The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony: Buna, Jebena and Three Rounds of Coffee

The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony: Three Rounds, One Hour, One Ritual

Coffee comes from Ethiopia. That is not just a botanical footnote, it is living culture. While we in Switzerland down our espresso in twenty seconds, in Ethiopia preparing and drinking a coffee takes one to two hours. Three rounds, several guests, incense and a traditional clay pot. The whole thing is called Buna in Amharic, and it is one of the oldest living coffee rituals in the world.

What Buna means

Buna is the Amharic word for coffee. So the ceremony is literally called the coffee ceremony. In Ethiopia it is held daily, often several times a day. It is hospitality, family and neighbourhood care rolled into one. Whoever happens to walk by gets invited. Whoever declines essentially insults the host. That counts in the morning as much as in the afternoon.

The flow: from the green bean to the third sip

It begins with laying fresh grasses on the floor, often lemongrass or other fragrant plants. Next to that sits a small charcoal fire. On the fire, a flat iron pan is heated with green coffee beans inside. The beans roast slowly, stirred by hand, until they turn dark and shine with oil.

The hot pan is then carried once around the guests so everyone breathes in the fresh roast aroma. Afterwards the beans go into a wooden mortar called Mukecha and are pounded with a heavy pestle into a coarse powder. The sound is part of the ceremony. It is work, and it sounds like work.

The powder is poured into a clay pot. The pot is called Jebena: round belly, long neck, small handle, often made of dark unglazed clay. Add water, back on the fire. As soon as the coffee boils, it is poured into small handleless cups called Sini. From around thirty centimetres above, in a thin stream, so the grounds stay in the pot.

Three rounds: Abol, Tona, Bereka

Here the ceremony becomes more than just a coffee. There are three rounds, and each has a name and a meaning.

The first round is called Abol. That is the strongest, freshest brew. It stands for the welcome and the start. To decline Abol is to decline the ceremony.

The second round is called Tona. Fresh water goes onto the same grounds, and the brew gets milder. Tona stands for deepening the conversation, for staying. This is when people talk.

The third round is called Bereka, sometimes Baraka. The word means blessing. The coffee is now noticeably weaker, almost just water with a memory of coffee. Bereka stands for the blessing the guest receives and the host passes on. Whoever leaves, leaves with Bereka.

The three names also appear in the Ethiopian legend of how coffee was discovered. Three goats herded by the shepherd Kaldi are said to have become so lively after eating red cherries that they could not sleep. The names of the goats, one version goes, were Abol, Tona and Bereka.

What else belongs to it

During the ceremony incense like frankincense or myrrh is often burned. The smell is part of the atmosphere, in both a religious and a social sense. There is usually something to nibble on as well. Often popcorn, because it is quick to make, or Kolo, a mix of roasted barley, peanuts and sesame. Sometimes Himbasha, a slightly sweet flatbread. Sugar almost always goes into the coffee. Salt or butter are rare but appear regionally.

Traditionally the ceremony is performed by a woman, often in a white dress with a coloured trim. She kneels in front of the fire and tends to the pan, the mortar and the Jebena. It is something that in many Ethiopian families is still part of everyday life, not just of special occasions.

What we can take from it

We in Switzerland mostly drink coffee on the move. Commuting, at the desk, in front of the computer. The Ethiopian ceremony is the opposite. It demands time, presence and patience. A ceremony cannot be delegated or sped up. Anyone who has sat through one quickly notices: it is less about the coffee and more about the people drinking it together.

In specialty coffee circles the ceremony is increasingly respected as what it is: the oldest continuous coffee culture in the world. Many Ethiopian coffees we drink in Switzerland today, like Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, Harrar or Guji, come from exactly the regions where the ceremony still happens daily.

Where to find Ethiopian coffee

On our marketplace you regularly find Ethiopian beans from various Swiss roasteries. Most are roasted light, because the aromas like bergamot, jasmine, apricot or peach get lost in a dark roast. Brew them as filter, V60 or Aeropress. You do not need to own a Jebena to enjoy a Yirgacheffe. But the next time you drink one, think of the pan, the mortar and the three cups. Then every sip tastes a bit more than just like coffee.