Arabic Coffee at Tel-Aviv Cafe

In Warsaw I found so many interesting cafes and restaurants – the city really is full of them! One of them is Tel-Aviv Café + Deli where I headed for brunch on Sunday to try their Israeli and Mediterranean style buffet. The buffet was very tasty including bread, hummus, olives and baked beans among other dishes. However, the highlight for me was the coffee I had afterwards: Arabic coffee. I have to admit, I had never had Arabic coffee before, this was my very first time. And boy was it good! It was amazing!

The coffee was prepared and served in a small pot with a long handle (this type of coffee pot is called "finjan" "ibrik" or "cezve" depending on area). The small pot was full of this very dark, smooth, and thick coffee with a strong aroma of coffee and spices. The serving also included a glass of hot water allowing you to adjust the drink.

Arabic coffee is special in preparation and use of spices. Water and ground coffee are boiled in the pot but coffee is not filtered. I found that there are numerous versions of Arabic coffee and it is also referred as “Turkish coffee” or “Israeli coffee”. However, there are differences between these variations in flavour, preparation or presentation.  Most of them are flavoured with spices such as cardamom, cloves, ginger, and saffron.

In the Tel Aviv café they served the coffee in pots with cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and black pepper. The mixture of spices sounds heavy but the combination worked fantastically – I was able to taste the different spices in the drink and especially liked the hint of black pepper. The aroma and flavour were very strong and I immediately felt a warming effect in my body from the combination of spices and coffee.  Since I normally do not like extra spices or flavouring in my coffee, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the Arabic coffee. It was unique in taste and a perfect luxury coffee moment on a Sunday afternoon.

Tel-Aviv Cafe

Poznańska 11

Warsaw, Poland