Lebanese Coffee

Lebanese coffee, ahweh, is made in a small long-handled pot, the rakweh: powder-fine dark coffee, often with cardamom, brought up to the foam three times and then left to rest so the grounds settle. It’s poured gently into small cups, and the first cup, with the most foam, traditionally goes to an honoured guest. It belongs to the same family as Turkish coffee, with its own habits. Here’s how to make it.

The short version

• A rakweh, the small long-handled pot.
• Powder-fine dark coffee, 1 to 2 teaspoons per small cup.
• A glass of water alongside.
• Cardamom is very common.
• Up to the foam three times, lifting it off each time.
• Rest 3 to 5 minutes, then pour gently.

What do you need?

• A rakweh, sized for the number of cups
• Powder-fine coffee, a dark roast or a dark and light blend (one Lebanese cook mixes 2 parts dark roast to 1 part medium), or Lebanese coffee pre-blended with cardamom
• Cardamom, ground or as pods
• Small cups
• Sugar, if you take it

How do you make Lebanese coffee, step by step?

1. Bring the water to the boil in the rakweh, a small cup per person, with sugar if you take it.
2. Take it off the heat and stir in the coffee, 1 to 2 teaspoons per cup, and a little cardamom.
3. Return it to a low heat. As the foam rises, lift it off before it boils over, and let it settle.
4. Repeat twice more, three rises in all.
5. Rest it for 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Pour gently, leaving the grounds in the pot.

Brew mode on this page times the rest for you.

How much coffee, sugar and cardamom?

The Food Heritage Foundation uses about one teaspoon of powder-fine coffee per small cup. Plant Based Folk uses two heaped teaspoons per cup and warns that less tends to give a flat, foamless coffee, so start somewhere between the two. For cardamom, one recipe suggests about ⅛ teaspoon of ground cardamom per pot; Plant Based Folk uses a heaped ⅛ teaspoon, or six pierced pods, for two cups. Sugar goes in before heating, to taste. Many people simply buy Lebanese coffee already blended with cardamom.

Because the sugar is in the pot, you’re asked how you take it. 365 Days of Lebanon lists three ways: seda (plain), murra (bitter) or hilwe (sweet). At funerals, coffee is served murra.

Why bring it up three times?

Each time the foam rises, you lift the rakweh off the heat before it boils over, let the foam settle, and return it. Doing this three times is the traditional way to draw out the most flavour without letting it boil hard. Watch it closely: it can boil over in seconds.

Cold water or boiling water?

Recipes differ. Many Lebanese recipes add the coffee once the water has come to the boil, as above. Others, including the Food Heritage Foundation’s, start the coffee in cold water with a teaspoonful per cup and heat it as slowly as possible, as for Turkish coffee. Both make good coffee; try both.

How is Lebanese coffee served?

In small cups, poured gently so the grounds stay in the pot, usually on a tray with a glass of cold water. The foam is often thought of as the best part, and the first cup, which gets the most of it, traditionally goes to the guest of honour.

Lebanese coffee vs its neighbours

	Lebanese coffee	Turkish coffee	Arabic coffee
Pot	Rakweh	Cezve	Dallah
Roast	Dark, or a blend	Medium to dark	Very light
Spice	Often cardamom	Usually none	Cardamom, often saffron
Method	Up to the foam three times	Heated slowly from cold	Simmered, then settled

General guidance only. Watch the rakweh closely, as it can boil over in seconds, and take care with the hot handle.

Lebanese coffee vs other methods

• Turkish coffee: heated slowly from cold in a cezve.
• Arabic coffee: light-roast Gulf coffee with cardamom.
• Armenian soorj: made in a jazzve, sometimes with cardamom.
• Greek coffee: made in a briki, ordered by sweetness.

Explore every boiled method in the boiled chapter.