Arabic Coffee: The Method That Does Not Fail

Arabic coffee is simple in its measures, and most of its failures are about heat and time, not about the beans. Start with two tablespoons of lightly roasted ground coffee per litre of water. Bring the water up on a low heat until it is hot but not boiling, then add the coffee. Boiling is the common mistake: it pulls out bitterness and drives off the aroma, and the cup comes out dark and heavy, nothing like Arabic coffee. Leave it ten minutes on the lowest heat you have. Only in the last five minutes, crack four to six green cardamom pods and add them; cardamom added early loses its oil and turns woody. For saffron, steep the threads in two spoons of warm water and add the liquid in the final two minutes. Then let it settle for five minutes before pouring, or strain it into a serving dallah. Settled coffee is clear; coffee poured straight away is full of grounds. Serving has its own manners: fill the cup no more than a third, offer it with the right hand, and refill as long as the guest holds it out. When the cup is shaken between the fingers, they have had enough.