The Amani Tribe made some Traditional Ethiopian Coffee today!
Coffee, called buna/bun in Ethiopia, is a huge part of Ethiopian culture. Ethiopians roast their own beans to an even dark brown color and brew the grind in a clay pot called a jebena. There are three rounds that are brewed with those grinds. The rounds are called by the names abol (1st round), tona (2nd round) and bereka (3rd round).
During our coffee ceremony stories, laughter, proverbs and sometimes juicy little secrets are shared :) most importantly connections with family members, friends and neighbors are made.
African culture is so rich and goes extensively deep. Please join us in our journey of bringing stories of Africa back to life!
I saw a picture on Instagram from a movie that a friend is shooting in Ethiopia. In the scene, a father is saying goodbye to his son and walking him out the door of, what I am presuming is, the father's home. The caption says, “Solomon sends his son away, uncertain of his future!”. Almost instantaneously, I thought of the hundreds of thousands of parents in Africa that made the heartbreaking decision of sending their child(ren) to another country for a higher education and better life. That has to be one of the hardest things that a parent has to go through. This type of love is so sacrificial, deep and extremely selfless. Today, The Amani Tribe salutes and celebrates all parents and children that have had to endure this in their life. It's not easy, but the reward will be worth it.
Over the weekend Bereka Coffee in San Francisco had its grand opening. It is an Ethiopian café serving a variety of Ethiopian coffee and snacks. The café is owned by a close friend, the other half of The Amani Tribe Salome, who has been working really hard to make her dreams come true. Coffee is an integral part of Ethiopian culture and Bereka strives to bring a little bit of home to the customer. The café is filled with the sounds and aroma from a distant land, warm and inviting. If you are in the San Francisco area please check out Bereka, it’s an experience worth having.
Coffee is known to have originated in Ethiopia where nomadic tribes may have been consuming it in various ways for thousands of years. The first records referring to the plant and its use as a drink go back roughly to the 15th century. The spread of coffee started out slow its first exports to Yemen, where it was cultivated, then to the rest of the Arab world and North Africa, finally reaching Europe around the 1600’s.
The story of coffee is not straight forward, most countries between the 15th and 18th centuries banned its consumption due to its revitalizing effects as well as it social and revolutionary connections. People often met in coffee houses and the American and French revolutionists were known to meet in coffee houses to make plans in relative anonymity. Religion, both Christianity and Islam, also played a bit part in the banning of the drink but by the 18th century, the last ban of coffee drinking in Ethiopia was lifted and a new age of coffee consumption begun.
(Source: most of this information is derived from my knowledge through years of history classes, and some more definitive dates were gathered from NPR articles as well as Wikipedia for cross referencing and checking on accuracy)
Often when people say they love tea, they are talking about packets of tea bags that come in many different flavors and colors. To be truly considered a tea, by definition means that the drink is derived from the tea plant known as Camellia Sinensis, which usually includes black and green teas. All other tea mixtures are actually tisanes, a mixture of herbs spices and plant leaves and roots that are dried and made in the same way as tea, but do not contain leaves from Camellia Sinesis plant.
Tisanes have been consumed just as long as actual tea has, but the distinction is important since the mixture of herbs in tisanes can be medicinal and historically, were often used to cure or alleviate symptoms or diseases. Since herbal teas are considered food stuffs in this country, they are examined by law to make sure they do not contain harmful toxins.
All in all, whether you like to drink tea or tisanes or both (which I do) what really matters is a little knowledge about what you are consuming, and your enjoyment.
There are many different types of tea across the world, and Africa is no different. Each region boasts a few favorite teas, from South Africa’s rooibos tea, to black tea grown in most of east Africa. Tanzania grows white tea, and West and North Africa are well known for black and green mint teas. With such diversity in types of teas, the recipes are too many to keep count of. My favorite tea is black tea which can be prepared in many different ways. In Kenya there are four to five common tea recipes, and probably hundreds of variations outside of those based on which part of the country you are in.
Some are:
Turungi: (which means tea without milk) in the most basic preparation it is black tea leaves boiled in water and a squeeze of lemon juice, honey or without any sweetener. This is a refreshing drink that can be had at any time of day and what I usually prefer when studying due to its ease of making.
Turungi (spiced): black tea with spices, most commonly would be ginger or cardamom, followed by tea masala, which includes ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper and a few other spices. Served any time of day and sometimes with meals. When sick, this is the most commonly served tea, with lots of ginger and sometimes lemon to help a sour stomach or ease cold symptoms.
Dubia: (which means no sugar) most commonly its milk tea made in the Kenyan way of boiling the water, then adding tea leaves and/or spices and letting that boil for a few minutes then adding milk, and letting that boil until it rises to the top of the cooking pot. Dubia is had mostly by people who have diabetes or are watching their sugar intake. Made properly, it brings the tea flavor to the forefront without sugar, and is delicious.
Chai: this is proper Kenyan tea and the most popular. It is made with black tea, sugar and various spices or without any spices at all and milk. It is meant to be sweet, and had at breakfast and usually at 4pm known as chai ya saa kumi which translates to 4 o’clock tea. Many people speculate that the tradition has something to do with British influence, but it doesn’t matter either way.
Tea in Kenya is usually the first thing a guest will be offered no matter what time of day and signifies hospitality and to refuse tea in a person’s home is often considered rude.
The use of spices also varies with Kenyan cooking including tea making. The availability of the spices as well as the price of the spices factor into whether or not the tea will be made with or without spices.
Tea making in Kenya is an art, and serving good tea is a compliment to the host. The amount of milk added to the tea, when it is added, the sugar or no sugar, spices or no spices, all take experience to get quite right. Most of the time tea is made without step by step directions and most hosts go on gut feeling of just how much of each should be added.
Tea is most commonly thought to have originated in China where it was used for medicinal purposes in the Yunnan province. By the 1800, the British Empire, among other things, wanted to wrest some of the tea industry profits from China’s grasp for themselves. This led to tea being introduced to British colonies, first India followed by Kenya and British East Africa by the early 1900’s. Since then, the British Empire is no longer what it used to be, and Kenya has moved to the third largest tea producer in the world after China, and India. Tea in Kenya is consumed in many forms, the recipe varying according to regional and individual tastes. As any true Kenyan would, I have an intense love for tea in its many variations which led to this post, and probably a few upcoming ones on tea in Africa.
After some time trying to figure out which direction to go with on this wonderful blog, it occurred to me that we had not even made proper introductions as of yet. This is Tash, one half of The Amani Tribe and a recent college graduate. I was born in Kenya and spent just about half my life there, an experience that I am so very grateful for. That time exposed me to great Kenyan food and lots of stories, some of which I hope to share with you on this blog. As with all new things, it takes a while to get settled into some sort of routine but hopefully that will happen soon for us here at T.A.T. So welcome, or as we say in Kiswahili, KARIBU.
