Gulf Qahwa
قهوة عربيةgah-wah ah-ra-bee-ya
A pale gold, almost tea-like coffee, heavy with cardamom and tinted with saffron, poured an inch deep into handleless cups and served with dates. It tastes nothing like espresso, and it is not supposed to.
At a glance
- Coffee : water
- 1:25
- Active time
- 5 min
- Total time
- 25 min
- Makes
- 8 small cups
- Serve
- Hot, with dates
- Kit
- Dallah or saucepan
Ingredients
Note: Gulf qahwa is not sweetened. The sweetness comes from the dates eaten alongside it.
Method
-
Boil the water, add the coffee
Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan or the dallah, add the coffee and lower the heat to a gentle simmer.
Unlike Turkish coffee this is boiled on purpose. The pale roast needs the time and the heat to give anything up.
-
Simmer it
Simmer uncovered for ten to fifteen minutes. Some foam rises at the start; let it settle back or skim it.
Longer gives a stronger, slightly more bitter pot. Ten minutes is a mild everyday qahwa.
Simmer 10 to 15 minutes -
Rest so the grounds sink
Turn off the heat and leave the pan for two or three minutes so the grounds settle to the bottom.
Rest 2 to 3 minutes -
Spices into the pot
Put the cardamom, saffron and cloves in the dallah or a warmed thermos. Pour the coffee over them carefully, leaving the grounds behind in the pan. Add the rose water if using.
The spices go in after the boil so their aroma is not cooked off.
-
Steep and serve
Let it steep for five minutes. Pour into small cups, only a third full, with the right hand, and serve with dates.
The guest holds out the cup for more. To say no more, give it a little shake from side to side.
Steep 5 minutes
Why this works
Gulf qahwa uses a roast so light that the beans are tan rather than brown. At that level the sugars have barely caramelised and the bitter roasted compounds have not formed, so the coffee tastes grassy, nutty and quite acidic, closer to tea than to anything from a cafe. That is why it is boiled for ten minutes or more. Pale beans are dense and slow to extract, and the boil is what gets the body out of them.
Cardamom is the main flavour and is used in quantities that would be unthinkable in Turkish coffee: two teaspoons in half a litre. Its sweet, eucalyptus aroma sits on top of the light coffee rather than fighting a dark roast. Saffron adds colour and a honeyed, hay-like note. Both go in after the boil because their aromatic compounds are volatile and would be driven off by ten minutes of simmering.
The tiny serving is deliberate. A third of a small cup is a few sips, so the host refills constantly, and hospitality is measured by how attentive the pouring is. Three cups is the conventional polite number. The dates are not decoration. Unsweetened, cardamom-heavy coffee and very sweet dates were made for each other.
In 2015 UNESCO inscribed Arabic coffee as a symbol of generosity on its list of intangible cultural heritage, on a joint nomination from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. The listing covers the preparation and the serving etiquette together, because in the Gulf they are the same thing.
Variations
- Saudi style: an even paler roast, more cardamom and often a pinch of ginger.
- Omani style: a little darker, with rose water and sometimes cloves.
- Darker roast: a medium roast simmered for less time gives a heavier, more familiar coffee flavour, closer to the Levant.
- With ginger: a quarter teaspoon of ground ginger with the cardamom, common in winter.
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Questions
Why is Arabic coffee so light in colour?
The beans are roasted very lightly, to a tan colour, so the bitter roasted flavours never develop. The result is pale gold and tastes nutty and herbal, carried mostly by the cardamom and saffron.
How do you say no more coffee in the Gulf?
Give the empty cup a small shake from side to side as you hand it back. If you just put it down, your host will keep refilling it.
Is Arabic coffee sweetened?
No. Gulf qahwa is served unsweetened and eaten with dates, which supply the sweetness.
Can I make qahwa without a dallah?
Yes. Simmer the coffee in a saucepan, then pour it over the spices in a warmed thermos flask, which is how most Gulf households actually keep it. The dallah is used for serving.