Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love. [Turkish Proverb] Coffee (kahweh) is a big deal in Lebanon. It’s great coffee,black, strong, and takes some time getting use to it.

Identical to coffee in neighboring countries and sometimes referred to Turkish coffee .
It derived from the Arabica bean known as Brazilian bean.Lebanese coffee is served throughout the day, at home, at work, in public cafes and restaurants.
When guests arrive at one’s home, they are invariably persuaded to stay for a coffee as a sign of welcome, no matter how short their visit.A visit to Lebanon is not completed without drinking the Lebanese coffee, the Lebanese way.
Drinking coffee is so much a part of the culture that it is joked that a Lebanese who didn’t drink coffee could loose his nationality!

How to Make Lebanese Coffee
Ingredients- 1 cup of water (the size of expresso cup)
– 1 tsp. ground coffee
– 1/2 tsp. powdered sugar
– A pinch of cardamom (optional)

1-Pour in cold water in the coffee pot (rakweh ) You should use one cup of cold water for each cup you are making . Add a teaspoonful of the ground coffee per cup in the water while the water is cold and stir. The amount of coffee may be varied to taste, but do not forget. Don’t fill the pot too much. If you need to add sugar this is the time to do it.
2-Heat the pot as slowly as you can. The slower the heat the better it is. Make sure you watch it to prevent overflowing when the coffee boils.
3-When the coffee begins to rise up remove from heat. When foaming recedes return to heat and bring back to a boil. Repeat this procedure three times . The goal is to get maximum coffee flavor without over boiling. There should be a thick sediment on the bottom and a brown froth on the top.

Note: The amount of coffee and sugar may be decreased or increased according to taste.Since there is no filtering of coffee at any time during this process, you should wait for a few minutes before drinking your delicious Lebanese coffee while the coffee grounds settle at the bottom of the cup.

How to serve Lebanese Coffee:
The coffee is poured out in front of the guest from a long-handled coffee pot (rakweh) and served in proper cups, about the size of espresso cups,on a coffee tray and accompanied with a glass of cold water.
Usually guests are asked how they take their coffee: with or without sugar, since sugar is added during preparation, but nowadays coffee is prepared without sugar and the sugar came along.Future reading:It is quite an art to know-when to stop drinking your coffee as one sip more and you will end up with a mouthful of the coffee residue (tefl) left in the bottom of the cup.
So with a tiny little bit of coffee and lots of coffee grinds still left in your cup, put your coffee cup holder on top of your coffee cup, make three horizontal circles with your cup, and then with a quick movement turn the coffee cup with the cup holder upside down.
This will slowly bring down the coffee grinds along the coffee cup down to the coffee holder, let the cup rest for about 2 minutes before give it to the cup reader.
A coffee cup reader, who is usually your host at home or in specialized coffee shop will read your future by interpreting the shapes and giving you advices about life decisions and problems.
Although we are far from being able to give anyone guidelines about how to read coffee grinds, as it seems to be driven by inspiration rather than science.

White Coffee:(kahweh baida or café blanc)
is invented in Beirut, it means a cup of boiling water scented with orange blossom water and sugar(optional) .
“White coffee “is a sedative, and calms the nerves while stimulating digestion after a particularly rich or heavy meal.Lebanese “white coffee” contains absolutely no coffee or caffeine.