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26 June 2011
Last updated at
10:02
In pictures: Enjoying tea and coffee in Africa
This photo of an Ethiopian woman preparing coffee in Addis Ababa taken by Caroline Jordan is the first in a series of images of coffee and tea sent in by BBC News website readers. Ethiopia is considered by many to be the birthplace of coffee - the name comes from the region of Kaffa, where it was discovered.
The country is known for its traditional coffee ceremonies – they are an every-day activity says Neil Lensink, who sent in this shot of coffee beans in Addis Ababa. "The beans are roasted, pounded (instead of ground), brewed and served,” he says. “It is tradition to have three cups, although one or two is enough for most people."
Melissa Cavender took this photograph of a man roasting coffee beans in the main Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam, where it is easy to buy a coffee on the street.
Ms Cavender also sent in this shot of a “tea lady” by her shop near the camel market outside Sudan's capital, Khartoum, where one is never far from a cup of tea.
The Sudanese tea sellers - who can be seen brewing up, often under a tree as in these Khartoum photos from Carolyn Gedling - offer their customers many tea varieties, including one called karkade, a red hibiscus tea.
In Niger’s capital, Niamey, Sumudu Dhanapala says: "Tea is usually sold by men with little boxes [Left] that carry their paraphernalia - tea, coffee, sugar, milk, lemon, and little glasses." In neighbouring Mali, Laura McPherson snapped this pot of traditional green tea brewing in a courtyard in Sevare.
Varieties of green tea from Asia are popular in West Africa. Tea production in Africa tends to be of black tea - grown on the continent for more than 100 years, mainly in east and southern Africa. Luigi Guarino photographed these tea pickers at work in Kenya.
Greg Hazard took this shot at Kiambethu Tea Farm near Limuru in Kenya. He says this crop, for export to the UK, is ready for harvest after six months but “only the leaves above the walking stick are picked”.
Coffee can be grown in areas where there is plenty of water, permanently moist air and a high temperature. Shelly Anne Rosen took this shot of a basin of freshly picked coffee cherries at a farm in Rwanda.
Afterwards the beans are separated from the cherries, washed and dried. Ms Rosen says they are then "sorted one bean at a time" to remove the defective ones.
Like the coffee ceremonies in Ethiopia, making tea in Mali takes time and a good brew depends on the preparation, as Amanda Larsen's photos show. Once the pot with the leaves and water has boiled, a lot of sugar is added and then poured into a cup and back into the pot – more than a dozen times to aerate the brew.
It requires skill to produce the small glass of frothy tea. There is a West African saying that the first tea brew is for “real men”, the second for women and the third for children, as the leaves are reused and get weaker each time. For future African galleries, send in your shots on the theme of old and new and the colour blue.
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