Ethiopian Coffee Roasting Ceremony Hall

A wood-framed hall glows with woven textiles in ochre, blue and green geometric patterns, its beams hung with lanterns and perched birds. At the center, blackened pots simmer over open coals, sending steady smoke upward as attendants stir roasting beans. Nearby a woman pounds beans to powder in a deep wooden mortar while musicians play a bowl-shaped lyre and a hand drum. Cooks slap dough onto round griddles to bake flatbread, and porters haul heavy burlap sacks bursting with green leaves through the room. Small clay jugs and stacked cups line the shelves, and baskets of popcorn spill across patterned rugs on the tiled floor. A cat, a dog, chickens and a monkey wander among the workers, and every hearth, rug and basket holds its own small task, giving the crowded room a natural set of places to sort out one at a time.