Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony long-awaited doc

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony from Jeanna Mortimer on Vimeo.


Eventually, I produced the short doc about Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony, that Rahel kindly agreed to perform in the backyard of our Maida Vale store. I filmed it on 12th of November 2009, but I think I needed the decade to turn to actually put it together. (It took me less time that I thought it would, so now I am not scared of editing, hehehe).

PS. It is snowing today and I am very happy. I love snow. After staying in for the last few days, I might venture out today, to check out new cafes, try my luck at the tail of the sales and just write. I find it surprisingly relaxing to work in the cafe, although it is loud sometimes, but I write easier when I am surrounded by people, some background noise helps me concentrate better.
PPS. Merry Russian Christmas!!!

Ethiopian coffee ceremony

On Thursday we had a District Coffee Master  meeting and instead of usual coffee tasting at the start we had a fantastic Etiopian coffee ceremony hosted by lovely Rahel. It was just mind-blowing to see how pretty much everyone can roast coffee at home, equiped  with very basic pans and, of course, knowlegde that being passed down in generations.

Rahel was very concerned about fire safety at the beginning, but it has all gone down well - no unexpected fire drills initiated!
Rahel was wearing very beautyful traditional dress for the occasion, I partucularly liked embroidary on hem. She started with roasting green coffee beans(from Ethiopia, but she wouldn't tell which part they came from - Sidamo or Haraghe or elsewhere) in a little pan, shaking the pan as she went along. Everyone got quite excited once the aroma of freshly roasted coffee started to fill the place! Then we heard the first pop.

She brewed coffee in a little black jar called jabena and poured coffee into little cups, holding jabena quite high up, which allowed to see whether coffee had right consistancy - not too thick and not too watery. Since in Ethiopia they don't use any measurments, it is cruicial to judge by the look. (if it makes sense ;-)

We all had a sip and everyone was saying that this feels like "proper coffee", meaning probably, that it was fresh, full of aroma, body and character, that we expect form a truly unique cup.

I did film the whole thing and intend to make a little video to post here, however, it might take a while to cut raw 15 min material into 3 min clip. Watch this space!