Arabic Coffee: Taste and Tradition (2)

  

In the previous post ( Arabic Coffee: taste and tradition (1) ) we talked about Arabic coffee from culture and history perspectives.. In this post we are going to learn how to make Arabic coffee and then we will take a quick look at  Arabic coffee etiquette.

• How To Make Arabic Coffee:

To make an Arabic Coffee, you need 4 ingredients. Three are mandatory while the last one is optional. However, as we mentioned in the previous,  Arabic coffee  differ from one place to another based on people preferences.So, there may be other ingredients.

1- Medium Roasted Coffee beans

2- Cloves.

3-Cardamom.

4-Saffron(optional)

Now that we have the ingredients, Let's get to work:

1-  grind the coffee beans, cloves, and cardamom separately ( you can keep grind  the whole amount you have , so you don't have to grind each time you want to make coffee).

2-  Fill in the Arabic Coffee pot with water to the middle (if you don't have it, simply use a medium saucepan pot). You can add more or less water based  on how much coffee you want.

3-After water boils, add 3.5 tablespoons of  ground coffee and let it boil for 10 minutes (from now on keep the stove in low heat setting).

4-Add two tablespoons  of the ground cardamon and half tablespoon of ground cloves ( you can add more ore less, it is just a personal preference) and let it boil for 2 minutes.

5- Remove the coffee pot from the stove, and let  coffee grounds to Seattle to the bottom of the pot or a minute.

6- Add a pinch of Saffron to the Empty thermos, and then pour the Coffee into the Thermos flask.

7- Enjoy the coffee with a fine type of dates, it is sweet and that is why we don't add sugar to the coffee.

Let's now see this video that  shows how to make an Arabic coffee
(Note: that he didn't add cloves or saffron!)

 

• Arabic Coffee Etiquette    

  Arabic coffee is served in a small delicate cup (finjaan). The coffee is served and received with the right hand. The cup is only filled half full or less—so it cools quickly. To be gracious, the guest should accept at least one cup. A swish or jiggle of the cup shows that you are finished. Meanwhile, all this pouring insures that the host is kept busily focused on his or her guests. To show respect , the host usually keep standing while he serves coffee to his guests.