Coffee

Okay we got to talk about coffee. As many of you know I am not a coffee fan. I don't like the taste or smell, but I am in the country where coffee was first discovered, drank, and cultivated. I have also done some assignments on it and figure all you coffee lovers would like to hear about this. The coffee ceremonies in Ethiopia are very important. They show respect and are at all social events. First they start by washing the green beans. Then they are put on a steel plate over a charcoal stove to roast. In order to keep the beans from burning the person roasting has a hooked shaped metal prong to move the beans around. With this she can also flip the beans so that all sides turn brown at the same rate. It is also important to fan the flame of the stove so that the beans are cooking at a consistent rate. Once the beans have popped and are the color of satisfaction they are set aside while a special clay pot specifically designed for coffee is put on the stove to boil. The beans then go in a mortar and pestle type devise to get ground extremely finely. Once the water has boiled the majority of the grounds are poured in. Then you wait for the coffee to reboil. To see if the coffee is the right, taste little samples are poured out. The pot is designed to limit the grounds During the first half of the pot. If coffee is too strong water is added, but if it is too "tea like" more grounds are added. When done the pot is brought into the house and put on a hot pad specifically designed to hold the round clay coffee pot. On the floor they put a small mat with plastic frills similar to fake hula skirts. They can range in colors and design, but all the ones I've seen have the plastic frills. On the mat is a two story tray that holds the coffee cups. While some like to drink coffee plain, adding salt and butter is preferred by my host father. They assume as a foreigner that I will have sugar in mine. Coffee is recoiled three times during the ceremony. The same grounds are used it's just the water that is re-added. Children occasionally get to drink some during the third round when it is not as strong. I made it a month without drinking any coffee. There was always tea as an option or I could opt to not buy it myself. However, this week my host dad made surprise visits home (he works in another town as a driver) and wanted coffee with dinner. I tried to talk myself out of it, but he insisted I try at least one cup. Although they put sugar in it, they used the same spoon that had been in the butter. While this might gross out you coffee gurus, it didn't taste all that bad. The second time he came I again had one cup (about the circumference of the top of a shot glass) with only sugar. I don't know if it is because the coffee is so fresh, boiled, or what, but it tasted pretty good. Granted I still prefer tea, but I can at least drink a cup without puckering. Also, because it's only 1/4 cup of coffee it totally didn't affect sleep at all. So there is a small update on coffee. This weeks assignment is to make chirro and injera!