Shaking coffee beans in a well-worn pan, Tirhas Berhe softly floated from foot to foot in front of a vintage stove. She was making a second round of coffee for a group of women—perhaps 15 of us—lounging on blankets draped across a tiered lawn. The ashen green jumping beans popped and cracked against the hot pan. She continued to smile, just as she had when we walked in the door a couple of hours before, when she began plating a dinner for a table full of women. The official launch of her catering company had been successful, evidenced by empty plates and a backyard full of happily chatting guests.
When we first met Tirhas, it was during an early summer breakfast meeting. She brought food, and of course her coffee beans, and we discussed her plans to expand her cooking into a full fledged catering company rooted in recipes from home. From Ethiopia. An official kick off dinner seemed like a good idea. A couple of months later, we were in the backyard of photographer Magdalena Wosinska with women from various industries— journalists, corporate business owners, chefs, writers and more. Tirhas calmly moved about the kitchen, spooning saucy doro wat onto plates, along with spiced fasolina, silky kik alicha, rolls of spongey injera and chunks of a hard-shelled, steamed bread called ambasha. Over the course of dinner, Tirhas replenished our plates with more injera to scoop up our food, encouraging us to connect in the way people do when they eat in a tactile way. Glasses topped off with homemade honey wine served as a small dessert before the highlight of the night.
The Ethiopian coffee ceremony is an important one for the culture, and specifically for women. It is the time when family, friends and neighbors gather to share, counsel, gossip and confess for hours, refreshing their cups as time passes. Tirhas imports her coffee directly from her home country. The night of her launch dinner, she roasted the beans over a gas flame, watching them change color fromthe heat and emit their rich aroma and tiny wisps of smoke. Once ground, the coffee is brewed in a jedena, the traditional long-necked pot that prevents the fine grounds from ever reaching the lip of your cup. Finally, the coffee is poured from a high stream above each cup, an effortless moment of gracious showmanship for awestruck onlookers like ourselves. The night concluded over coffee and handfuls of popcorn and crunchy grains to accompany second and third cups of coffee. All the while, Tirhas continued to smile and entertain, this time with a sense of content, calm and relief that every cook feels when they can relax and enjoy the final leg of their event.
The name of her catering company is Adey Gojo. The words are from her native language, and they mean mother’s home. What name could be better than one that not only pinpoints her specific experience and memories, but also encourages others to remember their own mother’s home, and of course, food. The words adey gojo also bring to the surface ideas of the motherland and birthplace—a place where one finds their roots. If that is a feeling you carry with you and share with others, home will never seem too far away.
Head to Adey Gojo Catering for more information and also to contact the company for catering and coffee ceremony opportunities.
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