Real coffee!

Evan and I have made some Ethiopian friends via the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society's host family program. It has been quite the adventure, having to explain the quirks of one's culture really makes you think... 'yeah, why DO we do that?'. We asked Haile, the head of the family, what was the strangest thing he had come across, and he said it was seeing ads for apartments that said, 'no kids, pets ok'. That completely mystified him. And now that I think about it, yep that's weird.

Anyhoo I digress. A significant result of our new found friendship is that it has ruined me for regular coffee. Coffee is a major part of social interactions in Ethiopian culture. There is a ceremony involved in drinking coffee together, and everyone drinks three shots that have a ton of sugar in them. It's an afternoon ritual; they think it's strange that we drink coffee in the morning. Genet, Haile's wife, roasts the green beans herself over a burner in a pot, or has one of the children roast it. Because of the smoke alarms in their place (a feature of Canadian life they find VERY annoying..), they roast it on the back stoop. Usually Eyob does. Picture a 13 year old boy, wearing shorts, rubber boots, and a ski jacket, roasting coffee in the snow. That was the scene this winter...

The coffee is amazing, sometimes Genet grinds it with some cardamom or cloves. Out of this world. And it is beautifully smooth, no bitter bite at the end. There really is no comparison to pre-roasted beans. I've been wondering how to roast my own without ruining a pot or setting off the smoke alarm, and then I found this post, which recommends using an air popcorn popper. AHA! a solution. now I just need to track down some green beans, a feat in itself..