Drinking coffee

Rituals usually exist as a tool to change consciousness, such as wine or coffee. People feel that the presence of God can be felt in these rituals, because through them, people can get a moment away from their daily life and have a clearer grasp of the reality they are in. This is why "ceremony" is not only a gesture of friendship and comfort, but also a way to help people briefly escape from the reality and help people to achieve simple reunion. These simple rituals maintain the relationship between people with a simple existence.

In many cultures, the ritual of drinking tea or coffee is often given a semi-religious meaning. The most famous example is the Japanese tea ceremony. During the tea ceremony, the green tea powder is placed in a traditional bowl, then stirred into a thick drink, and then ceremonially delivered in turn. The whole process is done quietly. The tea ceremony is seen as a time for participants to meditate together, during which people think about eternal existence together. There is no doubt that the caffeine in tea contributes to such mental activities.

However, the original meaning of those ceremonies has been gradually ignored, and people hold ceremonies more to show traditional dishes, old martini kettles, or ingenious new espresso machines. Whether alone or shared with others, the eternity of this moment lies in carefully appreciating the interesting instruments.

Coffee that exists as a sacred religious scripture

Coffee has existed for a long time as a representative of some spiritual meaning. In his book Coffee:Botany,Cultivation,and Utilization, Frederick Wellman describes the "blood-brother" ritual in Africa, in which two tribes who need to take an oath mix the blood with two coffee beans in the coffee fruit and swallow it together.

Coffee in the modern sense, which exists as a hot, black drink, was first used as a medicine and then as a refreshing agent for prayer and meditation by Arab monks, just as Japanese Zen monks refreshed themselves by drinking green tea. Pilgrims to Mecca in Mecca spread coffee throughout the Muslim world. The identity of coffee began to become secular, but the religious meaning in coffee is still there. Some Christians initially defined coffee as a "black and bitter thing of Satan", in sharp contrast to the "fine wine of Christ", but in the 16th century, Pope Clement Ⅷ tasted coffee and officially granted it official status.

For some people living in Africa and parts of the Middle East, coffee still has religious connotations and its rituals are implicit and beautiful. Ethiopians and Eritreans also bring their coffee rituals when they emigrate to the United States. The first time I experienced a formal coffee ceremony was in the apartment of an Eritrean friend in downtown Oakland, California. His wife carefully baked coffee beans in a shallow pan, and then passed the freshly roasted and steaming coffee beans in turn, so that everyone could enjoy the sweet black smoke of the coffee beans. After everyone saw it one by one, the friend's wife put the coffee beans on the straw mat to cool. Then use an electric grinder to grind the coffee beans (in their hometown they used to use a huge grinding and pestle to grind the coffee beans, the friend's wife explained that she was worried that the traditional way would disturb the neighbors downstairs), brewed the coffee in a traditional clay pot and drank it in a small cup. During the whole preparation time, people were chatting casually, the aroma of baking and a whole set of rituals gave everyone a wonderful morning.

Since then, I have attended many coffee ceremonies like this with my African friends, sometimes in the living room and sometimes in the hotel. The most impressive one is in a family in rural Ethiopia, where coffee is not only a social way, but also a livelihood of the villagers. Occasionally, due to the lack of time, such rituals are streamlined and some steps may be omitted, but I can always feel the unaffected, real awe of coffee in these ceremonies. This awe comes from the joy of coffee and the encouragement to revel in it.

If, at the beginning of this century, American scholars prefer to study African and Arab philosophy and art than Japan, then coffee can compete with tea in terms of influence. Although a little less formal, but every detail is moving and beautiful.