Coffee drinking

One of Eritrea's cultures, customs, and etiquette, regardless of their ethnicity, is coffee. Coffee (Ge'ez ቡን būn) is offered when visiting friends, during festivities, or as a daily staple of life. If coffee is politely declined, then most likely tea ("shy" ሻሂ shahee) will be served. The coffee is brewed by first roasting the green coffee beans over hot coals in a brazier. Once the beans are roasted, each participant is given an opportunity to sample the aromatic smoke by wafting it towards them. The coffee roasting smoke is sometimes used to fill the rooms with a pleasant scent. This is followed by the grinding of the beans, traditionally in a wooden mortar and pestle.

The coffee grounds are then boiled in a special vessel known as a jebena. A jebena is typically made of clay, with a spherical base, a neck with a pouring spout, and a handle where the neck connects to the base. When the coffee boils up through the neck, it is poured into and out of another container to cool it before being poured back into the jebena until the process is repeated. To pour the coffee from the jebena, a filter made of horsehair or another material is placed in the jebena's spout to prevent the grounds from escaping.

The host pours coffee for everyone by moving the tilted jebena over a tray filled with small, handleless cups (finjal) without stopping until each cup is full. Some coffee will undoubtedly spill into the cup, but this is done to keep the coffee grounds from contaminating the brew. Each time, one extra cup is poured. The coffee grounds are brewed four times: the first round is called awel, the second kale'i, the third bereka ('to be blessed,' and the fourth "dereja." The "dereja" is not always poured, but it is usually poured when the elderly are present. The burning of traditional incense, such as frankincense or gum arabic, may also be part of the coffee ceremony.