Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and locals still carry on an ancient and complete set of methods for making and drinking coffee. From collecting naturally fallen fruit and insisting on sun-drying, to repeatedly boiling it in a clay pot with pine resin and spices, the entire process is full of ritual. This traditional method allows the coffee beans to absorb more of the fruit's aroma, resulting in a finished cup that is rich in fruity notes and thick in mouthfeel. This article will guide you through the flavor sources of Ethiopian coffee, the brewing process, and the unique hospitality customs, so you can feel the hours of cultural accumulation behind a single cup of coffee.
Ethiopians still maintain many coffee traditions to this day. They are not accustomed to picking the fruit from the trees; more often, they collect ripe fruit that has fallen beneath the coffee trees, which compromises the quality of the coffee to some extent. They have always used the traditional sun-drying method to process coffee beans and rarely use the washed method—this allows the beans to absorb more aromatic substances from the fruit pulp, giving the coffee a stronger fruity aroma. Today, with the development of the coffee industry, some of these methods have changed somewhat, but their way of drinking coffee still follows ancient practices. This method is complex, often taking several hours just to drink a cup of coffee. Yet brewing coffee this way fills the entire room with aroma, intoxicating you before you even take a sip.
Almost every Ethiopian household drinks coffee grown by themselves. These coffee cherries are picked, laid out in the sun to dry and undergo slight fermentation, and when the fruit becomes dry and hard, the fruit is crushed by hand, separating the beans wrapped in "parchment." These coffee beans can be stored for a fairly long time at the appropriate temperature and humidity. However, Ethiopians will not let them sit for long—they prefer to drink fresh coffee.
Ethiopians use a specially made clay pot to brew coffee, and before brewing, the pot is first heated with hot charcoal. While the pot is heating, the hostess first cleans the coffee beans, removing the parchment-like endocarp and silver skin from the surface of the beans. Next, she adds a bit of pine resin to the stove fire, filling the entire room with incense, then takes out a flat-bottomed iron pan, places it on the fire, pours in the cleaned coffee beans, and continuously stirs them with an iron spatula. After a few minutes, the coffee beans gradually take on a light brown cinnamon color, then begin to crackle and pop—usually there is a distinction between "first crack" and "second crack." Shortly after the first crack, the beans turn dark brown; at this point, remove them and pour them into a stone mortar, pound them with a pestle, and grind them into as fine a powder as possible. The ground coffee powder is poured into the pre-warmed clay pot, and spices such as cardamom and cinnamon are added, or an herb called "Adam's health" is added, and everything is heated to a boil together.
Ethiopians drink coffee from small handleless cups with a capacity of 3 ounces. After the coffee powder comes to a boil in the clay pot for the first time, the hostess pours the coffee into the cups and adds a spoonful of sugar. Coffee made this way is very thick, and the grounds are not filtered—though most remain at the bottom of the cup, some powder still floats suspended in the coffee, which can be a bit harsh on the throat for those not used to it. The coffee in the clay pot can be boiled two to three times, and if coffee is being served to guests, they generally leave after the second boiling. In addition, Ethiopians like to pair coffee with small pancakes containing sweet chili peppers.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
