Coffee

Today at our admin meeting, we were served Turkish Coffee, which is very thick and has a grainy texture the closer you get to the bottom of the cup, where the grinds have settled.  It's served in expresso-size cups, which is about half the size of a standard cup.  No sugar or cream is added.  It is very bitter.

Turkish Coffee

Arabic Coffee is different in texture and taste.  It looks like a cup of tea.  Brown in color.  About my complexion.  It's also served sans cream and sugar, so it's bitter as well.  The difference is, it's usually served with something sweet, like dates, cookies, candy, etc., so you're not left with a bitter taste in your mouth.  The serving size is about half of an expresso cup.  Really it amounts to a swig.

Arabic Coffee

The other coffee we have is Instant Nescafe.  American coffee is not brewed here, so you're outta luck unless you're fortunate enough to live near a Starbucks.  Thankfully, they're in most of the malls.  A cup of joe from there is truly a treat . . . a taste of home.  The most popular version of the coffee we do have is Nescafe 3-in-1, where the cream and sugar is already added for you in single serving packets.  We also have the original version, where you add your own cream and sugar.

A favorite of most folks.

Original flavor.

What was really interesting was a sidebar conversation a colleague and I had where he shared a tale about the discovery of coffee centuries ago.  According to legend, coffee was discovered in Yemen by a shepherd who noticed his goats stayed awake when munching on the coffee shrubs.  So, he tried munching on them, too.  First raw, then roasted and boiled.  Eureka!  Coffee as we know it was born.

I looked it up, and there seems to be a good measure of truth to this tale.

http://www.ncausa.org/About-Coffee/History-of-Coffee

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee