This is part of an Arts Access series called "Home is where the art is," which gives an inside look into the art that North Texans treasure in their homes.
In her Wylie home, Fekerete "Fe" Gebremdhin gracefully pours a stream of freshly brewed coffee from her clay jebena pot into small cups.
"Buna tetu. Drink coffee," she says in Amharic as she toasts her cousin, Kiddy Kebede.
Gebremdhin is performing a traditional buna Ethiopian coffee ceremony, which involves roasting fresh beans over charcoal, grinding and brewing them with water in the jebena, then serving the coffee from small handleless cups, or cini.
Much of the ceremony uses the jebena, which Gebremdhin and Kebede each shipped from Ethiopia and have placed in their homes.
The ceremony is a slow, deliberate process that's about more than just coffee. The practice centers on gathering friends and family to reflect community, respect and spirituality. Conversation and laughter typically flow as much as the coffee, which is served in three rounds: abol, tona and bereka, in which the brews progressively get lighter.
Gebremdhin is from the Ethiopian city of Harar, one of the oldest coffee-growing regions in the world, and Kebede is from Ethiopia's capital of Addis Ababa. Both Gebremdhin and Kebede said they've been participating in the Ethiopian coffee ceremony from their earliest memories.
For Gebremdhin, the ceremony is an everyday affair she performs for herself at home and multiple times a day at her Murphy store Merkato Ethiopian Café and Grocery.
Already this month, she's performed the ceremony at home for the Ethiopian New Year and gathered with friends and family for another ceremony this past weekend to celebrate the Ethiopian religious holiday of Meskel.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Can you describe your jebena?
FG: A jebena is a coffeemaker.
KK: It's a pot we use to make coffee. When we make coffee we start from the bean and then roast it, ground them, and we use the pot but it's made out of clay. So it's actually handmade.
Where did you get your jebena from?
KK: It's so hard to find here, so we usually get it from back home. It's a special clay that is found in some part of Ethiopia and they have certain ways to shape it.
Where is your jebena in your home and why did you place it there?
KK: You have to place [the jebena] in a special place because you can't mix it with other stuff. You can break it. So I personally place it where I can see. It has a cabinet that has little glasses on. It's like people come in, oh jebena, you know everybody knows jebena.
FG: I put it in the same place in the cabinet in the kitchen.
How does having your jebena make you feel?
KK: Very proud. It's different - that's what makes it unique and very cultural. Actually, when you make the coffee ceremony, it takes so much time so you have to chit-chat with your friends and so that's the main thing. Also, it gets you closer to the whole family or they'll say when they get bored "Can you do a coffee ceremony?" all the jokes and everything comes up in there.
FG: That's why the coffee ceremony is special. In Ethiopia, in Eritrea, because they make this traditional coffee the best. They make it for you. I make it every day. So I don't drink with machine coffee, so I always make it with the jebena.
The taste is totally different and strong, and you just taste the real coffee. I will ask my customers 'Do you want traditional coffee or the machine?' Everybody [says] I like the jebena, the traditional one.
How does your jebena represent home for you?
KK: It reminds you of your family that you used to spend time with, your friends. You automatically just have that memory sometimes just out of nowhere. You just get up, "Oh let me make coffee now" just to get that vibe but it's always so special.
It reminds me of back home whenever you spend time but a lot of us are here now so we visit each other whenever we're off and get together, or she'll make coffee, or somebody will make coffee. We'll just go and spend time.
FG: Ethiopian, American people, different countries also, they like it. All countries, they know Ethiopian coffee. They ask me and I will make it, and I'll make it every day.
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