Having your host fill a glass all the way to the brim is something you wouldn't expect when asking for a drink, be it cold or a hot - but it's a common practice here. Some volunteers have termed the topping off of a drink as the 'mulu', which translates to 'full' in Amharic. I've been here long enough to expect the mulu service whenever recieving tea or coffee so actually feel a bit slighted if I don't see the drink on the cusp of brim breaching.
There is a technique to handling a steaming hot drink without spilling it and potentially burning one's self, beyond waiting for it to cool. If it's got a handle, you use it. Easy enough. But if it don't - like if it's hot tea served out of a shot glass - grip it by its rim with the finger tips, as my friend in the above photo demonstrates, and carefully draw it in close to sip. The only remaining question is obvious: Do you have what it takes to master the mulu?
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