{"id":3973,"date":"2011-02-16T14:24:08","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T10:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=3973"},"modified":"2011-02-16T14:28:39","modified_gmt":"2011-02-16T10:28:39","slug":"the-art-of-pouring-and-receiving-coffee-in-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/the-art-of-pouring-and-receiving-coffee-in-saudi-arabia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Pouring, and Receiving, Coffee in Saudi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/a>Regardless of whether you are an expatriate or a Saudi, if you are in the Kingdom you will experience the unique taste of Arabic coffee<\/a>.\u00a0 Most Saudis grow up learning the \u201cetiquette\u201d which goes with the serving of Arabic coffee (kawa) but some expatriates may not know.<\/p>\n

Serving Arabic kawa is both a production and a talent. \u00a0To begin with kawa is first served to guests with priority given to the father and then followed by first-degree relatives and elders.\u00a0 In many large Saudi gatherings, formal or informal, guests may sit in rows of chairs or couches.\u00a0 Kawa should be served to the guests sitting in the front rows and\/or to high ranking officials, leaders or elders.\u00a0 For example, sometimes Saudi Arabian television will feature news of King Abdullah greeting foreign delegations.\u00a0 If sitting, the King and others will be served kawa and a viewer can see firsthand the protocol associated with serving kawa.<\/p>\n

As a matter of tradition kawa is served from the right side to the end and not served from the left side.\u00a0 Within a home the father should not serve coffee if his son is available to serve guests.\u00a0 Additionally, elder brother(s) should not serve coffee if younger brother(s) are present.\u00a0 An elder should not serve coffee if younger individuals are present in the gathering.\u00a0 The younger is always expected to serve the elder.<\/p>\n

First of all, the Arabic coffee pot with the long and extended spout is called a Dallah<\/em> (or some may also refer to it as an al-Malqamah).\u00a0 The small coffee cups which have no handle are called Al-funjan or funjal<\/em>.\u00a0 If any of the small coffee cups are cracked, chipped or broken, they are referred to as \u2018mashrum<\/em>\u2019 and should never be used.<\/p>\n

Serving Arabic coffee may take some practice for those not familiar with the procedure.\u00a0 To begin with the Dallah should be held in the left hand and coffee cups in the right hand.\u00a0 The coffee is to be poured from the Dallah into the small coffee cups while in a standing position.\u00a0 At official functions or traditional restaurants the coffee may be poured in a small stream into the cup from a distance of one foot.\u00a0 However, it takes practice to perform such an art of pouring the coffee from afar as that.<\/p>\n

When pouring coffee the server should maintain a respectable distance from the guest who is being served.\u00a0 This is to avoid any embarrassing situation such as unintentional spillage of hot coffee onto either the server or the guest.\u00a0 The body should be at an inclined position when presenting the coffee cup to the guest.<\/p>\n

As the coffee is offered to the guest, the server should say \u201ctafaddal<\/em>\u201d (please take it!) or \u201csamm<\/em>\u201d (please pronounce the name of God), or \u201ckhudh<\/em>\u201d (take it please). Maintain an erect and straight posture during and after pouring the coffee.\u00a0 Do not pour coffee and serve by placing coffee cups on a tray as done when serving tea.\u00a0 Rather, the server should hold the cups in hand and pour coffee in each cup before serving the guests.<\/p>\n

When pouring coffee, the cup should be only one-fourth filled making it not too hot and easy for a guest to sip and savor the taste.\u00a0 The server should not ignore anybody while serving coffee.\u00a0 Overlooking a guest is a gross violation of etiquette and hospitality.\u00a0 It is also considered humiliating to a guest if a cup of coffee is left unfilled until the guest tells the server \u201cikrim<\/em>\u201d (honor) or \u201cbas<\/em>\u201d (enough).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AMERICAN BEDU: While all young Saudis will naturally absorb the protocols of serving and receiving coffee as they grow up, visitors and expats need a bit of help. Here are the key pointers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":3984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,5],"tags":[2224,18275],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}