When you go into house, do you take your shoes off? Japanese people always take our off shoes. May be this custom is related to Japan's weather, I think. In Japan, it rains a lot throughout the year. If we went into the house with our shoes on, it would become stained with mud, so old Japanese thought to take them off.
When I visited America, I felt little bit strange wearing shoes in the house. And when my friend visited my home, she seemed to feel taking her shoes off strange, too. But when you come to Japan, try to take off your shoes without fail!!
I researched Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a formal country name "The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia". The capital is Addis Ababa, which means "new flower". Ethiopians use Amharic as their official language, and English is also used as their second official language.
Well, I'm going to tell you about coffee. Ethiopia is known as a coffee-producing country. Ethiopia is said to be the birthplace of coffee and the name of the Kaffa area is said to be origin of the name coffee. Almost all coffee sold in Ethiopia is mocha coffee. The name comes from Mocha harbor, because the coffee beans which are picked in Ethiopia are exported from the harbor in the Arabian Peninsula. I heard that there is a coffee which Ethiopians never drink. It's cold coffee. We Japanese have ice coffee, but they don't have it. The coffee in the style of Ethiopia is so sweet and strong that it would give us heartburn. At home, they have "coffee ceremony", it's like Japanese tea ceremony. During the ceremony, they usually drink three cups of coffee, and it takes about one or two hours. They also have popcorn with coffee.
Lastly, I'll tell you how to make coffee Ethiopian style. First of all, wash raw coffee beans with water, and roast them in a frying pan until they become black. After roasting, crush them with a mallet and a mortar. Grind them to a size the same as regular coffee. Boil the crushed beans in a pot called "jabana". When it comes to a boil, put out the fire and tilt the pot. Wait for two minutes and after the grounds sink to the bottom of the pot, pour it into a cup carefully. Ethiopians use very small cups. Usually they take two spoonfuls of sugar in their coffee.
I'd like you to drink coffee which is the style of Ethiopia.