Promoting tradition as well as beans, Ethiopian coffee shops find fans far from home

abcnews.go.com:

When Yared Markos moved to London a quarter century ago, he didn't see any Ethiopian coffee shops

LONDON — Growing up in Ethiopia, Yared Markos would often start his days the same way: with coffee. Family members, neighbors and passersby would be drawn in by the strong aroma of fresh beans roasting in a pot, often made by his mother or another family member.

Regardless of who they were, all were welcome.

And this tradition wasn’t limited to the morning. Coffee, or buna in Amharic, is typically drunk at the end of each meal. Drinking coffee was a communal experience for Markos, so when he first immigrated to London from Ethiopia 23 years ago, the culture shock hit hard.

“They sell our coffee in Starbucks and other places but they don’t follow our traditions,” said Markos, who has owned Kaffa Coffee since 2004. The shop, now in the East London neighborhood of Dalton, hosts coffee ceremonies every weekend in the summer, as well as during cultural events year round, and special orders.

“Tourists will walk by and smell the coffee and come in asking questions,” Markos said. “It makes people want to learn more about the culture.”

Markos said that when he moved to London, in 2000, he didn’t see any Ethiopian coffee shops; now, there are more than a dozen all over a city where tea, its counterpart, has been a staple for centuries. Ethiopian coffee has made similar inroads in cities around the world.

Among some of the most popular Ethiopian-origin coffee types are the floral Yirgacheffe, fruity Limu and nutty Kochere.

Markos named Kaffa after the southwestern region in Ethiopia where coffee beans are believed to have been discovered around AD 800. Traditional accounts say an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi noticed his goats