Arabic or European or American Style?

Posted on June 12, 2016 Updated on June 12, 2016

It is no longer the time of coffee prepared on a camp fire, under a starry night in the desert 🙂 So nowadays international hotels and restaurants in the dynamic UAE offer mainstream European or American style brew, with good quality but not much of a local perspective.

I expected to see more traditional style coffee: maybe  similar to Turkish coffee, but certainly different from EU or USA style. Given the fact that coffee was originally spread from Yemen according to a lot sources, it was very interesting to see that the touristic places I visited  kept no memory of its history.

That is what I expected before traveling 🙂

Since I had limited time (I was there working) I could not dive deep into local coffee culture, made of artisanal roasters and a variety of coffee shops-. The places where I have been did not have many choices. Most of the time, the menu was limited with espresso, its varieties and american coffee. I started with American coffee.

The result was not as I expected. I can not say that the coffee tasted bad but there was no trace of special taste of arabic coffee. My second trial (apart from the coffees that I drank during the day) was at an italian restaurant in the marina. That I is why I checked espresso this time. The coffee was very similar that you can find regularly in Italy. With the view, I can say that it was enjoyable and worth to try 🙂

My espresso with the view

In the end, I regretted leaving the UAE without experiencing the traditions of a place so close to Yemen, the cradle of coffee. On the other hand, I am also sad because the local traditions could not penetrate the walls of hotels and restaurants for foreigners, which remain limited to European or American type of brew.

I had a physical journey, but I could not make a journey in coffee: not much changed between Berlin, Houston or Dubai

This standardization of the offering seems to me a form of self-censorship rather than an actual need, because tourists and travelers may definitely be interested in tasting something different. I hope the local coffee culture will one day proudly manage to take its place, next to the espressos and filtered coffees on the menu of any kind of venue! The richness comes when you integrate different cultures 🙂

Image credits:

1st Image: http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/editorial/uaes-coffee-culture

2nd Image: https://it.pinterest.com/maktabicarpets/qahwah-love-arabic-coffee/

Other two images are mine