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The Culture of Arabic Coffee in the UAE
Abu Dhabi, Dubai

The Culture of Arabic Coffee in the UAE 

Want to try Arabic coffee but don’t know where? Then this is for you. 

This article will assure you everything you need to know about Arabic coffee and their culture in the UAE. Starting from restaurants with a heritage character. Also, there is a delivery site we have chosen, including the traditions of the Arabic Qahwa. Last but not least the used equipment and how to make local Arabic coffee by yourself. 

Arabic coffee restaurants in the UAE

1. Al Fanar Restaurant & Cafe:

One of the best cafes that make traditional Emirati food is Al Fanar Restaurant. They specialize in making Arabic coffee with several flavors and served in a traditional way with traditional Emirati food such as, logimat, dates and some of the delicious traditional sweets.

Al Fanar  has more than 7  branches in UAE and two outside UAE which they’re in KSA Riyadh and UK London. The one in Abu Dhabi City is located in Yas Mall, they also have applications that provide a delivery such as Talbat Application!

Alfanar cafe restaurant Arabic coffee Yas Mall

Location : Yas Mall 

Address : The Fountains, Yas IslandYas West

Hours opening : Sunday to Friday from 9:00AM-9:00PM

Contact Number : 02 877 2272

2. Alqahwa Alarabiah Online Shop:

The specialty Coffee roaster. Specialized in selling the equipment of the Arabic coffee with basic tools and accessories for Arabic coffee, such as mugs, or what we call it Fenyal in Arabic Accent. Alqahwa Alarabiah provides many kinds of original beans that have many kinds of flavors, and also some specialized coffee machines in general. This site provides you with all the essentials of coffee equipment, you can order through the site directly or by visiting the store in which is located Abu Dhabi.

Alqahwa Alarbiya website

Contact Email : info@alqahwaalarabiah.com / alqahwaalarabiah@gmail.com

Location : Abu Dhabi , Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street Al Ain

Contact Number: +971 50 661 2115 / +971 37 61 1750

3. Al Rifai & Al Douri Roasters:

If you need to obtain Arabic coffee pure beans, whether beans or ground, you can take it from any roaster in the UAE. Al-Rifai Roastery, the most famous roaster in the country and by its extensive experience in roasting and producing coffee of all kinds. Al Rifai has 3 brunches in Abu Dhabi city, you can visit the store to see and smell the good beans they sell.

Also, Al Douri Roaster provides pure coffee that is special for its delicious taste and strong aroma that attracts coffee lovers. They have really high-quality products that meet the aspirations of the  customers around the world. Al Douri Roastery provides a really many products  such as nuts, coffee, cardamom, herbs, spices, legumes, dairy products, dates, Arabic sweets, and many more. Located in Dubai City with more than 2 brunches!

Al Douri coffee beans

Location: Dubai

Address: Dawood Abdul Rahman Building, Al Barsha 1

Opening hours: Daily, 08:00 AM – 01:00 AM

Contact number: 04 269 0008

Airifai coffee beans

Location: Dubai Address: Al Barsha Mall, Al Barsha 2

Working hours: Saturday – Wednesday: 10:00 am – 10:00 pm

Thursday and Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 midnight

Contact number: 800 8889

4. Bateel Cafe

One notable exception is Bateel Café, which is characterized by the finest types of authentic Arabic organic dates, which are served primarily with Arabic coffee. Bateel cafes are specialized in dates with different types of their decoration, such as decorating dates with chocolate and some flavors in their own unique way. Bateel Café provides all the flavors of Arabic coffee, which is also provided in the stores with dates as a special section for gifts that you can buy, also by visiting their branches around the Emirates, Also you can make an order through Talabat Application!

Bateel Cafe dates and Arabic coffe

Location: Abu Dhabi – Yas Mall 

Address : The Pavilion Cascade, Channel Street Yas Mall 

Opening Hours : Sunday to Thursday from 8:00AM -12:00AM

Contact Number : 02 565 034244

The traditions of the Arabic Qahwa in the UAE 

One of our culture hospitality in the UAE is Arabic coffee. Qahwa can be said that it is a way to welcome guests and show love towards them. Its sign of generosity and representing an important aspect of their culture in United Arab Emirates. Arabic coffee is served in the workplace, during gatherings, during visits, at memorial services and after supper. When anyone visits a house or office, from our culture and hospitality we should offer Arabic coffee. There are explanations behind this, ‘We never put sugar in Arabic coffee however the taste is extremely harsh, so we don’t prefer to drink a lot. When requesting Arabic coffee at an Arabic café, remember to order a date or sweet and request qahwa Sadeh signifying “plain” or dark Arabic coffee.

How to serve Arabic coffee

There is a behavior to serving. The server gives every visitor a Finjaan, and normally a plate of dates. The server should always serve the Arabic cup (finjaan) with the correct hand which is the right and the coffeepot (dallah) with the left hand. Similarly, the habitude for the visitors or guests should use the right hand to take and return the finjaan from the server. Additionally, the cup should be filled with one quarter full and the oldest guest is being served first. The server will wait until you finish the Qahwa , if you want one more cup you can just hand the cup straight back to the person , and he refill for you, And if you finished you should shake the Finjaan few times, and he will take the Finjaan from you.

Looking for local Arabic coffee? This is a guide for you on what equipment you need

When preparing the traditional Emirati qahwa there are tools to prepare qahwa. In order to give us the ideal Arabic coffee result. The “Almaemil” is the name of the tools that used to prepared coffee.

equipment of arabic coffee almaeamil

It is important to have specific tools to make coffee that I will mention later. However, if you don’t have these tools make sure to use any tool that gives you the same result.

The most important tool “Tawah”, which is a wide, round pan for roasting coffee beans. In addition, “Mahmas” is a spoon for stirring the coffee beans, because the roasting requires stirring the coffee beans. Also, the “coffee cooler”, is a triangular container used to cool the coffee beans after the roasting process. It is since grinding the coffee beans directly after roasting affects the quality of the coffee. As will “Alminhaz” is a performance used to pound and soften coffee beans. Coffeepot is a medium-sized jug in which water and coffee are placed for cooking. When the coffee is finished cooking, it is served it in a “Dallah”. Dallah is also considered one of the most important instruments used during the preparation of Arabic coffee. Since it is an incarnation of true Arab hospitality. Then coffee is served by pouring it into a cup and it is called a “alfunjan”.

The tools for preparing Arabic coffee changed between the present and the past. Which is what I’m going to talk about below.

Roasting Machine
In the past they used “Tawah and “Mahmas”. Nowadays we use electric roasting machines. 
Coffee cooler
In the past, they have used a “coffee cooler” which is made from wood. Nowadays we are use 
any plate to put the coffee beans to cool.
Electric coffee grinder
On the past they were used “Alminhaz”. Nowadays we are use electric coffee grinder. 
Filter of Arabic coffee
 In the past, they were using a natural and healthy filter that is made out of the palm trees. it begins to be put at the tip of the pot to block the cardamon or other things to get into the cup. Nowadays we use Strainer made of steel.

Finally, we made this video to show you how to make Arabic coffee UAE style:

Taste with us the traditional flavor. Have a lovely Qahwa!

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1 Comment

  1. reem

    lovely culture, I like the part were they served the oldest guest first before everyone.

Comments are closed.

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