What Souvenirs to Bring from Saudi Arabia – Part Six of the Top 15 Ideas for Gift Shopping.
Traditional Arabic coffee pot or dallah.
A genuine Saudi vintage bronze dallah will make an impressive decoration piece. If you are lucky to find such dallah in the souks of Saudi Arabia, post a photo here so we all would be able to admire your piece of authentic Saudi art. But is it being used in the nowadays Arabian households?
Coffee set in Saudi Arabian house
The process of coffee brewing in the bedouin Saudi Arabia required special tools and was part of the welcoming ritual.
Arabic coffee-making ritual.
Image source: “The Bedouins of Saudi Arabia” book by Thierry Mauger, 1988
Every bedouin household would have an iron pan with a long handle for roasting coffee beans, and a matching stirrer mounted to it.
Roasting pan, stirrer and bellows, wooden coffee box for hot roasted beans, braided leather bags for coffee beans and spice, from the Najd area of Saudi Arabia.
Image source: “Traditional Crafts of Saudi Arabia” book by John Topham, 2005
The coffee making sequence would include initial coffee beans roasting, grounding by hand with mortar and pestle, boiling the water in one dallah, then pouring it into the second dallah containing ground beans, putting the second dallah to boil and adding spice, filtering the fibers and grounds that haven’t settled, and finally pouring the ready coffee into a third nicely decorated dallah for serving.
Arabian coffee making in process
Read what Charles Montagu Doughty wrote in his diary during the travels in the Arabian lands in the late 19th century about the meaning of the coffee drinking ritual to the bedouins:
Descriptive citation of the nineteenth century westerner that witnessed coffee making process performed by a bedouin in the Arabian Desert.
Image source: “Travels in Arabia Deserta” book by Charles Montagu Doughty
The coffee drinking was considered an important part of the social life. You will be surprised to find that the sequence and way of offering the first cup of coffee in the old times doesn’t differ from the modern order. This is how Charles Montagu Doughty continues his narrative:
Extract from the book by a nineteenth’s century traveler
Image source: “Travels in Arabia Deserta” book by Charles Montagu Doughty
I can’t stop quoting early travelers describing their experience of the Arabian coffee ritual.
Image source: Personal Narrative of a Year’s Journey Through Central and Eastern Arabia (1862-63) book by William Gifford Palgrave
A nomad blacksmith would spend up to four months crafting one bronze dallah. He would put his “trademark” on the side as a sign of the guaranteed quality.
Bedouin blacksmith’s stamp with his initials.
Image source: “Traditional Crafts of Saudi Arabia” book by John Topham, 2005
One of the rare photos of a Saudi blacksmith working on one of his creations was taken by an Italian named Ilo “the Pirate” Batigelli who was working in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom for Saudi Aramco in the years 1946-1954. The young Italian has got his nickname “pirate” as he had his photo studio built in a shack by the seaside.
Image source: “Traditional Crafts of Saudi Arabia” book by John Topham, 2005
Album of photographs of Ilo the Pirate was sold at the Sotheby’s for 10.000GBP
Prices for some rare dallahs may exceed 30.000USD. At the exhibition of antique coffee pots that took place in Saudi Arabia some of the exhibits were over four centuries old (I would advise to watch a 2-minutes video that comes with the article).
The tradition of making Arabian coffee pots is still alive in the modern Saudi Arabia. Latifa Alwaalan, a young Saudi lady, has invented “the modern dallah”, an electronic version of the coffee pot of her ancestors.
“Modern Arabian coffee pot” in a traditional setting, by Lateefa Alwaalan
Lateefa Alwaalan’s invention was honorably mentioned in the Middle East Forbes Magazine. Her company “Yatooq” offers electronic coffee pots in gold and silver color, along with special blond blend instant coffee with cardamom, saffron and spice, which can be found in many supermarket chains across Saudi Arabia. Check if the device will comply with your home country socket standards!
Meanwhile the knowledge of bronze dallahs making fades away in other countries of the Gulf. I’ve read an article about “the last of the Emirati dallah maker” three years ago.
Ismail Ali al Hassan was 74 at that time. Nowadays he still uses the tools that he had in 1940ies. He’s been working on the world’s largest dallah at the time of giving the interview. I wonder if he has finished the project.
One more beautiful sample of pure silver Saudi dallah.
Image source: one of the online auction websites
Now that you know a few stories about the famous Arabian coffee pot, go on a hunt for your perfect dallah! Be cautious however: I believe that most of the dallahs sold in the Saudi souks were made in India or elsewhere, and are being misrepresented for Saudi made. I happened to stumble upon a listing in Alibaba website, where they had bronze dallahs with a stamp that looked like an Arabic blacksmith mark, sold in bulk from India. I have no idea how to tell the genuine dallah from a fake, so buy at your own discretion.
Continue to the next post of the Top Ten Ideas for Gift Shopping Series.
