Gahwa, Saudi coffee, is less a drink than a ritual of welcome. Coffee beans roasted only lightly, so the brew is golden rather than black, are boiled with a generous amount of cardamom, and often saffron, cloves or ginger, then poured from a long spouted pot called a dallah into small handleless cups called finjan. The host serves the eldest or most honored guest first, pours and offers with the right hand, fills each cup only about halfway, and keeps refilling until the guest gives the cup a little shake to say enough. It always arrives with dates, whose sweetness answers the bitter coffee.

Saudi Arabia named 2022 the Year of Saudi Coffee, and Arabic coffee as a symbol of generosity is recognized by UNESCO as part of the intangible heritage of humanity. Pour it for guests arriving for the Jeddah race, and you are speaking the language of Saudi hospitality.

The coffee

Ingredients

• 4 cups (960 ml) water
• 3 tablespoons (about 20 g) lightly roasted Arabic coffee
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (about 10 g) green cardamom pods
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 pinch (about 10 threads) saffron
• 1 small slice fresh ginger
• 12 to 18 dates

Method

1. Bring the water to a boil in the saucepan. Add the ground coffee, lower the heat and simmer gently for 10 to 12 minutes. Watch it, as it can foam up and boil over.
2. While it simmers, crush the cardamom pods coarsely in the mortar with the cloves.
3. Take the pan off the heat and leave for 2 to 3 minutes so the grounds sink to the bottom.
4. Put the crushed cardamom, cloves, saffron and ginger into the thermos or a clean pot. Carefully pour the coffee in, leaving the grounds behind. Leave to infuse 5 minutes.
5. Strain into the cups, filling each only about halfway.

More from Saudi Arabia