Saturday, May 19, 2018

Morning Starts With Green Beans

Green beans, not the veggie, rather, the raw coffee bean. 

Imabet is a willing cultural teacher and she agreed to teach Aubrey the art of the Ethiopian coffee process.

This pan with a slightly curved edge is chiefly important to the whole process.

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Behind the black pan is a clay, black pot called a “jebena”, which is specific for making coffee.

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A three-stone fire is used in our area. The dirty beans are put over the fire with a splash of water to heat the water. Then, the coffee maker removes it from the fire (with bare hands).

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From there, the process is soak the green beans in water and grind them together between the palms of your hands. This frees the husks. Rinse and repeat, 3-5 times…

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I love this picture of Miss T, she is just asking, “How can I get involved in this fun process?!?” Of course, she digs in. If it has water, you can’t keep her away.

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After the beans are clean, the tray goes back over the fire and the beans are moved continually. Picture this like a popcorn popper, moving the kernels the whole time. 

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It cannot happen to quickly or you have burned beans and other still green

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And when the smell is incredible and the coffee beans are a brown color, pull them off.

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Time to pour them into the mortar and pestle. Ethiopian coffee is very fine ground and most times, by hand.

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While the coffee is being ground, the jebena goes into the fire so the water can boil.

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Of course, not ones to miss out, Tiger and Miss T joined in.

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The ground coffee is slowly added into the boiling water. Friends claim they can tell by taste whether the coffee was boiled in a  jebena or if it had time to boil in the hot water.

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The jebena is then removed from the fire and slanted at an angle. The grounds settle for a few minutes and then the coffee or buna is poured into tiny cups or sinis. The coffee is strong-compared to an American espresso-and each person is served three rounds of coffee.

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Kids are routinely served coffee here. We limit J and A to a cup and usually none for the toddlers but when someone helps make the coffee, She’s allowed to enjoy a sip.

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Both of our littles love coffee. Tiger was playing outside by the time coffee was served. 

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Here’s a picture from the day before. Tiger had taken over his sister’s hat and the coffee-servers stool.

 

And then the next day, the process starts again. It’s as far away from a keurig as imaginable. 

 When we tell friends we buy pre-ground coffee and prepare it in a french press, we may as well be aliens. ;)

 

In other news, we travel to Addis on Sunday. We have a break between meetings in the South and so on Wednesday-Friday, our family goes North (straight North, we live Northwest) to meet J and A’s birth father and birth siblings again! It has been four years and we would appreciate prayers. 

1 comment:

Teresa said...

certainly NOT a Keurig, but very interesting! I'd say it's a lot more rewarding if you're a real coffee lover.