Unique Ethiopian Cooking Class and Coffee Ceremony with a Local in Addis Ababa

What an amazing way to spend our Thanksgiving! Our family of 6 with adult children had the most lovely evening. Daniel and his wife Tigest hosted us in their home... Started with a visit to the local market on the way-where they purchase their products... Tigest had an excellent demo for a traditional Ethiopian base used with many dishes and then we all participated in the injera making! The other dishes were prepared in advance and perfectly timed... Followed by a sit down dinner and coffee ceremony. Thank you for this memory!

If you’re traveling to Addis Ababa, visiting Daniel’s home is a must! A friend of mine in New Zealand found Daniel Ademe’s contact details for me and I booked in for me and a friend to go and learn how Shiro and Injera is made. A couple of other friends found out we’re to go on a short tour to the outskirts of the city and on very short notice, as in 30 minutes, Daniel agreed for me to bring 2 extra guests along. Three of us are blind and Daniel and his wife made us feel very welcome. The aroma of the herbs and other ingredients was to die for! We were running out of time at the end but nothing phased Daniel and his driver. They got us back to the Elilly International Hotel in time for our conference to start even though the traffic was something else. We also experienced a coffee ceremony at his home and they described step-by-step about grounding the beans, roasting it, having incense burning in the background, etc. “When you drink a cup of coffee, the ideas march in like an army” – Balzac. Restaurants in Addis Ababa are great re serving traditional Ethiopian food, but nothing beats being at a real person’s home while they entertain you. We got told to all eat from this one big basket, for the belief is that if you all eat from the same dish you won’t fight, something we can all learn from.. Note from Jocelyn: This review was written by Martine who visited Daniel's home for this meal and coffee making in October 2019. Martine is blind so I uploaded this review for her. I am the New Zealand friend that Martine mentioned who found this travel experience for her on Trip Advisor. Daniel was really helpful to talk to when planning this experience and I felt reassured by him and his wife that Martine would have a great time and be well looked after. All true. Thank you Daniel and family.

The organisation and communication of this cooking class was not the best. Pick-up/drop-off place on the schedule was Japan Market, but ended up being Asko Bus Station which is in the north west end of the city and took us an hour to get there. Also, they couldn't bring us back there from their home after the cooking class so we had to take a taxi back to the Bus Station. The food was absolutely the best we've had on our whole trip, but chopping half of an onion and tomato is not what I consider a cooking class. Making Injera and grinding coffee by hand was a nice experience though. We haven't gotten the recipes yet - almost 3 weeks later. Overall we enjoyed it but it's not worth paying that much!