometimes thrice — once in the morning, once at noon and once in the evening in the homes of different women.

The ceremony lasts between one and two hours. “It feels nice. The ritual takes a long time so that women have longer time to talk. The roasted coffee beans are often boiled three times for three rounds (three cups each) of coffee. It allows women to rest and spend longer time chatting,” says Zewide.

The ceremony, common to Ethiopian, Eritrean and Arabian cultures, has a spiritual air to it. A flat pan of green coffee beans is roasted over a traditional charcoal brazier, either in a room or out in the courtyard. A small ceremonial oven with incense is lit near the brazier in a ritual.

The heady aroma of the roasted coffee beans mingles with the incense, lending the ritual a mystical aura. The coffee cups are placed on a flat wooden stool. Once the roasted beans turn brown and the aromatic coffee oil is drained out, they are grounded with a pestle and a long-stemmed mortar. The grounded coffee is then stirred in a black clay pot with boiling water.

The brew is sieved several times for the right consistency. The women attending the ceremony are usually dressed in their traditional white robes with colourful woven borders.

“That is the only time when the husbands do not object to their wives going out to visit friends, and the only time when husbands do not accompany them as well,” says Zewide.