Oromo Coffee Sorting | Low Table

Seven feet of wood and one job, according to its name: sorting coffee.

This coffee sorting and low table is Oromo, from Ethiopia, dating to the 19th century and made of wood. Ethiopia is widely regarded as the birthplace of coffee, and the name suggests household work: picking through beans by hand to remove bad ones before roasting. The form is a long, shallow tray with low raised sides and squared ends, seen here from above. The top is ridged and streaked with pale, dry-looking grain, darkening toward both ends. Its outline bows slightly along the length. Eighty-six inches long, 19 deep, 13 high.

These days the beans arrive sorted. The table has not been told.