VIDEO: Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

There is so much to talk about in the world of coffee...In my social media role, I get to learn about all of the coffee and tea you can find at Coffeewiz, and then share a conversation with you about it. I was told that if I had one for every day of the year, I still wouldn't be able to try them all!

Before I choose my daily single serve cup of coffee, or daily whole loose leaf tea brew, I wonder where it came from. I know it didn't grow on a single serve tree!

I'm fascinated with cultures and ceremonies that countries have for their specific brew. Understanding them helps me appreciate the experience so much more, and I want to share just a little bit of that with you.

Just the other day as I was brewing a Caribou Sumatra Coffee K-Cups in my Keurig brewer, I asked my husband, "Where is Sumatra?" wanting to start a conversation. He said "I took it to work." What he was thinking of was the Tassimo Starbucks Africa Kitamu T-Discs, the package that he had taken for his office coffee pool. I was surprised to learn that Sumatra and Africa were all the same to him! He just knew they referred to a coffee and came in a box, ready to brew. And as I thought about it, I wasn’t quite sure I could point out Sumatra on a map…

So with that, I thought I'd share with you cultures from around the world, both coffee and tea - the STORY behind your favorite brew.

I was introduced to the Ethiopian coffee ceremony experience about 7 years ago, and fell in love with the food, too. It's definitely a culture of community, as you'll see in this video. Beans are ground by hand, and family and friends wait patiently. It is an HONOR to be invited! I am entranced everytime the server brings around a pan of freshly roasted beans for us to just smell. Imagine, getting the chance to put in an extra step and actually take time to smell the coffee – just as if they were like roses.

Did you see the goat at the opening of the video? I always loved the story of coffee was discovered in Ethiopia, when the goats would get their caffeine fix on, and the herder realized there was magic in them there coffee beans!

I thought Andrew Zimmern did a good representation of the exotic Ethiopian coffee ceremony. I know firsthand that it's very different than what you would experience with the touch of a button, and brew of a single serve coffee.

I hope that taking a peek into cultures around the world will make your single serve coffee and tea a much richer experience.

Do YOU have a story you’d like to share about coffee and/or tea culture? Please share your comments on this blog, or write me at Vickie@coffeewiz.com.