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History · Culture

The Ethiopian coffee ceremony

How coffee is washed, pan-roasted, pounded and boiled in a clay jebena and served in three rounds in Ethiopia, what the ceremony means in social and religious life, and what the written sources show and do not show.

Across the chain: History

Source-checkedby Coffearium verification pass· Last source-checked 21 Oct 2026· Prepared with AI assistance· 14 sources (6 tier A)· 1 contested· Updated 21 Oct 2026
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Contents
  • Green coffee is washed, roasted in a pan over charcoal, pounded in a mortar and boiled in a round-bottomed clay pot, the jebena.1,2
  • Each pot serves three rounds, the first the strongest; sources name them abol, tona and baraka, the last meaning “to be blessed”.1,2,3
  • In the sources opened for this entry, the coffee is usually prepared by a woman of the household.1,2,4
  • Field studies describe the ceremony as a place of hospitality, discussion, gossip and reconciliation.1,4
  • A coffee-discovery legend printed in Rome in 1671 names no herder and sets the story in Yemen, not Ethiopia; the herder Kaldi comes from later retellings.5,8,9

What the ceremony is#

In Ethiopia, coffee is usually prepared and served as a ceremony, often called the buna ceremony.1 A 2018 ethnography from a rural district in eastern Amhara found that coffee there is never drunk alone.1 There is always an element of ceremony.1

The ceremony starts with raw green coffee and ends with three rounds of small cups.1,2 Everything happens in front of the guests: washing, roasting, pounding and boiling.1,2 The same 2018 study describes these actions as showing the coffee maker’s skill.1

Ethiopia is the centre of origin of Coffea arabica.13 Its wild and cultivated coffees are covered in Ethiopian landraces. Coffee in Ethiopia is also eaten and cooked, for example as buna qalaa, a ritual meal of dried coffee berries.6 Those uses have their own entry, Coffee as food in Ethiopia.

The steps#

The room is prepared first. Grass, leaves and, on special occasions, flowers are spread on the floor, and incense is burnt.1,2,3 Two sources say the incense wards off evil spirits.2,3

Then the coffee is made:

  1. Washing. The green coffee is rubbed between the hands in water, which removes husks and dirt.1,2
  2. Roasting. The coffee is roasted in a flat iron pan, preferably over charcoal.1,5 A museum source describes a long-handled, wok-like pan over hot coals or a small fire.2
  3. Sharing the aroma. The coffee maker waves the smoke of the roasting beans towards everyone present.1 Guests breathe in the scent.1
  4. Pounding. The roasted beans, with any spices, are pounded to powder with a mortar and pestle.1 In Amharic these are the muketcha (mortar) and zenezena (pestle).2
  5. Boiling. The powder is boiled in the jebena, a clay pot with a round bottom.1,2
  6. Pouring. The coffee is poured into small cups called sini.1,2 A skilled pourer fills each cup equally in one unbroken stream.2

A snack is served with the coffee, however small. Popcorn or roasted grain are traditional; a museum source also names cooked barley.1,2 Sugar is passed round for those who want it.1,2

12345678order of the stepssame grounds, boiled again 3
  1. Prepare the room. Grass, leaves or flowers on the floor; incense burnt.1,2,3
  2. Wash. Green coffee rubbed between the hands in water.1,2
  3. Roast. In a flat iron pan, preferably over charcoal.1,5
  4. Share the aroma. The smoke is waved towards the guests.1
  5. Grind. Pounded in a muketcha (mortar) with a zenezena (pestle).1,2
  6. Boil. In the round-bottomed clay jebena.1,2
  7. Pour. Into small sini cups, in one unbroken stream.1,2
  8. Three rounds. Abol, tona, baraka2,3; the same grounds are boiled again for the later rounds (dashed line).3 Popcorn or roasted grain alongside.1
The ceremony as described in an ethnography, a museum source and a thesis; practice varies by region and household. Schematic.1,2,3

How heat changes coffee in a pan or a drum is covered in Roasting. Mortar and pestle came before the coffee mill, and a coffee grinder museum names the Ethiopian ceremony as a place where they are still used (as of 2026).7

The three rounds#

One pot gives three rounds, and the first is the strongest and most prestigious.1 According to the 2017 thesis, the same grounds are boiled again for the later rounds, so each round is weaker than the one before.3

A Cambridge museum page and a 2017 thesis from Addis Ababa name the rounds abol, tona and baraka.2,3 The thesis spells the third bereka.3 Both sources say the last name means “to be blessed”.2,3

