Coffee as it is made at an Ethiopian coffee ceremony: green beans washed and roasted in a pan, pounded, boiled in a clay jebena and poured from a height into small cups, in three rounds from the same grounds.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. No Ethiopian cook has published measured quantities, so these are a starting point. It is here for The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony page.
Ingredients
- 60 g (about ½ cup) green coffee beans, Ethiopian if possible
- 600 ml (2½ cups) water for the first round, plus about 500 ml for each later round
- 1 whole clove, optional, for the roasting pan
- 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar per cup, to pass at the table
- 1 pinch salt, 1 small knob of niter kibbeh or 1 sprig of rue per cup, optional
- 1 small piece frankincense and a charcoal burner, optional
- 2 cups popcorn or kolo, to serve
Directions
- Wash the green beans in two or three changes of water, drain them and pat them dry.
- Roast them in a heavy flat pan (not non-stick) over medium heat, stirring or shaking constantly, until they crack, sweat a little oil and turn shiny dark brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the clove with them if using. Open a window: it smokes.
- Carry the smoking pan round so each guest can waft the smoke towards them, then tip the beans onto a flat basket or tray.
- Grind the beans finely in a mortar, or in a burr grinder set between espresso and drip.
- Bring the 600 ml of water to the boil in the jebena, add the grounds through the neck and return it to the heat until the coffee foams up the neck; take it off before it overflows, and repeat once.
- Stand the pot on its ring for 2 to 5 minutes so the grounds sink into the belly.
- Pour in one steady stream from about a foot above the cups, moving along the row so each cup fills evenly, and stop before the grounds come. Pass the sugar and serve elders first. This first round is abol.
- For the second round (tona) and the third (bereka), add about 500 ml of fresh water to the same grounds, bring it up again, let it settle and pour as before.
Notes
Where this comes from The method follows Tigist Reda of Demera in Chicago (in Good Housekeeping, 2024), Fetlework Tefferi of Café Colucci in Oakland (KQED, 2012) and Hannah Giorgis (Parts Unknown, 2018). None gives quantities. The 60 g to 600 ml ratio sits between published non-Ethiopian guides (Caffe Atlas, about 10 to 12 g per 100 ml; East African coffee guides, about 10 to 12 g per 150 ml). Six 75 ml cups take 450 ml; the rest stays with the grounds. Without a jebena Use a small saucepan with a pouring lip, or a Turkish cezve for half the amount: bring the water to the boil, stir in the grounds, let the foam rise twice, take it off the heat, rest 3 to 4 minutes, and pour slowly from the lip, or through a fine tea strainer. A new jebena A new clay jebena has to be seasoned before its first use (Reda); follow the seller’s instructions. The photo A jebena behind a brazier of incense at a coffee ceremony in Addis Ababa, 2022; it is not this recipe’s pot.