Ethiopia: Part 3-The Coffee Ceremony and Injera Bread

As Ethiopia is the birthplace of Coffee, it is understandable that an Ethiopian meal is supposedly never complete without the celebrated traditional coffee ceremony. The Ethiopians refer to this drink as bunna. The ceremony begins when the woman (always a woman), roasts the beans in a pan and shuffles them to ensure that all grains are equally roasted. After roasting, the beans are boiled in a pot, and then served in traditional coffee pots known as jebenas.

At 7pm, the coffee ceremony began at the restaurant, and I watched the lady roast the beans, boil and serve. Ethiopian music was playing in the background and It seemed as if the lady was roasting and pouring the coffee to the beat of the sound. It was a lovely to watch and a delight to taste, although I do not usually drink coffee. The coffee was very fragrant with a hint of cinnamon. I was told that traditionally when coffee is served at homes, guests will be offered grain berries and nuts to accompany their coffee.

The owner of the restaurant offered me the traditional ?grain berries?, which are sometimes eaten as a snack along with the coffee.

Before I left the restaurant, I was curious to see how the injera was made and was allowed to take a look into the kitchen where the cook was just pan frying the evenings? selection of injera. The dough is prepared days before and left to ferment, (much like sourdough) lending injera its characteristic sour tangy flavour.

Pieces of the Injera bread are torn and dipped into the various sauces served, which is why the bread has to have its ?fluffy? consistency to soak up the sauces.

The defining feature of this bread are the holes or ?eyes? as one of the restaurant owners referred to them. The best Injera has more holes which enable more sauce to be soaked within, I was told.

After watching the cook prepare the injera, I actually found some teff at my local organic shop and decided to try to make it on my own.

For a fantastic taste of Ethiopia in Berlin, visit:

Betje Restaurant

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