Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony
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- Posts: 40
- Joined: 11 years ago
Over the past 12 months I have had the pleasure of taking 3 different trips to Ethiopia. Each trip I was able to drink lots of coffee that was served via the traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony process. This was my first ever experience with coffee that I actually enjoyed. Prior to this my only experience with coffee was the awful taste/smell of your typical office drip brewed coffee pots.
The Ethiopian Coffee was not like anything I had ever experience before up to this point. They would take green Ethiopian Coffee beans, roast them over a charcoal like fire. Then they would hand grind them with a very large mortar and pestle like appliance. The grind was very fine. From there they would scoop several spoonfuls of the ground beans into an Ethiopian coffee pot.
The pot would be placed on the charcoal-like fire and heated until it started to steam. Sometimes milk would also be heated in a similar fashion and mixed with the coffee and sometimes it would be served with just the coffee. Sugar was always added regardless of whether or not milk was used.
The coffee was fairly strong and served in small tea cups that hold probably about 3 oz of liquid. The same beans would often be reused to make about 3 pots of coffee one after another.
Since returning to America I have learned to love espresso, however it still isn't the same as the Ethiopian Coffee I was able to experience multiple times.
I would like to try and reproduce this same type of coffee here. I am trying to figure out which coffee preparation method would be most similar to the traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. I am thinking that the Aeropress or French Press would be the most similar.
What are your thoughts on the whole process? What do you think would produce the most similar results?
Thanks!
Jeremy
The Ethiopian Coffee was not like anything I had ever experience before up to this point. They would take green Ethiopian Coffee beans, roast them over a charcoal like fire. Then they would hand grind them with a very large mortar and pestle like appliance. The grind was very fine. From there they would scoop several spoonfuls of the ground beans into an Ethiopian coffee pot.
The pot would be placed on the charcoal-like fire and heated until it started to steam. Sometimes milk would also be heated in a similar fashion and mixed with the coffee and sometimes it would be served with just the coffee. Sugar was always added regardless of whether or not milk was used.
The coffee was fairly strong and served in small tea cups that hold probably about 3 oz of liquid. The same beans would often be reused to make about 3 pots of coffee one after another.
Since returning to America I have learned to love espresso, however it still isn't the same as the Ethiopian Coffee I was able to experience multiple times.
I would like to try and reproduce this same type of coffee here. I am trying to figure out which coffee preparation method would be most similar to the traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. I am thinking that the Aeropress or French Press would be the most similar.
What are your thoughts on the whole process? What do you think would produce the most similar results?
Thanks!
Jeremy
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- Posts: 1302
- Joined: 12 years ago
Sounds an awful lot like Turkish to me. Not surprising given the geographic closeness. You're going to need an ibrik/cezve and a grinder that will get a very fine grind. Alternately you can use a mortar/pestle.jkruer01 wrote:they would hand grind them with a very large mortar and pestle like appliance. The grind was very fine. From there they would scoop several spoonfuls of the ground beans into an Ethiopian coffee pot.
The pot would be placed on the charcoal-like fire and heated until it started to steam. Sometimes milk would also be heated in a similar fashion and mixed with the coffee and sometimes it would be served with just the coffee. Sugar was always added regardless of whether or not milk was used.
The coffee was fairly strong and served in small tea cups that hold probably about 3 oz of liquid.
LMWDP #366
- damonbowe
- Posts: 476
- Joined: 11 years ago
What's an Ethiopian coffee pot? How is the coffee filtered? Does it have a lot of sludge in it or silt that keeps on brewing after serving?
- Marshall
- Posts: 3445
- Joined: 19 years ago
Except for special events, the Ethiopian restaurants in L.A. use espresso machines.
Marshall
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
- TomC
- Team HB
- Posts: 10550
- Joined: 13 years ago
It's an Ibrik, and it's generally not filtered. Sweet Maria's as well as many other outlets sell them. I imagine it would be sludge city, hence all the sugar to overcome the bitterness from the method.damonbowe wrote:What's an Ethiopian coffee pot? How is the coffee filtered? Does it have a lot of sludge in it or silt that keeps on brewing after serving?
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- damonbowe
- Posts: 476
- Joined: 11 years ago
Oh yeah! I use one of those but I call it Greek coffee (because I learned it from a Greek person...it wasn't until recently that I realized it's because of the whole Greek vs. Turkey thing, lol). I use it with this Papagalos stuff: http://www.recipiada.com/product/papaga ... OgodI1QARw
- tamarian
- Posts: 501
- Joined: 12 years ago
It is called Jabana, made of clay and looks like this:damonbowe wrote:What's an Ethiopian coffee pot? How is the coffee filtered? Does it have a lot of sludge in it or silt that keeps on brewing after serving?
It is not filtered, and there will be sludge in the last few servings.
I think a Clever dripper is the closest I found to a Jabana prep.jkruer01 wrote:I would like to try and reproduce this same type of coffee here. I am trying to figure out which coffee preparation method would be most similar to the traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. I am thinking that the Aeropress or French Press would be the most similar.
What are your thoughts on the whole process? What do you think would produce the most similar results?
- Boldjava
- Posts: 2765
- Joined: 16 years ago
Just grab the 'real Haile.' http://shop.brundo.com/product.sc?productId=220tamarian wrote:I think a Clever dripper is the closest I found to a Jabana prep.
Oakland company.
My daughter spent a year in the bush of Kenya as a nurse, mainly TB and AIDS issues. She went up to Ethiopia for a month to help in the clinic up there. First thing they did in welcoming her was the traditional 3-cup welcome. And, she doesn't even like coffee.
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LMWDP #339
LMWDP #339
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- Posts: 53
- Joined: 12 years ago
Turkish/Arabic coffee brewing probably evolved out of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, you might enjoy it as well, give it a try, it's dead easy and quite tasty, even without sugar.
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- Posts: 40
- Joined: 11 years ago
There is no filter. The pot is tilted to the side and there is an indention that allows the grinds to settle. It is poured slowly and the indention prevents most of the grinds from coming out. However, you do get the occasional grind in your cup.damonbowe wrote:What's an Ethiopian coffee pot? How is the coffee filtered? Does it have a lot of sludge in it or silt that keeps on brewing after serving?