High on the hills of Ethiopia Where the morning meets the sky There grew a little red fruit Under an African light
They called it ቡና — Buna A word carried through the land A little cup of warmth and stories Passing gently hand to hand
And somewhere beyond the mountains The word began to travel too Across the old Arabian roads Where qahwa filled the room
From Buna to qahwa From qahwa to coffee A thousand miles, a thousand names And still the same old story
From a little red cherry To a cup beside the sea The world keeps changing coffee’s name But coffee keeps its memory
The Europeans gave it coffee The French would call it café And ships carried beans through oceans To wake another day
Arabica, Robusta Bourbon and Caturra too Mundo Novo, Geisha, S795 Different dreams in every brew
First it’s green upon the branches Then the little cherries glow Red beneath the morning sunlight Waiting for the hands below
They call the fruit a coffee cherry Though it isn’t quite a cherry tree And inside those little crimson fruits Are seeds that travel far and free
From Buna to qahwa From qahwa to coffee A thousand miles, a thousand names And still the same old story
From a little green beginning To a cup beside the sea The world keeps changing coffee’s name But coffee keeps its memory
Dry process in the mountain air Washed clean with water, bright and clear Honey resting somewhere in between Each one leaves a different dream
A little sweetness, a little fruit A little earth, a little rain Different hands and different roads Bring different flavors to the same
So when you take your morning coffee And watch the sunlight cross the floor Think of all the hands that carried it And all the places it passed before
From African red earth To an Arabian evening Across the seas to European streets And now it’s here with me
From Buna to qahwa From qahwa to coffee A thousand miles, a thousand names And still the same old story
Arabica, Robusta Bourbon, Geisha, Caturra Every bean remembers something Every cup becomes a journey
So take your time Let the morning stay Let the coffee cool a little Before you walk away
ቡና… Buna… qahwa… coffee…
Different names Same little journey Inside a cup.