Ethiopian Coffee Buna

Strong, unfiltered coffee brewed in a clay pot called a jebena and poured in a long, theatrical stream into tiny handleless cups. The beans are roasted fresh over coals, ground by hand, and served in three rounds amid wafting incense. It is the heart of Ethiopian hospitality, not merely a beverage.

Ethiopia is the ancestral homeland of coffee arabica, said to have been discovered in the forests of Kaffa, and the coffee ceremony grew into a daily ritual of community and welcome. Performed by the host over roasting coals and a jebena, the three rounds of abol, tona, and baraka can stretch for hours and bless the gathering.

Intense, full-bodied, and faintly smoky from the fresh charcoal roast, with bright winey acidity typical of Ethiopian beans. The unfiltered brew is thick on the palate and often taken without milk. Sipped slowly from a tiny cup, it is bracing yet aromatic.

Roasting fresh just before brewing maximizes volatile aromatics that dissipate quickly in pre-ground coffee. Repeated boiling in the jebena fully extracts the grounds, while the tall, narrow neck and pouring stream let sediment settle so the cups stay relatively clear.

Variations

Buna with salt (highland style), buna with niter kibbeh or butter, spiced with cardamom or rue (tena adam), accompanied by popcorn and kolo

On the Palate

Where Ethiopian Coffee Buna sits in the Ethiopian flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 6

150 gBeans

for incenseFrankincense

to tasteSalt

optional, 2 sprigsRue

How it's made

8 steps · 15 min

1
12 min
Wash green coffee beans and roast them in a flat pan over coals until dark and glossy.
Watch out
Keep the beans moving over the coals until they're evenly dark and glossy with a thin sheen of oil — that even roast is the whole aroma; scorched spots turn the cup harsh.
2
6 min
Waft the roasting smoke toward guests, then grind the hot beans finely by mortar and pestle.
3
3 min
Fill the clay jebena with water and bring it to a boil over the heat.
4
8 min
Add the ground coffee and let it boil up, then settle, repeating to build strength.
Watch out
Let it foam up to the neck, then pull it back to settle before boiling again — each rise-and-settle builds strength; boil it over and you lose it and stir up the grounds.
5
2 min
Burn frankincense alongside to perfume the air during brewing.
6
4 min
Pour in one continuous high stream into rows of small handleless cups, leaving grounds behind.
Watch out
Pour in one tall, unbroken stream and stop before the very bottom — the height lets it aerate and keeps the settled grounds trapped in the jebena.
7
3 min
Serve the first and strongest round, abol, often with salt or sugar to taste.
8
2 min
Re-steep the grounds for the second (tona) and third (baraka) rounds.