You're sick of the standard Starbucks. Caribou Coffee just isn't strong enough, and Dunkin' Donuts . . . well, you're looking for something a little hipper. How about a new coffee experience this weekend -- one with a little shot of culture? Every Sunday at 2, Sidamo Coffee & Tea on H Street NE presents a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Yenu Desta (or her sister Yalemzwed Desta) dresses in traditional Ethiopian garb and lays out a green carpet at the front of the store. She then burns incense and roasts coffee beans over a propane burner on the floor. As she shakes the pot, the beans crackle and turn from a greenish color to a dark, rich brown. The roasting beans give off a burnt smell, not what a Washingtonian coffee drinker might be accustomed to. When the beans are done cooking, Yenu takes them around the shop for everyone to smell close-up. She then grinds the beans and adds them to boiling water in a brewing pot called a gebena. No sissy percolating here: The boiling stew makes an extra-strong brew. Everyone in the shop gets a free small cup of the fresh-roasted coffee along with a little popcorn. (The popcorn has no connection to a genuine Ethiopian coffee ceremony.) Kenfe Bellay owns Sidamo with his wife, Yalemzwed Desta. Originally from Ethiopia, the two opened the shop in 2006, hoping to teach coffee enthusiasts about their tradition. In his country, Bellay says, children are exposed to coffee at a very young age, watching their mothers roast it for community gatherings every day. "In the countryside, there is no media, no TV," Bellay says. "The community comes together to talk about the weather, marriages, cows. They get together to discuss the issues." There wasn't an empty seat in Sidamo on a recent Sunday. Sit by the door for the best view of the ceremony. Notice the large coffee roaster (about six feet high and three feet wide) at the front of the shop. Bellay uses it to roast 10 to 50 pounds of coffee a day. Investment banker Matt Andrea comes to the ceremony almost every Sunday from his home in Logan Circle. "Once you start drinking this kind of coffee, you don't want to go to Starbucks anymore," he says. "There's a freshness in the coffee that you don't get [elsewhere]." Most of Sidamo's coffee is from East Africa. The most popular, called Yirgacheffe, costs $10 a pound. The coffee ceremony felt authentic, say Alexa McVey, Danielle Tedesco and Karen Palmigiano, three former African Peace Corps volunteers. "It totally reminds me of something I would have seen over there," says Palmigiano, who volunteered in Tanzania. The ceremony takes about 30 minutes. If you're hopped up on coffee after that and looking for something more to do, drive to the National Postal Museum nearby. The museum houses the largest collection of stamps in the world. Even if you're not into stamps, the building is still worth checking out. It was Washington's central post office from 1914 to 1986. -- Moira E. McLaughlin (Friday, March 14, 2008) Where is it? Sidamo is at 417 H St. NE; the National Postal Museum is at 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE. What's it cost? The coffee ceremony and the museum are free. If you have more than three hours: Head to Union Station for a bite to eat.
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