Eritrea · Food / Tobacco / Drink Processing
Boon (coffee, Tigrinya); jebena (the single-opening clay coffee pot); finjal (also fijal, the small handleless serving cup); menkeshkesh (the long-handled coffee roasting pan); meshrefet (a small, colorful woven mat); sife (a woven circular stand for the jebena); the four sequential rounds are named awel, kale'i (also kala'i, kal'ayti), bereka, and dereja
The roasting, grinding, and multi-round brewing of coffee by Eritrean women in a structured hospitality ceremony sharing deep historical roots with, but technically and terminologically distinct from, the neighboring Ethiopian coffee ceremony (see CRAFT-2561). The Eritrean jebena is specifically distinguished by a single opening at the top, used for both filling with water and ground coffee and for pouring the finished brew -- unlike the Ethiopian jebena, which has a separate spout -- a design that specifically demands considerable pouring skill from the host, since coffee must be poured without allowing grounds to escape; some jebenas incorporate a rudimentary internal filter, traditionally made of horsehair or plant fiber. Beans are roasted in a menkeshkesh, a small, shallow, handmade, long-handled pan distinctly different from the flatter, griddle-like roasting pan used in Ethiopia. The ceremony's rounds carry their own specifically Eritrean naming convention -- awel (first, strongest brew), kale'i (second, milder), bereka ('to be blessed,' third), and dereja (a fourth round, customarily poured only when elders are present, allowing them to share memories and experience with younger participants) -- distinct from the Ethiopian terms abol, tona, and baraka. When pouring, the host tilts the jebena and moves it continuously over a tray of cups without stopping until each is full, deliberately allowing some coffee to miss the cup as a specific technique to prevent grounds from contaminating the brew; one extra cup is poured with each round. The full ceremony, accompanied by burning frankincense or gum arabic incense, popcorn, and the leavened bread himbasha, typically lasts two to three hours and can extend to as many as seven rounds when conversation continues to flow -- guests are traditionally expected to drink at least three cups before leaving, departing early being considered impolite.
Risk level: Thriving · Not independently inscribed
The tanning and working of animal hide into an extensive range of functional and ceremonial leather objects by artisans of the Nara people of Eritrea's Gash Barka region, using asso, a plant-bark-derived tanning agent, to cure and preserve…
The hand-building and firing of unglazed clay pottery by women potters at traditional pottery-production centers across Eritrea, using two distinct documented techniques: an older open-firing method and a later-developed closed-firing…
The hand-weaving of white cotton into the zuria, a long ceremonial dress, followed by mekab, a counted-thread cross-stitch embroidery technique applied to its borders in precise geometric grids, practiced by Tigrinya weavers and…
The metallic-thread embroidery, seed-pearl and silver-adornment application, and construction of the burqa, a heavy, opaque facial veil worn by Rashaida women of Eritrea's Northern Red Sea and Gash Barka regions, alongside the vibrant,…
The plaiting (kunti) of young palm tree leaves, reeds, grass, and sorghum stalks into an exceptionally diverse range of functional and decorative household objects by women of the Nara people, a small (approximately 1.5% of national…
The Turkish coffee preparation tradition — the brewing of finely ground coffee in a cezve (small copper or brass pot) over heat to produce the characteristic unfiltered Turkish coffee with its specific dense foam (köpük or kaymak) that is…
The preparation of ceremonial cacao by the Bribri, Costa Rica's largest Indigenous group and one of the few in Central America never fully subjugated by Spanish colonization, in which the right to grow, harvest, and prepare cacao is…
The preparation of bazin, Libya's national dish, by boiling barley flour and salt in water and beating the resulting dough vigorously with a specialized wooden stick (magraf) until it forms a smooth, firm, solid dome.
The hand-production of olive oil soap within Khan Al-Saboun, Tripoli's historic Soap Khan, an imposing rectangular caravanserai structure built at the beginning of the seventeenth century by Yusuf Al-Saifi, pasha of Tripoli, its…
Production of incense sticks on Awaji Island, Hyogo, which makes about 70% of Japan’s incense.
The production of Aleppo ghar soap, a natural olive-and-laurel-oil soap crafted in the Syrian city of Aleppo using traditional knowledge and skills documented as continuously practiced for approximately 3,000 years, formally inscribed by…