Arabic Coffee

Right now, as I sit in the only air conditioned room in Irbid, Yarmouk University's Language Center computer lab, I enjoy the companionship of a cup my sludgey habibi, Arabic coffee. Arabic coffee is completely different from American style coffee in so many ways. Walking down the street I find stands for it everywhere. Stands that sell nothing but Arabic coffee. On the street across from our apartments there's a store that sells what we would regard in the states as gourmet coffee. The owner of the store roasts his own coffee, adds the spice cardomon to it, and finely grinds it up.
Unlike the generic style of American coffee, Arabic coffee contains ingridients other than coffee. Cardomon pods, one of the most popular spices here is added to the coffee beans. These cardomon pods are ground up with the beans. I spent about an hour last night pondering how to best describe the taste of cardomon to anyone who's never tried it. When added to coffee or tea I'd say cardomon gives a bright spicey lavendery flavor. The delicate spice flavor of the tea earl grey comes close to the taste of cardom. However this is my opinion; if someone else tries it they might think differently. In the grinder, the coffee beans are ground to an almost talcom powder consistency. When it comes out of the grinder, Arabic coffee, because of the cardomon, has a fragrance distinct from other coffee.
Brewing Arabic Coffee is also completely different from the way we brew coffee in the States. Compared to the way we make American coffee, Arabic coffee is made with about twice the amount of coffee grounds. These grounds are affectionately dumped into a unique saucer which probably has some unique Arabic name. I just don't know it. I'd describe it as a mini saucer with a long handle sticking out so you can serve it. Usually when I make Arabic coffee, I add about a tablespoon and a half of sugar. Because more grounds of coffee are served to water compared to American coffee, Arabic coffee tends to be very bitter without sugar.
After the coffee finishes boiling in the saucer, I tend to drink it or serve it. Here comes what I think is the beauty of Arabic coffee; you don't filter the grounds out! As you drink this amazing drink, the powder like grounds fall to the bottom. Apparently this is unusual to American standards but I sometimes like to eat the left over grounds at the bottom. This might explain why I was pondering about how to describe cardomon since I haven't been able to sleep too well after drinking 4 cups of coffee. Also... Arabic coffee is typically served in small cups so 4 cups would be like 1 1\2 American coffee servings... sahih... wadih? (that means is that clear? Our teachers often say that when they teach us something that we had no idea was).
One important tidbit, there is a difference between Arabic coffee and Turkish coffee. Apparently there's no cardomon in Turkish coffee while cardomon is an integral ingridient to Arabic coffee... or so I've been told.
When the semester starts up again in the fall, I'll have to make Arabic coffee for my friends at William and Mary so they can experience it.