While the roasted coffee is being pounded to a fine powder in a wooden mortar called a muketcha with a metal or wooden pestle called a zenezena, flakes of frankincense are tossed on the charcoal to scent the room. Although coffee was used as a stimulative beverage in the origin myth, coffee historians say it is more possible that coffee was being chewed when it was first discovered. His wife, being the wise woman she was, told him to share these god-sent fruits with the monks in the monastery so that they could benefit from it. Shortly afterwards, he found a small shrub which had magical and bright looking fruits on it. Required items for the ritual include a charcoal fire, popcorn, small cups on low serving table, sugar, mortar and pestle to pound the coffee, frankincense, clay coffee pot, boiling water, green coffee beans, water to wash the beans and a long handled pan to roast them… Staff in smart green aprons serve all the usual coffee variations (latte, cappuccino, Americano, machiato, espresso, etc.) but they are made exclusively with Ethiopian coffee. Sun dried coffee berries – the green beans are inside…

Ripe red coffee berries ready for harvest. We were invited to a coffee ceremony at the home of our friend and colleague Wondale when his wife Muluwerk was ready to introduce us to their new baby girl Tsionaweet. Arab traders took the beans home and by the 15th century coffee had made its way to Europe and cafe society was born. Legend aside, the first cultivation dates back all the way to the 9th century according to the historians. He helpfully confirmed some of my facts and added that the word coffee originated in Ethiopia as coffee was discovered in a region in the south that was known as Kaffa way back in time. In fact, about 2% of the world’s coffee comes from Ethiopia. In fact, it is so important for them that they have a football team named “Ethiopian Coffee”, a contest called “Miss Ethiopian Coffee”, and even coffee-flavored condoms! The next thing they have to improve, in my opiniom, in the way they roast the coffee.

Coffee at this stage is a light brown color; entering the ‘light City Roast’ stage. Ethiopians consume almost 3 million coffee bags in a single year. Eventually Oxfam got involved in supporting the Ethiopians and there was some rumbling about a boycott of Starbucks. The difference between Kaldi’s and Starbucks is that Kaldi’s has attentive and efficient table service and a very popular car service as well as a cafe menu featuring breakfasts, sandwiches, burgers, a big selection of cakes and ice cream. We enjoyed a pleasant hour on Kaldi’s deck sipping our tall Americanos amidst the busy crowd whilst discussing the blog. Please keep on sipping to support Ethiopian coffee farmers and help grow the economy. It helps farmers too; as better flavored coffees tend to have a much higher price tag; the producers are encouraged to produce better coffees in order to make more money. However Ethiopia has trademarked Harrar, Sidamo and Yirgachaffe and offers royalty free licensing agreements to those wanting to distribute these specialty coffees, with the hope that branding will increase demand and raise prices to benefit farmers. Usually, the ceremony at the cafe is set up just for viewing, but on Saturdays, Getachew performs the ceremony for customers in the same way it is done in Ethiopia.

Also, we celebrate unique Ethiopian food culture and coffee serving ceremony on the table of our visitors so they can experience the singularity of Ethiopian hospitality. They can sell their coffee yields through the ECX, Ethiopian Commodity Exchange. While this was lauded as a great feather in the cap of Ethiopia, she did hint at what one faces in a developing country: “Though the ECX has become a champion of the modern exchange market on the continent, its operation is hampered by the lack of infrastructure. This knife is great for anyone with problem hands and may use a bit of help. Great hub and very interesting as coffee is my life it seems. Taurus G2C Holster : Veteran Roasters is 100% veteran owned. Mixing them makes the tracking almost impossible and therefore specialty coffee roasters complain about the inability to find out the coffee’s origin. Thanks to this breakthrough, now both companies and individual coffee roasters can find better coffees. Thanks for the visit and vote – I appreciate it.