The Year of Saudi Coffee
On 5 Jumada al-Ula 1443 AH (9 December 2021), His Highness Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, Minister of Culture, named 2022 the "Year of Saudi Coffee": to celebrate coffee as a cultural element tied to the Kingdom's identity, to present it as a distinctive cultural product at home and abroad, and to express the values of generosity and hospitality.
The initiative ran under the Quality of Life Program, one of the Vision 2030 realisation programmes, as an umbrella for every celebration of coffee through the year. It invited government and private bodies and local and international cafés to bring Saudi coffee into their menus and products, alongside competitions and events for the public.
From "Arabic coffee" to "Saudi coffee"
On 28 Jumada al-Akhirah 1443 AH (31 January 2022), the Ministry of Culture, with the Ministry of Commerce, adopted the name "Saudi coffee" for Arabic coffee in all restaurants and cafés in the Kingdom, in support of the Year of Saudi Coffee and because coffee is a cultural element that expresses Saudi identity through its customs and ways of preparing and serving it.
"Saudi coffee" describes a method and a flavour rather than a raw material: it can be made from coffee beans, from the husks, or from almonds.
Events of the year
In 2022 the Ministry of Culture launched the Mdyaf programme for roasters and cafés, in which participants earn points towards a Golden or Silver Dallah, with Khawlani coffee highlighted. With the Culinary Arts Commission it ran the Saudi Coffee Expert project, in which experts served coffee in traditional tents at hotels and explained how it is made.
The Museums Commission held the Saudi Coffee Exhibition at the Masmak Palace Museum in Riyadh from 15 October to 31 December 2022, in five sections named after the cups: al-haif, al-daif, al-kaif, al-saif and al-fares. The Saudi pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai hosted a Saudi Coffee Week with workshops on the coffee's journey and preparation styles.
In October 2022, around International Coffee Day, the Ministry of Culture concluded a one-week campaign in New York, London, Rome and Paris, showing content on Saudi coffee's cultural value, its link to national identity and its meaning of generosity and hospitality, at major tourist sites and on screens in squares and along roads.
Regional roasts
Coffee is prepared with a different colour and taste across the Kingdom's thirteen regions. In the centre it is given a golden roast with cloves and saffron; in the north a darker roast with cloves and saffron; in the south a lighter roast with more spices, including ginger, cinnamon, caraway, cloves and saffron; and in the east a medium roast with saffron.
Growing and processing coffee
Coffee farming in Saudi Arabia is an inherited occupation about 300 years old. It began as a family trade that kept farmers self-sufficient and is now a cash crop supporting incomes in the southern highlands, concentrated in three regions: Jazan, then Aseer, then Al-Baha. Where the coffee tree first grew is not known for certain; studies point to Ethiopia, from where it spread to Yemen, reached Makkah in 1500 and then Madinah.
There are three ways of processing the beans. Natural drying, the oldest, leaves the cherries in the sun for four to six weeks, adding sweetness, a heavier body and a longer shelf life. Washing removes the outer husk mechanically and rinses off the sticky layer before the beans dry in the sun for several days, giving a lighter body and higher acidity. The honey process hand-picks, sorts and cleans the beans while leaving the sticky layer on, giving a medium body that balances acidity and sweetness.
The Saudi Coffee Company and the Coffee Development City
The Public Investment Fund established the Saudi Coffee Company on 15 May 2022 as part of its food and agriculture strategy, to support local production and sustainable farming in Jazan, with an investment of about SAR 1.2 billion over ten years, a target of raising output from 300 to 2,500 tonnes a year, and a training academy.
The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture is building a Coffee Development City in Al-Baha on about 1.6 million square metres, with a model farm, a nursery, a processing and roasting factory and training facilities, aiming to plant about 300,000 trees.