Hayat Ali serves Ramon Townsend and his family coffee during the Buna ceremony at Salam Cafe. (Photo: Maleka Fruean)

Smoke from the burning frankincense filled the space at Salam Cafe last Saturday, March 1. The incense mixed with the rich smell of freshly roasted coffee in a pan. Families with young children, older neighbors, and younger adults gathered around the roasting coffee, the jebena, and the coffee cups. The Buna ceremony had started. 

Buna means coffee in Amharic, one of the main languages of Ethiopia, and the Buna ceremony is a cultural tradition and ritual that is a cornerstone of connection and community. 

Hayat Ali, owner and operator of Salam Cafe in Germantown (and Alif Brew and Doro Bet in West Philadelphia), hosts the ceremony every first Saturday of the month at the cafe starting at noon. The ceremony usually runs for a few hours. 

Whereas buying and consuming coffee in the U.S. tends to be fast, the Buna ceremony is intentionally slow. It is meant to build community and bring people together. 

Ali remembers starting the Buna ceremonies at her first cafe, Alif Brew. It was the fall of 2020, and COVID-19 had isolated everyone. Because of the virus, people looked at each other almost like enemies. 

She knew starting a coffee shop was already difficult, and she wanted to host Buna ceremonies to bring people closer together, especially the area’s students, who she could tell were starting to feel the effects of isolation. 

She began hosting the Buna ceremonies weekly, though the space was not as wide open as Salam. People had to crowd together and sit on the floor on pillows. But in that intimate setting they made it work. Students from that time returned after graduating with gifts of homemade cups and messages of gratitude for her and the community.

In 2021, she opened Salam in Germantown. Now, she hosts Buna monthly on the first Saturdays in Germantown and the first Sundays in West Philly. 

Ali says that in Ethiopia, families started training children at a very young age on how to do all the different work in a household, including the Buna ceremony. As a young person, she remembers hating the coffee-making process because she had to sit very still and follow certain etiquette, such as sitting with her legs together, wearing modest clothing, keeping her hair covered, and not moving around during the ceremony.

Ali says she loved to play and run around, so she never liked making coffee. However, as she grew older, she appreciated and loved how Buna brought the family together over coffee and snacks. 

“Our tradition is (using) coffee to gather people to talk about problems, to solve the problems, to create the problems at the same time,” Ali laughed. 

She continued, “And we do the coffee for weddings, we do coffee for somebody dying. And we do coffee for graduation, for our kids, for anything, any occasion, we have to have a coffee ceremony.”

Ali said that even when her daughter graduated from high school two years ago, she requested a Buna ceremony. Many of her friends came over, none from Ethiopia, and they shared cake, coffee, and stories. It was a memory that Ali loved sharing with her daughter and her American friends. 

The ceremony begins with roasting fresh green coffee beans in a pan. Then, you grind the beans. In Ethiopia, you would grind them with a mortar and pestle, which Ali says tastes better. Here, she uses a small electric grinder. 

Then the brewing process begins with a traditional jebena, a clay pot that brews and filters out the coffee grounds as you continually add hot water and let the grounds settle. Coffee is served in small espresso cups, with your choice to add a little cream. There is always a prayer said before you serve. 

The coffee is strong. One small cup is really all you need, says Ali. 

Snacks are always served with coffee: pieces of injera spiced with Berbere seasoning or bread with honey on platters set on a mesob. 

The traditional table at Salam, a mesob, woven together like a basket, and shaped to fit trays of food inside for all to share, was made by Ali’s grandmother (who was almost 86 years old when she made it) as one of her wedding gifts.

Ramon Townsend brought his family, including his grandson, to the Buna ceremony. They had visited the cafe earlier in the week and enjoyed a great meal, so they decided to return on the weekend to see the ceremony. Townsend is a traditional bookbinder who is always curious about different cultural traditions and crafts. 

“And as an African American, I’m always interested in things that are related to Mother Africa as well. So this is kind of in my wheelhouse,” said Townsend.

Townsend and his family had already attended the Japanese tea ceremony in Fairmount Park, but had never been to a Buna ceremony. They love Ethiopian food, and Townsend loved learning from Ali about the languages spoken in Ethiopia and all the tools she used to make the coffee.

As the afternoon progressed, more and more tables filled, with younger and older people alike, watching Ali talk about coffee and our cups for everyone. She said it was so busy last month, she brought out three rounds of coffee, and there were still more people. 

For Ali, people coming together for coffee makes sense. The cafe’s ceremony is just a bigger gathering. In her personal circles, it almost feels like therapy for the women. 

“We talk. They talk about everyday (problems), marriage, whatever. They want to talk (about) the community and solve (the) problems,” says Ali.

There is no need to reserve a spot for the Buna ceremony. Just meet Hayat and your neighbors at 5532 Greene Street sometime after noon on the first Saturday of the month. Share some coffee, share some snacks, talk about problems, and be in community. 

The eatery is open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.