Gahwa is the Emirati welcome. Guests are offered it on arrival, with dates, and it is kept coming for the whole visit; the host pours a few sips into small handleless cups, and a guest who has had enough gives the cup a gentle shake. The beans are roasted lightly, so the coffee is pale gold and delicate, closer to a spiced tea than to espresso, and the cardamom often outweighs the coffee. Arabic coffee and the customs around it are recognized by UNESCO as intangible heritage shared by the UAE and its neighbors.

It has no milk and no sugar; the sweetness comes from the dates. A dallah, the beaked coffee pot, makes it look the part, but any saucepan and a thermos will do the job at home, which is fortunate for a long race day.

The coffee

Ingredients

• 4 cups (960 ml) water
• 3 tablespoons (about 18 g) lightly roasted Arabic coffee
• 1 tablespoon (about 20 pods) green cardamom pods
• 1 pinch saffron threads
• 2 to 3 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) rose water
• 12 to 18 good dates

Method

1. Bring the water to a boil in the saucepan. Stir in the coffee, lower the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for 10 to 12 minutes. Watch it as it first comes back to the boil: the foam can rise and spill over.
2. Take the pan off the heat and leave it for 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Put the ground cardamom, saffron, cloves and rose water into the warmed thermos or dallah.
4. Pour the coffee slowly into the thermos through the sieve, leaving the grounds behind in the pan. Close it and let the spices steep for 5 minutes.

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