Saturday, November 19, 2011

Coffee Break!

What is a day without a coffee break? People from all working class would probably end up loopy before the week ends. Most people can't live without their caffeine fix. For most it became the energy drink to start off the day. And some its the morning slap that wakes them up. Its intoxicating. Its addictive. Its coffee.

After a year and few months of living in Abu Dhabi, you would understand the importance of coffee in their culture. Its like every hour they need to sip a cup of caffeine. I used to be a coffee monster. I could finish off 2-3 cups of coffee in a day. Plus this coffee is loaded with creamer and sugar, imagine my horrific reaction when I learned about the total calories I am chugging down with just a cup of coffee. So I stopped. Occasionally I reward myself with lattes but not as often as I want.

Abu Dhabi is home for coffee connoisseur. If Italy have their espresso that shoots up caffeine straight into your brain (well, that's how my father described it) UAE have their Turkish and Arabic coffee. If you prefer to drown yourself with strong coffee while inhaling endless cigarette smoke then Turkish coffee would be the perfect blend for you. For experimental purposes, I asked our office boy to give me the lowdonw on turkish coffee. The coffee is served in small portion. They used small cups that looks like small china tea cups. The coffee is prepared using the cezve. It is a small pot directly placed on top of the electrical stove. First hot water is put inside and let it boil for a few minutes. Then put 2 spoonful of that powdered coffee bean and sugar. After a minute or two it is poured on the glass. No Need to stir. Boil and serve.



In our office we have a lot of cezve, because many of the employees request for Turkish coffee. According to our office boy, they can't prepare another turkish coffee using the left over of the first batch. It is haram as he said it or not allowed in their religion. One batch is only good for one drink also.



I tried tasting this and I must admit it tasted ok. Like bitter and sweet combine in one but the smell is definitely a stinker. It smelled like feet. No offense meant.

The arabic coffee is not for the faint hearted. If Turkish coffee was strong Arabic coffee is way stronger. I didn't dare to sample it. But the taste of the Turkish coffee is enough proof that its probably stronger.

The perfect way of enjoying this cofee is with a hookah/shisha, but that would have to wait for another blogging day.

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