Serving follows an order. In the Amhara village of the 2018 study, the first round goes to the men in order of age, then to women and children.1

The jebena and the tray#

The jebena is made of clay.1,2 According to a Cambridge museum page, it has a round bottom, a narrow spout and a handle on the side, and most have a long neck.2 A filter, often of horsehair, is placed in the spout to hold back the grounds.2 The same page says a jebena is usually made by an elderly woman from local materials.2

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  1. Body. Clay, with a round bottom; the coffee is boiled in it.1,2
  2. Neck. Most jebenas have a long neck.2
  3. Spout. Narrow; the coffee is poured from it in one stream.2
  4. Filter. Often horsehair, placed in the spout.2
  5. Handle. On the side of the pot.2
A clay jebena in side view, after the description of a pot in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge. Schematic, not to scale.2

The cups and spoons are kept on a small lidded table called a rekabot.1 It holds the sini cups and saucers, teaspoons, a sugar bowl and a crocheted cover, the dantel.1 Cups and pots used for coffee elsewhere are compared in Coffee drinks around the world.

Who makes the coffee#

The sources opened for this entry agree that the coffee is usually made by a woman; the Amhara study says almost always.1,2,3,4 A museum page calls her the matriarch of the household and says she considers the role an honour.2 In the Amhara study, the coffee maker should cover her head.1

According to an archaeologist writing about the Oromo of Wallaga, mothers teach their daughters to make coffee and hold the ceremony.4 The article also describes the ceremony as a place where women come together.4 A 2017 thesis describes it as strengthening social belonging.3

What the ceremony does socially#

The ceremony is a measure of hospitality, according to the 2018 ethnography.1 It is also a place for useful discussion and for hurtful gossip.1 A textbook chapter names communication and connection as its central themes.5

It can settle conflict. Among the Oromo of Wallaga, people who have quarrelled are reconciled at the ceremony.4 In the Amhara study, government workers held coffee ceremonies of their own to share information, and the solidarity built there let them push back together.1

Sources and their settings#

The written evidence for this entry is thin and local. No source opened for this entry surveys the ceremony across Ethiopia. Each describes one region, one community or one object, and the descriptions should be read with that in mind.

Source Kind Setting
Howard 20181 Peer-reviewed ethnography One kebele (local administrative unit) in eastern Amhara Region, fieldwork 2011–2015
Wayessa 20114 Article by an archaeologist, based on fieldwork Oromo communities, especially Wallaga
Gonzalez 20173 Master’s thesis Addis Ababa; a sanitation campaign that worked through coffee ceremonies
MAA Cambridge2 University museum page A jebena bought at a market in Addis Ababa, object MAA 2006.759 C
Bacha et al. 20186 University article (abstract read) Boorana Oromo buna qalaa ritual
Folmer et al. 20175 Textbook chapter General description, citing an older book

The Amharic terms in this entry (muketcha, zenezena, sini, rekabot, dantel, abol, tona, baraka) are spelled as in the sources.1,2,3 Transliteration from the Ge’ez script varies, so other spellings are common.

Regional and religious variation#

The Oromo article from Wallaga uses Afaan Oromo terms. The pot is the jabanaa, set over the fire on hearthstones, and the coffee is ground in a small mortar, muka mooyyee bunaa.4 The article also names a ceramic coffee griddle, the beddee, and reports that salt is added while the jabanaa is still on the fire.4 According to the same article, metal kettles boil faster but are believed not to give the desired flavour.4 The cups were formerly made of clay; ceramic cups are now imported.4

Religion shapes the ceremony in different ways. The Amhara study places coffee both in the religious sphere of Orthodox Christianity and in secular social life.1 It describes coffee as a material medium for contact with the spiritual. It reports that zar spirits can be appeased by the smell and consumption of coffee.1 Some evangelical and reformist Orthodox Christians in the same area refuse to drink it.1

Among the Oromo, the Wallaga article describes the ceremony as integral to the traditional religion, Waaqeffannaa.4 It adds that Christian and Muslim Oromo, too, hold the ceremony in the same manner.4 Coffee also has ritual uses as food, such as the Boorana buna qalaa, which accompanies Oromo ritual performances.6 Beyond that statement about Muslim Oromo, no source opened for this entry describes how Muslim communities in Ethiopia hold the ceremony.

The brew as a decoction#

In technical terms the jebena makes a decoction: ground coffee is boiled with water, and the grounds stay in the pot.1,2 The museum page describes the coffee being brought to the boil, then poured back into the jebena and boiled again.2 The filter in the spout holds back the grounds as the coffee is poured.2 Reusing the grounds for the second and third rounds makes each round weaker.3

No study opened for this entry measured the dose, water volume, boiling time, temperature or extraction of a jebena brew. Nor did any measure the roast degree reached in the pan. Values for other boiled coffees, such as Turkish coffee, are in Coffee drinks around the world; they should not be transferred to the jebena.

The Kaldi legend and the written record#

According to a 2017 textbook chapter, the most widely told coffee legend is that of Kaldi, a goatherd in Abyssinia whose goats became lively after eating berries presumed to be coffee.5 The chapter takes the story from an older book.5 It is a legend, not history.

An early written version is in a Latin treatise on coffee by Antonio Fausto Naironi, printed in Rome in 1671.8,9 In the digitised copy, the herder has no name. He keeps camels “or, as others say, goats” (our translation), near a monastery in the region of Ayaman, “which is Arabia Felix”, that is, Yemen.8 The Ethiopian setting and the name Kaldi therefore come from later retellings; no source opened for this entry dates their first appearance or establishes which written version is the earliest.

A review of a university-press history of coffee in the Near East reports that the book explains why universally told stories such as the one about the goat are apocryphal.10 How coffee drinking reached Yemen and then the coffeehouses of the Ottoman world and Europe is covered in Coffeehouses from Mecca to Europe.

Heritage status#

The coffee ceremony is not on a UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. As of October 2026, UNESCO’s page for Ethiopia shows seven inscribed elements, all on the Representative List, and none of them is the coffee ceremony.14 They include Ethiopian epiphany, inscribed in 2019, and the Shuwalid festival of the Harari people, inscribed in 2023; neither decision mentions coffee.11,12 Heritage listings of other coffee traditions are covered in Coffee drinks around the world.

No source opened for this entry confirms whether the ceremony is on Ethiopia’s national inventory of intangible heritage.

Ceremony at a glance#

Parameter Description Source
Room Grass, leaves or flowers on the floor; incense Howard 20181; MAA2; Gonzalez 20173
Washing Green coffee rubbed between the hands in water Howard 20181; MAA2
Roasting Flat iron pan, preferably over charcoal Howard 20181; Folmer et al. 20175
Aroma Smoke waved towards the guests Howard 20181
Grinding Mortar and pestle (muketcha, zenezena); Afaan Oromo muka mooyyee bunaa MAA2; Wayessa 20114
Pot Jebena (jabanaa): clay, round bottom, long neck, narrow spout, side handle Howard 20181; MAA2; Wayessa 20114
Filter Often horsehair, in the spout MAA2
Cups Sini cups and saucers on a rekabot Howard 20181
Rounds Three: abol, tona, baraka (bereka); first strongest Howard 20181; MAA2; Gonzalez 20173
Snacks Popcorn, roasted grain, cooked barley Howard 20181; MAA2
Prepared by Usually a woman of the household Howard 20181; MAA2; Wayessa 20114
Duration Not measured in any source opened –

Open questions#

  • Typical duration and recipe. The ceremony is described as long, but no source opened for this entry measured its length, the coffee dose or the brewing time.1
  • Variation across Ethiopia. The sources cover eastern Amhara, Oromo communities and Addis Ababa; practice in other regions, and in Muslim communities beyond one statement about Muslim Oromo, is not described in them.1,3,4
  • Heritage registration. Whether the ceremony is on Ethiopia’s national inventory, or is being prepared for a UNESCO nomination, is not confirmed by an official record opened for this entry.14
  • Origin of the Kaldi name. The 1671 text names no herder;8 when the name and the Ethiopian setting first appeared in print is not established here.

Key studies#

Howard, 2018 – Coffee and the state in rural Ethiopia. An ethnography from a rural district of eastern Amhara, based on fieldwork from 2011 to 2015. It describes each step of the ceremony and its equipment, and shows how coffee gatherings carry hospitality, gossip, religion and even resistance among local government workers.

Anthropology Matters 18(1) · full text

Wayessa, 2011 – Traditional uses of coffee among the Oromo. An archaeologist describes how coffee is prepared, served and used in ritual in Wallaga, with Afaan Oromo names for the pot and mortar. He reports that the ceremony is led by women, reconciles people who have quarrelled and belongs to the traditional religion, Waaqeffannaa.

