Submitted by Leslie.

Growing up my sister and I spent a lot of time with our grandparents. When I think about them, I picture my grandmother making coffee and everyone hanging out in the kitchen. She called it “coffee and” time. The “and” was usually a pastry or bite of something sweet. When I made my first trip to visit my in-laws, I quickly learned that coffee also plays an important role in their family time. In their case, however, the “and” has a different meaning. Coming from a Yemenite background, Hawaij is an essential ingredient in their family cuisine.  Before my trip I was only familiar with the Hawaij spice mix that is curry like and used in soups or as a rub for meats, poultry and fish.  So when my husband asked me if I wanted my coffee with Hawaij, with a straight face, I wasn’t sure how to respond. Curry tasting coffee…mmh, that’s different. I didn’t want to offend anyone and also like keeping an open mind, especially when traveling abroad. So, I said yes. After my first sip I realized that there is in fact a second type of Hawaij mix, used for coffee. And, it tastes and smells good. This mixture is made up of ginger, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon.

Coffee with Hawaij is prepared similar to Turkish coffee. Depending on where you live you can probably buy the spice mix. To make it from scratch experiment with the measurements below according to your taste. When I asked how to make it, the first response was vague (add some of this, a bigger pinch of that, less of this), which was later translated into the directions below. A pinch = between 1/16 and 1/8 of a teaspoon.  Enjoy.

Regions: Asia and Middle East 
Country of Origin: Yemen

Ingredients

Hawaij spice mix: 4 pinches of ground ginger, 1 pinch of ground cinnamon, 1/2 a pinch ground clover, and 1/4 pinch ground  cardamom