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Bedouin Coffee and Hospitality

Specialised

⚠ THE COFFEE IS A GRAMMAR, NOT A DRINK. Green beans are roasted at the fire in a long-handled pan, cooled on a wooden tray, pounded in a brass mortar — the rhythm of the pounding is itself an announcement that a guest has come — boiled, generously CARDAMOMMED, and decanted through the DALLAH, the beaked brass pot, into tiny handleless FINJAN cups. It is served bitter and unsweetened, poured a third full, with the pourer standing and the cup taken in the right hand; three cups is the customary measure and shaking the cup signals enough. Sweet tea, heavily sugared and often with sage or mint, follows or alternates. ⚠ AND THE HOSPITALITY IS OBLIGATORY IN THE PROPER SENSE: the documented Bedouin code gives a stranger three days of shelter and food without question being asked of him. Arabic coffee and its hospitality are inscribed by UNESCO as intangible heritage for the Gulf states; ⚠ THE JORDANIAN AND SYRIAN PRACTICE IS THE SAME TRADITION AND IS NOT PART OF THAT INSCRIPTION, which this system notes rather than eliding.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Bedouin community documented

Languages: South Levantine Arabic

What is recorded

  • Bedouin coffee is documented as roasted at the fire, pounded in a brass mortar, boiled, cardamommed, and served unsweetened from a dallah into small finjan cups poured a third full, with three cups customary and shaking the cup signalling enough. The documented Bedouin hospitality code provides a stranger three days of shelter and food without interrogation. Arabic coffee and its hospitality are UNESCO-inscribed for Gulf states; the Jordanian and Syrian practice is the same tradition and is not part of that inscription. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • part of Bedouin Foodways documented

    ⚠ Arabic coffee is UNESCO-inscribed for the Gulf states; the Jordanian and Syrian practice is the same tradition and is NOT part of that inscription.

Recipes

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