Looking into coffee's heritage I discovered that in Ethiopia they have coffee ceremonies which are an important part of the regions social cultural life. An invitation to attend a coffee ceremony is considered a mark of friendship or respect and is an example of Ethiopian hospitality. This special ceremony can take a few hours.
- The ceremony is usually conducted by one young woman, dressed in the traditional Ethiopian costume of a white dress with coloured woven borders.
- The ceremonial apparatus is arranged upon a bed of long scented grasses.
- The roasting of the coffee beans is done in a flat pan over a tiny charcoal stove, the pungent smell mingling with the heady scent of incense that is always burned during the ceremony.
- The lady who is conducting the ceremony gently washes a handful of coffee beans on the heated pan, then stirs and shakes the husks away.
- When the coffee beans have turned black and shining and the aromatic oil is coaxed out of them, they are ground by a pestle and a long handled mortar.
- The ground coffee is slowly stirred into the black clay coffee pot locally known as 'jebena', which is round at the bottom with a straw lid.
- Due to the archaic method used by Ethiopians, the ground result can be called anything but even, so the coffee is strained through a fine sieve several times.
- The youngest child is then sent out to announce when it is to be served and stands ready to bring a cup of coffee first to the eldest in the room and then to the others, connecting all the generations.
- The lady finally serves the coffee in tiny china cups to her family, friends and neighbours who have waited and watched the procedure for the past half-hour. Gracefully pouring a thin golden stream of coffee into each little cup from a height of one foot without an interruption requires years of practice.
- Coffee is taken with plenty of sugar (or in the countryside, salt) but no milk and is generally accompanied by lavish praise for its flavour and skilful preparation.
- Often it is complemented by a traditional snack food, such as popcorn, peanuts or cooked barley.
- In most parts of Ethiopia, the coffee ceremony takes place three times a day - in the morning, at noon and in the evening. It is the main social event within the village and a time to discuss the community, politics, life and about who did what with whom.
- If invited into a home to take part - it is impolite to retire until you have consumed at least three cups, as the third round is considered to bestow a blessing.
- Transformation of the spirit is said to take place during the coffee ceremony through the completion of 'Abol' (the first round), 'Tona' (second round) and 'Baraka' (third round).
(http://www.epicurean.com/articles/ethiopian-coffee-ceremony.html)
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