Lucy brews up tradition on Amherst Street

By Michael Mazzuto and Mike Provenzano

BengalNews Reporters

           Coffee. It’s an American staple. Most people cannot get through the morning without it, and it’s usually taken to go on the way out the door. Lucy Ethiopian Restaurant celebrates coffee with a ceremony that coincides with the origins of when the bean was discovered in the province of Keffa, Ethiopia.

            Patrons get to observe the way coffee is prepared, brewed and served according to Ethiopian tradition. The husband and wife team of Abba Biya and Naima Tesfu are co-owners of the restaurant and decided the coffee ceremony would be an automatic when the business opened on the corner of Amherst and Grant streets last March.

            “The ceremony is part of the culture and tradition,” said Biya. “It’s part of getting together and sharing.”

            The coffee ceremony has become synonymous with Lucy Ethiopian, along with the authentic cuisine.

            “We have a lot of people coming for coffee...some come for just the coffee,” said Tesfu.

Naima Tesfu demonstrates the traditional coffee ceremony: 

             
            The ceremony starts with the female hostess, in this case Tesfu.  She wears a white cotton dress specifically for the ceremony. The green Ethiopian beans are then washed, roasted and ground by Tesfu.

            The beans are roasted on a cast iron skillet and Tesfu walks it around the dining room allowing patrons to smell the aroma. She then grinds the beans back in the kitchen. It’s the only step that deviates from custom. Lucy Ethiopian uses a modern electric grinder as opposed to the traditional mukecha, a wooden bowl and stick that is used to crush the beans.

            The fine ground is then added to a jebena, a clay pot with a long neck, and is brought to a boil.

            The knee-high serving table behind the counter is where Tesfu carefully pours the final product into small porcelain cups to be served. The entire process is part of what Tesfu calls, “the fifths.”  The ceremony involves the five senses and ends when the final product is tasted. Natives usually drink it black.

            The coffee is never served alone. It’s accompanied by homemade bread, called de fo dabo, or sweet popcorn. Something always to has to be served with the coffee, according to Tesfu.

            The polar opposite of American coffee habits, Ethiopians celebrate coffee three times a day, morning, afternoon and after dinner, and each ceremony starts with a prayer. It symbolizes friendship and respect. Coffee serves as an extension of the community, according to Biya.

            The Saturday ceremonies from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. have added to the uniqueness of what Amherst Street has to offer, like art galleries, a pastry shop, a specialty delicatessen and numerous others eateries.

            Dr. Gary Welborn, Sociology professor at Buffalo State and long time West Side advocate sees a pattern of new business and renovations in the neighborhood.

            “They are really beginning to attract a good group of people coming down there.  So you see busy evening weekends.  To put it into a larger context, I think Amherst Street is a little ahead of Grant Street,” said Welborn “But it’s part of a whole thing where the city sort of bottomed out about the mid- to late-80s and then began a slow climb back up and now a lot of the fruits of the work over those years is beginning to take hold and people are seeing the rejuvenation.”