Ethiopia (Africa)
Ethiopia, where coffee was first discovered, is this months focus for “Know your beans.” This amazing region is rich, despite what we may think about it from the 80’s and the famine that it was experiencing. To begin the country and culture offer a rich history, especially among the Christian world, as one of the oldest Christian societies. This at times translates into the coffee culture. The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony is an example of this merging of traditions. Four times a day Ethiopians gather, like monks for prayer, to stop the busyness of life, to spend time over a freshly roasted cup of coffee and contemplate their day with each other. Their goal is to remain connected with each other during this intimate moment. Moments like this ceremony is a reminder wealth can be measured in many ways beyond monetary.
This original coffee region is home to thousands of different varieties of coffee plants, far exceeding the varieties that we see in wine. Combine that with the varietal of brewing methods and the potential of coffee is very broad. This is the modern and quickly growing coffee world, which began in Ethiopia nearly 1000 years ago, but wasn’t first brewed as we know it until the 15th century, in Yemen. Slowly but surely through traveling monks, and European colonization this “wine of Islam” began to expand throughout the world. One of the worlds most expensive coffee comes from Ethiopia, in a similar manner. A hybrid known as Gesha, which originated in south Ethiopia, but was planted in Panama can go for as much as $600 a pound. Currently I have 3 different kinds of Ethiopian, but began my journey with this country and the Yirgacheffe bean.
It was through my visits to an Ethiopian restaurant, where I became friends with the owner and his wife. They were Eritrean, which use to be part of Ethiopia, before independence approximately 25 years ago. From there I began attending their church and learning more about their history and culture. Through these amazing experiences I learned their coffee ceremony in tribute to their hospitality. I wanted to share this with others. From there my coffee experience grew in the loving African and Catholic spirit. Just as the liturgy of the church is the same, like a coffee bean all around the world, the tradition of how it is made changes based on the culture. To me this was the beauty of coffee. A universal experience that wasn’t offensive to anyone, that is unless you don’t like caffeine or coffee lol. I began carrying tea for these rare moments, but that’s for another blog.
To close I’d like to focus on something special, the African spirit. When I was searching in life, I listened to a lot of Bob Marley, which is based on a religion that evolved from Ethiopia. It’ s nice music, with a great message, but very flawed theology and understanding of biblical history. What I loved though was how it pointed to Africa and the joyful spirit of the people. As I began to study the African spirit, I was fascinated how a people who had so little, had so much joy. They weren’t bogged down with the needs of materials, they had each other. This became vibrantly alive in the coffee ceremony, it was alive as well in those moments I worked in coffee shops all ending with amazing smiles and conversations. From there I wanted to share that joy of appreciation with others. The little things in life, we often take for granted, especially as Americans. People from around the world are dying to get into our country, while many of us are dying to get out, or at least we say and think that until we see how it really is on the other side of the fence. Next time you sip some Ethiopian contemplate the good times, as our brethren do in their cultural traditions.
