Middle Eastern coffee philosophy

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Arabs like to drink coffee, this kind of coffee is called Turkish coffee or Arabica coffee, the cup is small, strong, the color is close to black. Usually, they have a drink after dinner or when they entertain guests, and going to a cafe when they are all right is also a big part of their lives.

This kind of coffee is popular in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Europe. Unlike other coffees, Turkish coffee is made in a very special way! Generally use a small gourd-shaped iron coffee pot, add water and put it on the stove to boil, then put in the coffee powder to stir gently. Usually experienced people will skim a layer of foam from the top and divide it into different cups to add fragrance to the taste. After cooking, they will put them in small cups the size of Chinese wine cups and serve them on trays.

There are three general flavors of coffee: no sugar, less sugar, and polysaccharide. There are special words for all three flavors in Arabic: sugar-free is called "Saida", less sugar is called "Vassett", and polysaccharide is called "Ziad". They'll ask you which flavor you want before cooking.

For people who are not used to this kind of coffee, they may not be able to sleep all night after drinking it. Another major feature of this kind of coffee is that those who like it find it fragrant to their nostrils, while those who don't like it find it extremely bitter and difficult to swallow. As a guest at a friend's house, the host will ask you "coffee or tea?" as soon as you sit down. If you want coffee, he will arrange for the hostess to make it immediately.

Drinking coffee in Palestine is more about expressing an attitude.

When you visit a Palestinian house, it is best to drink all the coffee served by the host, because if you don't drink it, they will think that you have a problem with them, or that you have come to make trouble. Palestine is a family society. When there is a conflict between families and one side goes to the other's house to make peace, the one who pours the coffee will not drink it at first, and they will not drink it until the two sides reach an agreement.

Usually, when the man goes to the woman's house to propose, he will not immediately drink the coffee poured by the woman's house, and the man's family will not drink the coffee until the woman's father says, "agree to marry your daughter." If rejected by the woman's family, the man will leave in a huff instead of drinking coffee.

Coffee also has a suggestive effect.

When you go to an Arab house for dinner, you will have a cup of "welcome coffee" before the meal, and then they will give everything they have: eat a big meal, eat fruit, drink tea and chat with you. If the time is almost up, the host will ask, "would you like some coffee?" this cup of coffee is called "send-off coffee". After drinking the coffee, you have to say goodbye! If you really don't know how to stay there, the host will yawn, stretch and other gestures to remind you that it's time to go.

There is another feature of coffee served by Palestinians, that is, it is accompanied by a cup of water, but no matter how many guests will only serve a cup of water! No one knows how to drink this glass of water, it's just a decoration. The older man introduced the reason and said: this is a tradition for many years. If the guest drinks the coffee before drinking it to prove that the guest is hungry, he should prepare the meal for him immediately. If you don't drink, you don't have to. But there are other theories, such as: because Turkish coffee is very strong and has coffee grounds at the bottom, this cup of water can be used to gargle.

With the development of the times, young people are more and more inclined to drink coffee such as cappuccino and mocha, and they do not like to patronize traditional small cafes. Instead, they want to go to modern cafes with music, western food and fashionable men and women. Although cafes have a special word in Arabic, they don't like to use it and prefer "CoffeeShop".