You’ve always had cappuccinos, frappuccinos, espressos, lattes—and now you’re in for a change?
Well, why not learn how to prepare القهــــــــوة العربيـــــــــة (Arabic coffee) in just 10 super easy steps!
Arabic Coffee has quite a special pot called “دلَّــــــــة” (dallah) as well as a particular coffee cup that is small and without a handle…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k-mlNzwv7M
A video featuring a slightly different أُسْلُـــوب (approach)
What you need to get before you start:
- المـــــــاء (water)
- Three tablespoons of freshly ground Arabic coffee
- الهال (cardamom)
- 1 Arabic coffee pot
- A table spoon
- A regular size coffee cup
- مَوْقِــــــــد (stove)
- A serving plate
- سُكَّـــــــــــــــر (sugar)—optional, since usually Arabic coffee is consumed with other sweets)
Did you know that while coffee has always been widely consumed in the Arab world, it was strictly forbidden to drink or sell in Europe for several centuries?
Dubbed the “wine of the infidels”, it was allowed only in the eve of the 17th century by Pope Clement VIII!
- Fill with water half of the pot and boil it
- Set the stove on medium heat then lower heat
- Add three tablespoons of Arabic grind coffee to the water in the pot and stir
- Keep درجــــــــة الحــــــــرارة (the temperature) low, and allow the coffee to brew on low temperature
- After 10 minutes on low heat, the coffee will start يَغْلِـــــــــــــــي (to boil) and to foam
- At that point, turn the stove off and let the pot settle for a bit
- Add the الهال (cardamom) to the foam
- Get the coffee back to the stove until it starts boiling and foaming again
- Remove the foam with the tablespoon, and then pour the coffee
- Set the coffee cups on a serving plate, pour the coffee and تَلـــــذَّذ بالقهـــــــوة (savor the coffee)!
Comments:
deborah:
But this is not Arabic coffee. This is Turkish coffee. Arabic coffee is light and made with unroasted beans.
Hichem:
@deborah Ahlan Deborah, and thank you for your message!
You may have a point there, but the truth is, there are as many “Arabic coffee” versions as there are Arabic countries, especially those which were subject to the Turkish (Ottoman) rule (pretty much all of them except for Morocco, Mauritania, and Oman) and which were consequently heavily influenced by the Turkish culture and language, to a point where it would be sometimes not easy to distinguish what is Arabic from what is properly Turkish.
But then again, it could also be a strict matter of nomenclature: Mention to Iranians the “Arabic Gulf” and you will most likely hear them say: “You mean the Persian Gulf?” 🙂