09/06/2022
The country calling 2022 the 'year of coffee'
Coffee isn't just a drink in Saudi Arabia, it's an ancient tradition of hospitality – and as the country opens to tourism, it's also one of its most interesting draws.
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Jabar Al-Maliki stepped onto a stone perch and looked out over the boundless landscape. High up in the clouds at 1,600m, he peered over the craggy mountain tops cascading into terraced farms lined with coffee trees, banana plants and corn crops. Colourful houses and stone fortresses speckled the steep slopes of the Sarawat Mountains, which extend from Saudi Arabia's Jazan region over the border into Yemen just a few kilometres away. He whistled at a scurrying hyrax, the high-pitched echo ringing across the otherwise silent valley below. Then, with a twinkle in his eyes, he said, "It's time for qahwa [coffee]."
It is widely believed coffee beans were first roasted and consumed as the beverage we know today in the Sarawat Mountains in the 15th Century. Historically, the area was all part of greater Yemen, when borders were far less important than tribal and familial relationships. During that period, Arab historian Abd Al Ghaffar first documented an infusion made from roasted, ground coffee beans used by Sufis (Islamic mystics) to help them stay awake during religious recitations. Over time, it became an essential aspect of Arabian culture, with public cafés called maqha sprouting up across the region, where men would sit and drink coffee and share ideas.
But despite being an essential aspect of local Arabian culture for hundreds of years, Saudi Arabia's coffee has only recently been celebrated as a critical part of the country's cultural and historical heritage, a distinction further commemorated by the government's declaration of 2022 as the Year of Saudi Coffee.
"Coffee is part of my heritage and lineage," said Al-Maliki, whose farm dates back more than 130 years. "My grandfather, father and I climbed up and down these 2,000-year-old terrace rock steps under the sun's heat, carrying coffee cherries over our shoulders with just a sling cloth." Now, he shares his practices with his sons.
