Local Drinks

1. قهوة عربية

   Qahwa ʿArabiyya

   Arabic coffee

   Usage

   Lightly roasted beans brewed with cardamom and served unsweetened and bitter (مرة murra). Drunk across the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, the Levant and Egypt, poured from a دلة (dalla) into a small فنجان (finjān). Inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.

2. قهوة تركية

   Qahwa Turkiyya

   Turkish coffee

   Usage

   Finely ground coffee simmered in a small pot and poured grounds and all. The default in Levantine and Egyptian cafés. Specify the sweetness when ordering: سادة (sāda, no sugar), عالريحة (ʿa-r-rīḥa, barely any), وسط (wasaṭ, medium), زيادة (ziyāda, sweet).

3. أتاي

   Atāy

   Atay (Maghrebi mint tea)

   Usage

   The mint tea known as أتاي in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritania: green tea with spearmint and sugar, poured from a height to raise a foam. In winter شيبة (shība, wormwood) may replace the mint. In the eastern Arab world it is called شاي بالنعناع (shāy bi-n-naʿnāʿ).

4. شاي كرك

   Shāy Karak

   Karak tea (Gulf spiced milk tea)

   Usage

   A strong milk tea of Indian origin that took root in the Gulf, boiled with sugar and cardamom or saffron. Yemeni cuisine calls it شاي عدني (shāy ʿadanī, "Adeni tea"). Sold for a dirham or two at drive-through tea shops.

5. كركديه

   Karkadēh

   Karkade (hibiscus tea)

   Usage

   A deep-red infusion of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) calyces, drunk hot or iced. Especially common in Egypt and Sudan; Upper Egypt, around Aswan, is the best-known growing area.

6. عصير قصب

   ʿAṣīr Qaṣab

   Sugarcane juice

   Usage

   A sweet greenish juice pressed from sugarcane stalks — a fixture of Egyptian street juice stands. ⚠ It oxidises quickly, so it is meant to be drunk fresh rather than kept.

7. عرقسوس

   ʿIrqsūs

   Licorice root drink

   Usage

   A cold drink steeped from licorice root (Glycyrrhiza glabra) — sweeter than sugar with a bitter edge. Hawked in the streets of Egypt and Syria during Ramadan. ⚠ Licorice can raise blood pressure; people with hypertension should not drink much of it.

8. سحلب

   Saḥlab

   Sahlab (hot thickened milk drink)

   Usage

   A winter drink of milk thickened with powdered orchid tuber (or cornstarch), popular in Egypt, the Levant and the Hijaz. Served topped with cinnamon, pistachios or coconut.

9. سوبيا

   Sūbiyā

   Soubia (Hijazi cold barley-and-raisin drink)

   Usage

   A traditional cold drink of the Hijaz in western Saudi Arabia (Mecca, Jeddah, Medina): barley, raisins or white bread soaked overnight in water, strained, then sweetened with sugar and cinnamon. A Ramadan staple.

10. جلاب

    Jallāb

    Jallab (date molasses and rose water drink)

    Usage

    A Levantine drink of date or grape molasses with rose water, served over ice and topped with pine nuts and raisins. Made in large batches during Ramadan.

11. قمر الدين

    Qamar ad-Dīn

    Qamar al-din (apricot nectar)

    Usage

    A thick nectar made by soaking sheets of dried apricot paste in water. Believed to originate in Syria, from the Ghouta area outside Damascus, and drunk across the Middle East during Ramadan.

12. عصير تمر هندي

    ʿAṣīr Tamr Hindī

    Tamarind juice

    Usage

    A sweet-sour, dark brown drink of tamarind pulp steeped in water and strained. A street-vendor staple in Egypt and Syria, especially during Ramadan.

13. عيران

    ʿAyrān

    Ayran (salted yogurt drink)

    Usage

    Yogurt thinned with water and salt, served cold. Also called شنينة (shanīna) in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, and حقين (ḥaqīn) in Yemen. Drunk with grilled meat and kebabs.

14. لبن رايب

    Laban Rāyib

    Laban rayeb (Egyptian soured skim milk)

    Usage

    A skimmed, soured milk made in the Egyptian Delta and Upper Egypt. Drunk as is, or used to make جبنة قريش (jibna qarīsh, cottage cheese). ⚠ The word لبن shifts meaning by region — "milk" in Egypt, "yogurt / soured milk" in the Levant and the Gulf.

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