African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter 14(3), article 3 · record

Gonzalez, 2017 – Coffee rituals in Addis Ababa. A master’s thesis on a sanitation campaign in Addis Ababa that worked through women’s coffee ceremonies. It records the room preparation, the step sequence and the names of the three rounds.

MA thesis, University of Florida · full text

Bacha et al., 2018 – The Boorana buna qalaa ritual. Ethiopian researchers used interviews, focus groups and observation to study a ritual coffee meal of the Boorana Oromo. They read its preparation, actors and blessings as an expression of the community’s worldview.

Jimma University repository · record

Contested
  • **Setting of the coffee-discovery legend.** The earliest printed version (Rome, 1671) tells of an unnamed keeper of camels or goats near a monastery in Yemen;8,9 a 2017 textbook chapter, citing an older book, places a goatherd named Kaldi in Abyssinia.5 A review of an academic history reports that the history explains why the goat story is apocryphal.10
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Change log

  • – The reuse of the same grounds for the second and third rounds is now cited to the 2017 thesis only. Reason: The museum page names the rounds but does not say the grounds are reused.
  • – The Wallaga article's statement that Christian and Muslim Oromo hold the ceremony in the same manner was added; the entry had said no source describes Muslim practice. Reason: Verification read the article, which states this.
  • – The 1671 Rome treatise is no longer called the earliest written version of the coffee-discovery legend. Reason: No source opened for the entry establishes which written version is the earliest.
  • – The UNESCO status now rests on UNESCO's page for Ethiopia (seven inscribed elements, none the coffee ceremony) instead of two selected decisions. Reason: Two decisions alone could not show that the ceremony is absent from the lists.

Sources

  1. AHoward, S. (2018). Coffee and the State in Rural Ethiopia. Anthropology Matters 18(1).
  2. BMuseum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge (MAA Digital Lab) (2023). At the Heart of the Jebena Bunna, the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. MAA Digital Lab, University of Cambridge (museum blog; object MAA 2006.759 C).
  3. BGonzalez, C. (2017). Coffee Poolitics: Instrumentalizing Women and Coffee Rituals to Combat Open Defecation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. University of Florida (MA thesis).
  4. BWayessa, B. S. (2011). Buna Qalaa: A Quest for Traditional Uses of Coffee Among Oromo People with Special Emphasis on Wallaga, Ethiopia. African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter 14(3), article 3.
  5. BFolmer, B.; Farah, A.; Jones, L.; Fogliano, V. (2017). Human Wellbeing – Sociability, Performance, and Health. In: Folmer, B. (ed.), The Craft and Science of Coffee, Academic Press, ch. 20 (pp. 494–496 cited). doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00020-7 · other copies
  6. BBacha, A.; Kuto, L.; Fufa, D.; et al. (2018). Buna Qalaa Ritual of the Boorana Oromo. Jimma University Open Access Institutional Repository (article).
  7. BKaffeemühlenmuseum Wiernsheim Station 3, Room 1, 1st Floor: Coffee Grinders and Technology (audio guide). museum.de.
  8. ANaironi, A. F. (Antonio Fausto Naironi; Faustus Naironus Banesius) (1671). De saluberrima potione cahue, seu cafe nuncupata discursus. Typis Michaelis Herculis, Rome (digitised copy, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, via Internet Archive).
  9. BClarkson, J.; Gloning, T. Coffee, tea & chocolate – A collection of early texts. Institut für Germanistik, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen.
  10. BKeall, E. J. Review of Ralph S. Hattox, Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East. Book review, UNB Libraries journals (MCR), Royal Ontario Museum reviewer.
  11. AUNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2019). Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 14.COM 10.B.11 (Ethiopian epiphany). UNESCO.
  12. AUNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2023). Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 18.COM 8.B.30 (Shuwalid festival). UNESCO.
  13. AHindorf, H.; Omondi, C. O. (2011). A review of three major fungal diseases of Coffea arabica L. in the rainforests of Ethiopia and progress in breeding for resistance in Kenya. Journal of Advanced Research 2(2), 109–120. doi:10.1016/j.jare.2010.08.006 · other copies
  14. AUNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (2026). Ethiopia – elements on the Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO.

Tier A · authoritative · B · trade and expert · C · general. Supporting quotes for every source are in the data version of this entry. If a publisher’s site refuses access, try the doi link or “other copies”.

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