The Ethiopian coffee ceremony

Sketch, pen and wash, approx 7" x 5"; please email me if you are interested in purchasing this.

This is the final Ethiopia sketch for the time being. The Ethiopian coffee ceremony is very important to Ethiopians from a cultural point of view. It is the time of the day when the whole family or village group will get together to talk over their issues, concerns, share their good fortunes or troubles. The ceremony begins by the grinding of coffee beans and the burning of incense. The coffee is made in a special kind of coffee pot (I have done a still life of it in an earlier posting). When the coffee is brewed it is poured into the small cups from a height of about 12 inches and the stream of coffee is maintained across all the cups until they are all filled. This is to prevent the grounds contaminating the liquid too much. It is an art which has to be learned.