Arabian Peninsula
Qahwa, Arabic coffee, is very lightly roasted coffee boiled with cardamom in a dallah and served unsweetened in small cups with dates. How to make and serve it.
Qahwa — Arabic coffee, sometimes called Gahwa or Kahwa — is very different from anything else in this encyclopedia, starting with the roast.
Extremely light, sometimes barely browned. Beans are often roasted at home to a pale blond color that would be considered underdeveloped anywhere else.
The result is pale, almost golden in the cup, and tastes herbal and grassy rather than of chocolate or caramel.
Cardamom, always, and generously — often a third as much cardamom as coffee. Sometimes saffron, cloves or cinnamon.
Coarsely ground light-roast coffee is boiled in a dallah — a long-spouted brass or steel pot — with cardamom, for ten minutes or more. It is not filtered, but it is poured carefully so grounds stay behind.
No sugar. Sweetness comes from dates served alongside.
Poured into small handleless cups, finjan, filled only a third. The host serves with the right hand, starting with the eldest guest.
You are expected to drink at least one and usually three. Shaking the cup gently side to side when handing it back signals you have had enough — otherwise it is refilled.
Refusing outright is a serious discourtesy.
3 tbsp light-roast coarse coffee, 1 tbsp crushed cardamom, 750 ml (25 oz) water, simmered 10 minutes, rested, poured off. Buy pale Saudi or Yemeni-style roast from a Middle Eastern grocery: an ordinary light roast is far too dark for this drink.
Gulf qahwa tends to be palest and heavy with cardamom and saffron. Further north, in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, the coffee is darker and more bitter, and the Bedouin version is boiled repeatedly and served in tiny amounts. Arabic coffee and its rituals were added to UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage in 2015.
The equipment this actually requires — not a shopping list, the shortest route to doing it properly.
39 mm (1.54 in) nitrogen-hardened burr · hand · filter & espresso
The hand grinder others are measured against, and priced accordingly. Grinds better than electric grinders at twice the money, and asks for your arm every single morning.
Best for: One or two exceptional cups a day, travel, and anyone who values the object.
48 mm (1.89 in) burr · hand · external adjustment
A 48 mm (1.89 in) burr set with external adjustment and 240 clicks, at a price where the competition offers 38 mm (1.50 in) and internal dials. The finish is plainer than a Comandante; the grind is not far behind it.
Best for: Espresso at home from a hand grinder, without paying Comandante money.
