'Ethiopia is coffee': Abol Cafe transports you to another world through scent and ceremony

Stepping through the doors of the Abol Cafe in Louisville's Crescent Hill neighborhood is like stepping into a piece of Ethiopia.

A hostess adorned in a kemi dress — a traditional garment from the East African nation — washes, grinds and roasts coffee beans with a religious-like devotion as jazz music filtered through the air. When she's satisfied, the coffee is poured from a jebena pot into teacups embellished with Ethiopian tilet patterns.

This is just the start of the jebena buna, a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony at the heart of what Abol Cafe provides and makes it more than just an everyday corner coffee spot.

Surrounded by traditional instruments including the lute-like kirar, the hostess — the "star of the show," as owner Tar Molla calls her — takes care in preparing the coffee before serving it to guests, encouraging them to breathe in the fragrance.

“The smell will give you the vibe,” Molla said.

In Ethiopia, coffee isn't the fast, casual concept seen here in the United States — it's a ceremony meant to bring people together.

"A lot of people, they consider coffee is just, like, 'grab-it-and-go,' but coffee's more than that," he said. "That kind of thing people will learn here."

Abol Cafe found its name in the Amharic word abol, meaning "first brewed batch," and its featured coffee ceremony is an integral part of Ethiopian culture that Molla delights in.

But there's more than just coffee to draw in the senses in the shop. Incense fills the air, evoking youthful memories and sentiments. Molla recounted the story of Kaldi the shepherd who first discovered coffee in Ethiopia — a historic tale that embeds itself in the cloth of Ethiopian history like the spirited colors in a woven fabric.

Artwork depicting the jebena buna adorns the cafe’s walls. A scroll showcases historic Ethiopian landmarks like the fortress-city Fasil Ghebbi, the Obelisk of Aksum, and Lalibela, a town known for its rock-hewn churches that is significant to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest in the world.

If they close their eyes, an outsider may imagine themselves to be in Ethiopia, as the sounds of conversations in Amharic, one of the country’s languages, echo through the perfumed air.

"Ethiopia has a lot of cultures, and I'm proud of all of them," he said. "All [Ethiopian cultures] celebrate coffee, which make them one with coffee."

"Ethiopia is coffee," Molla said.

Molla said part of his inspiration for opening Abol here in Louisville was to inform all those around that coffee, the fruit so integrated into the fabric of American culture, originated in Ethiopia, a country located in the Horn of Africa.

"Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, the origin of coffee," he said. "Kentucky is the heart of food and drinks, bourbon and chicken, so what if we bring coffee? It is a good addition, especially with good food and good drink."

Molla’s home is Louisville, his second home aside from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital where he was born and raised. However, he has much appreciation for the country he immigrated to.

“America is a country of the world. Nowhere can you get this opportunity,” he said.

'It's about sharing our culture'

He said the concept behind the coffee shop, which he opened alongside his cousin, Adanech Sirbabo, during the pandemic in 2020, is to share the originality of coffee.

"It's about sharing our culture and giving back to America," he said. "America is a country where you see a lot of opportunity for all people around the world."

Filled with food and community, coffee is seen as something that deepens bonds in Ethiopia, Molla said.

"Coffee is all about talking, relationships, collaboration, family building, relaxing and sometimes healing and wellness," he said. "You feel good when you have a good coffee. So we just want to share that culture to the people in our community and all over the United States."

Molla emphasized the passionate, devoted nature of coffee within Ethiopia compared to "fast" American coffee culture.

In Ethiopian culture, the usual benefits people speak on like health effects and a minor energy boost take a back seat to intimate discussions about daily life and business.

"The coffee ceremony participation is more about family time and talking, discussing all types of things," Molla said. "If you go to Ethiopia, the first thing they invite you (to) is coffee."

Molla said he and his cousin are proud of coffee's history and role in their culture and wish to share it with others.

Coffee is not solely caffeine, he added.

"Explore it, know about the story and enjoy it," he said. "It is a good addition, it is a fruit, and if you do it wisely, it has a lot of benefits. I just want to share and teach people about it."

How to Go

What: Abol Cafe, an Ethiopian coffee shop

Where: 102 1/2 Cannons Lane, Louisville

When: Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Reach features reporter Leah Hunter via email at lhunter@gannett.com or on Twitter @theleahhunter.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Abol Cafe brings Ethiopian coffee experiences to Louisville