It’s there, it’s massive, and it’s the city’s surreal monument to caffeine consumption. The colossal white coffee pot in Al Ittihad Square may very well have jumped out of Alice in Wonderland, what with it being gigantic and all. Abu Dhabi’s iconic statue may fool tourists into imagining residents languidly sprawled on cushions in Arabian tents, smoking shisha and pouring long streams of coffee from ornate copper jugs. But in reality – while we certainly do guzzle plenty of coffee – it tends to be the likes of Starbucks and Costa Coffee that pump out the fuel; venues with real Arabic coffee are, unfortunately, far less common.
One notable exception is Al Arish, a fantastically kitsch Emirati restaurant that takes serving proper Arabic very seriously indeed: ‘It’s a way to welcome the guests and show that you care about them,’ says restaurant manager Ahmed Moheed. ‘When you serve the coffee guests will feel relaxed and happy because they are being well looked after; it’s a matter of respect.’
The desert-dwelling Bedouins cooked coffee in copper pots, on beds of coal in the evening sand, and while nowadays kitchens and cookers have replaced deserts and charcoal, the system hasn’t really changed. Boiling – rather than filtering or percolating the ground beans – is one of the reasons Arabic coffee has such as distinctive taste, that and the added saffron and cardamom.
Clearly a man who relishes the coffee ritual, Mr Moheed says there is a specific etiquette to serving the drink correctly. ‘Our waiters approach each guest with a golden flask, called a ‘fallah’ and usually a tray of dates. The Arabic cup (finjaan) is always held in the right hand and the flask in the left.’
Tradition dictates that the finjaan – approximately the size of an espresso cup – should only be filled about a quarter full. There are multiple reasons for this, explains Mr Moheed: ‘We never put sugar in Arabic coffee but the taste is very bitter, so we don’t like to drink a lot. Also, we don’t want to give the guest too much – it’s a welcoming gesture so they shouldn’t have to wait around for 10 or 15 minutes waiting for the coffee to cool down before they can drink it. If the cup is only a quarter full, the coffee cools quickly and the guest can drink it in a few minutes.’
The waiter stands with you until you’ve finished the first cup, and then if you want a refill, the done thing is to shake the finjaan a few times before handing it back and you’ll be topped up. If you’re finished, you can just hand the cup straight back to the server. ‘We also serve it at the end of the meal in the same style, because it keeps everyone feeling good.’
Suddenly the prospect of hanging around a sticky counter while someone bellows: ‘One cappuccino, hazelnut syrup, low fat, TO GO!’ across the shop before slapping it down in a cardboard cup doesn’t seem quite so appealing, does it?
DIY brewing
Follow these instructions to make your own Arabic coffee at home
Ingredients
Three eight ounce glasses of water
¾ cup lightly roasted and ground coffee
¼ cup coarsely ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon saffron (optional)
Recipe
Add the ground coffee beans to boiling water and heat until it starts bubbling. Boil for ten-fifteen minutes, then turn off the heat and stir in the cardamom. Add the saffron if required and then serve hot.
