Serving of Arabian coffee is traditionally associated with the majlis, i. e. the assembly of men where all kinds of news and topics of the day are exchanged along with the narration of stories and recitation of poems while cups of coffee go round. Coffee assemblies around the hearth in the tent of a gallant nomad or in the coffee-chamber of a noble citizen, where men gather to sip coffee and exchange news served as podiums where poets, rhapsodists, and eloquent men recited poetry.

The most favored time for such majlis gatherings and reciting of poetry is at night. Behind the hearth sits the host, who is continually busy with the fire and the preparation of coffee, and is usually assisted by another person who sits to his left to hand him wood for the fire, and pound the cardamom and roasted coffee beans for him. A young man, usually the son of the host, stands up with the coffee pot in his left hand and the small china cups in his right, pouring coffee for the assembled guests. The guests sit on the floor forming two lines facing each other. Important guests sit closest to the hearth –the more important, the closer. The guest of honor sits right next to the host on his right. Uninvited guests and men of lower rank sit at the end, by the exit door, near the outside door, where guests remove and leave their shoes. (To indicate the low status of a man, one says, “So-and-so sits near the shoes.”) Such guests rarely participate in the conversation, and they are the last to be served coffee. The conversation is concentrated around the fire-hearth. The affability of the host infuses the atmosphere with a spirit of congeniality and comradeship.

When coffee is served, the cups are handed round starting with the highest ranked in the assembly in the place of honor at the right hand of the host. But as a cup passes on the right from one man to the next, it bypasses idle men and the lower ranking individuals who take their seat at the lower end of the social and moral order represented by the coffee assembly. Those are not given coffee until the more respected men have drunk the first round. It is a grave insult to call a man ya maggab al-finjal, “thou who art bypassed when the cup goes round.” The coffee cup is a serious symbol which is not to be taken lightly. After a battle, a heavily spiced cup is handed to heroes who perform outstanding feats of courage. Before a major battle, the tribal chief pours a cup of coffee saying this is the cup of so and so, who will drink it? He names the most feared warrior in the enemy camp. Whoever drinks the cup commits himself to meeting that enemy warrior in a duel and try to kill him.

At the beginning of the evening the conversation is restricted to a discussion of mundane and frivolous matters and to the exchange of greetings and pleasantries with newcomers. But as the evening goes on, the conversation becomes more structured and elevated. The transition may be gradual, or it may be abrupt. After a few rounds of coffee, and after all the important men have been introduced to one another and have chatted for a while, there is a sudden lull in the conversation, followed by a moment of silence. Then, the host or one of the senior guests near the hearth asks a question such as: “By the way, which of you, honored men of this assembly, knows the poem composed by so-and-so on such-and-such occasion?” This prompts one of the guests to clear his throat and recite the poem and the occasion which led to its composition. This recitation may be followed by a discussion of the historical accuracy and artistic merit of the poem. If another poet has composed a response to the first poem, then that poetic response may also be recited by whoever knows it. From there, the discussion my drift to which tribe has the best poets, or who is the poet most esteemed by the people and whose verses are the most appealing. Such questions can split the assembly into different factions which engage in a lively discussion interspersed with choice poetic examples. The conversation may focus on the artistry and beauty of poetry, or it may focus on poetry as the catalyst of noble actions. If a poet happens to be in the group, he will most likely contribute the most to the conversation, reciting not only his own poetry but also that of others. As it grows later in the evening, two or three men dominate the conversation, bouncing words between them like balls and passing the conversation gently from one to another in an orchestrated manner. Only an unpolished churl would talk when it is not his turn, or talk about irrelevant and trivial matters, thus tossing the conversational ball out of the field.

Making and serving coffee is a significant theme in desert poetry. Many a poet begins his composition with a few lines describing the details of this ritual. Many a poet begins his composition with a few lines describing the details of serving and making of coffee. Throughout the ages desert poets kept on chiseling delicately with their artistic tools on the theme of coffee till eventually they managed to extricate it from being a subsidiary theme in a long poem and blew it up and turned it into an independent full fledged poetic topic in its own right. Many poets achieved fame through their coffee poems, like abu Nawas achieved fame through his wine poems.

When the poet feels the spark of inspiration stirring inside him, he fixes himself a cup of coffee to clear his head and help him compose. Coffee making is as elaborate and absorbing a ritual as composition. The way a man makes his coffee is his numas, since it reflects his nimbleness, alertness, composure, tact, and taste. A man takes as much pride in his coffee making as he does in his poetic composition. Coffee making involves building the fire, boiling the water, slowly roasting the coffee beans, pounding the roasted beans rhythmically in a brass mortar, throwing the ground coffee into the boiling pot, letting it boil for a few minutes, drawing it away from the fire and letting it settle, crushing the cardamom seeds, casting the right amount of crushed cardamom into a fresh pot, pouring the coffee that was left to settle into this fresh pot, letting it just come to a boil with the cardamom, withdrawing the pot from the embers, and leaving it for a while to settle and become clear. In other words, coffee making and composition are both patterned activities, except that one is manual whereas the other is purely mental. It is this resemblance in one way and difference in another that makes these two activities go together so nicely; each is in some way a mimesis of the other. While the poet makes his coffee he also makes his poem, deciding its rhyme, meter, and opening line. By the time the coffee is ready, the poem is well on its way. As he sips his coffee, the poet reviews his poem, revises its verses, and adds some finishing touches. Finally the poet, having finished his coffee, closes his poem with a line of prayer for peace upon the soul of the Prophet.

Coffee poetry goes beyond the mere descriptions of coffee preparation to connect the rituals of coffee serving with moral qualities, which embody the ideals and chivalrous virtues of desert society. Bedouin poets differ in their treatment of the coffee theme from the town poets who treated coffee merely as a poetic subject giving elaborate details of the process of its making and serving. The town poet usually ends up drinking his coffee alone while composing his poem. Town poets did not infuse their coffee poems with human and chivalrous qualities, as was the case with Bedouin poets who found in coffee a rich theme, which they employed skillfully to stress tribal values and nomadic codes. Since it was first introduced into the Arabian Desert, coffee had become a symbol of chivalry and manly qualities. It has offered a perfect substitute for the wine theme and the associated concept of futuwwah “noble manliness” in pre-Islamic poetry.  The description of coffee preparation and the values associated with its serving reminds us of wine poetry in pre-Islamic times.

From his carefully prepared coffee pot, the Bedouin poet imagines himself offering the first cup of honor to the worthy man of deed who deserves it; he who single-handedly covers the retreat of his comrades, he who drives pursuers away from those comrades whose mares are slow, he who assists fallen comrades, and, above all, to the generous man who has around his tent mounds of ashes and coffee dregs resembling the dirt heap of a recently dug water well and whose tent flaps are always dripping with grease because of the many guests who wipe their hands on them after partaking of their hosts sumptuous meals. The poet may conclude his composition by stating that he will not present the cup to men who meekly obey their wives, the good for nothing lad who ponders his own shadow and men who have grown old on unfulfilled promises. But deserving of his scorn most of all are the scoundrel or the slothful who have never gone on a raid and who raise herds to sell in the market instead of slaughtering them for hungry guests. Many such poems illustrate the well-documented Bedouin disdain for capital accumulation for its own sake and for trade.