The Origin of Coffee in Arabian Peninsula Qatari traditional Coffee Flavor characteristics production method Taste method

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Although you can't drink at the World Cup in Qatar, the fans are moved by the Qatari hospitality after every game. Many fans said on social networking platforms that locals would prepare all kinds of traditional snacks, dates and coffee for fans after every game, saying: I really love it!

As for the sharing of fans, local netizens said it was a beautiful culture, a culture of sharing, giving and being kind to others. The nature of the hospitable Qatari is a very common phenomenon.

In Gulf countries such as Qatar, where coffee is a symbol of generosity and hospitality and occupies an important place in traditional folk heritage, people often use the term "pot without fire" to describe hospitable hosts. There are even some training centers in these areas to educate the new generation on how to make coffee and how to serve coffee to guests.

How to serve coffee and how to drink coffee are not random acts, but folk legacies handed down from generation to generation, the most important of which include: the host holds the coffee pot in his left hand and then hands the coffee cup to the guest with his right hand. and then gently, thin thread into the guest's cup of coffee.

When you go to Qatar's home, the host is sure to serve freshly brewed coffee and refill one cup after another until the guest gently shakes the finjan (Arabica coffee cup) to indicate that he will not refill the cup.

The traditional coffee in Qatar is about freshness! After the guests arrive, the host will begin to roast the raw beans until they turn yellow (when they begin to taste as sweet as corn), and then mash the coffee beans to coarse grains in the most primitive way.

Then pour the coffee particles and water into the Arabian coffee pot (the coffee pot is made of metal, stainless steel, brass, gold plating, or even pure gold. This is Qatari. 😂), then add crushed cardamom, saffron, cloves, rose water and other spices to cook and then stuff the spout with a kind of wood fiber to filter the coffee grounds.

When you pour coffee, you must use your left hand. When you pour it, you must pull up the coffee pot to make a crisp sound when it falls into the cup, indicating that the coffee is ready, and then hand the coffee cup to the guest with your right hand.

The guest must hold the coffee cup in his right hand. It is an insult to the host if the guest does not drink the coffee in his hand. Similarly, if he doesn't want another drink, he should shake his cup back and forth, otherwise the host will continue to pour coffee for his cup.

This time the Qataris have prepared coffee, dates and traditional sweets for the fans, and you can see that the local people really welcome you to come! Although the craftsmanship is not as fine as coffee now, it is the best blessing from the local people to everyone who comes here.

History of Arabian Coffee

The word "coffee" comes from the Arabic word "Gahwa". In medieval Arabic, Gahwa refers to something that causes people to lose their appetite after being addicted, and generally refers to alcohol, because drinking too much makes people lose their appetite. The word was borrowed to refer to coffee 1400 years later, implying that drinking too much coffee makes people sleepy, just like drinking too much alcohol makes people lose their appetite, more or less awakening.

Coffee knowledge was used as a drug treatment in the early days when it was introduced into the Arabian Peninsula from Ethiopia (about the 9th-10th century AD). The earliest literature about coffee is the complete works of Medicine by Lazi, a famous Persian doctor in the 9th century AD, which mentioned that the juice "bunchum" boiled out of "bunn" has the effect of refreshing and treating headaches, and drinking too much will make people unable to fall asleep. And the word "bunn" refers to coffee fruit.

Between 1400 and 1500, it was popular to drink a hot drink called "Qishr" in the ports of Moka and Aden in Yemen. The ripe coffee berries are dried with only the pulp (kernels, that is, coffee beans will be discarded), then the pulp is roasted and mashed over a low heat, boiled in hot water with spices such as ginger and cinnamon, and drunk while it is hot.

The pulp still contains 1% caffeine, has a refreshing effect, and the flavor is far sweeter than chewing coffee fruit, a practice that quickly spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula. At that time, people would choose to throw away the core part, maybe when the coffee was still raw, it was too hard and bitter, so it was not loved.

It was not until 1450 that some people began to find that as long as the core was roasted for a long time and cooked with the pulp, the hot drink would be more fragrant and refreshing. In order to distinguish it from "Cash Qishr", this hot drink, which boils the roasted coffee kernels together, is called "Kava Gahwa".

This is also the original version of coffee as we now know it. At present, the sound of coffee in all countries comes from the word "Gahwa". The word "Coffee" was first included in the British dictionary in 1599.

Interestingly, the word "Gahwa" is similar to the pronunciation of "Kafa Kafa" in southern Ethiopia. The original Ethiopians would have called the wine made from coffee fruit a word similar to the sound of "Gahwa". The 2000-year-old wine cup utensils unearthed in Ethiopia are engraved with similar pronunciation. On the other hand, religious believers in the Arab region drink "Gahwa" as wine because it is strictly forbidden to drink alcohol.

Photo Source: Internet YT-Mr.Q