White Coffee (Qahwa Bayda)

The cup arrives hot, the liquid inside is clear and it smells of flowers. There is no coffee bean in white coffee and no caffeine: boiling water, a few drops of orange blossom water, half a spoon of honey for those who want it. The name marks a place rather than a recipe — it takes the seat coffee would take in the order of hospitality.

What goes in

Two ingredients: boiling water and orange blossom water. A few drops go into the cup; some households use a full spoon and the cup comes out sharper. If it is sweetened it is with honey rather than sugar, and half a spoon at that. It stays colourless, which is where the white in the name comes from.

When it is served

After dinner, to settle the stomach. Also to a guest who does not drink coffee or does not want caffeine late — in a Syrian sitting room nobody is left without a cup, and this fills the gap. It is the one drink that takes coffee’s place in the round.

The opposite of Arabic coffee

Put the two cups side by side and the point is clear. Arabic coffee is cardamom, bitter, dark and waking; white coffee is colourless, floral, faintly sweet and settling. They travel on the same tray and usually in sequence: coffee first, white coffee after.

Making it at home

Boil water, pour it into the cup, add a few drops of orange blossom water. Honey is optional and goes into the hot water. Since the only real ingredient is the blossom water, everything rests on that bottle; it comes from a spice merchant and keeps a year in the kitchen.

Where it is drunk

This is a household drink, not a shop one. It rarely appears on a restaurant menu; its place is the sitting room and the end of the evening meal. For the bottle itself, see the orange blossom water entry — how it is made is there, how it is drunk is here.