Tea-milk and other newfangled mashrubat

Because of finals and papers and other sorts of end of the semester nastiness, Helen, Lise and I decided to make this weekend one last quiet weekend in Cairo. Those papers (more precisely avoiding writing them) is also the reason I'm guestblogging for the first time. But of course bringing myself to talk about something in depth would be akin to doing work - thus the subject of the day is something quite mundane - beverages (mashrubat in Arabic). I'm a fan of liquids in general so I figured it would be a good place to start my internet-literary career.

When I first came to Cairo this summer, I was taking classes at a small Arabic school called Al-Diwan Center in Nasr City, one of the outer areas of Cairo. The school had two buildings on parallel streets and in each building was a man named Mohammed who did odd jobs and made tea. The Mohammed in the first center was skinny, young, quiet, and kind - and he made a mean Nescafe. I had class in the 2nd center and our Mohammed was grinning, joking, bald so it looked like he was always shining because his teeth and head would reflect the institutional florescent lights. He wasn't a champ at beverage brewing, but he was ours.

The first week I was religious about only drinking bottled water to spare my poor delicate American stomach from the horrors of African parasites. Summer in Cairo means either tons of water or dehydration. Sometimes I veered towards the latter, but I tried to make myself drink one big 1.5 liter bottle of water every day. At Diwan I was shy the first few days about asking for something to drink, but one cotton-tongued day, I asked for water and drank a 1.5 liter bottle in about 20 minutes.

(Now don't complain, I warned that this entry would be a bit.... *yawn*)

About a week after drinking a liter bottle of water every day at school I realized that it wasn't really bottled water, it was just water in a bottle - Cairo tapwater in a bottle. I should have realized earlier because tapwater here is disgusting. It's perfectly safe, as I then realized, but it tastes absolutely awful - worse than even Florida water.

Because the water is so gross, it's usually much better when you put things in it, which Caireans have down. Tea (Shaay in Arabic) here is a way of life, a social nicety, something to occupy your hands. Loose tea dust and lots of sugar are poured into the bottom of the glass and covered with hot water. You have to be careful with the last few sips so you don't end chewing your tea instead of drinking it. Walking down some of the busiest streets downtown near AUC you'll see men leaning up against the glass windows of their shoe store or clothing shops, nursing tea and watching people pass. Their tea glasses are small enough to envelop in one hand - handles are for wimps.

On every single street in Cairo you'll find little hole-in-the-wall 'ahwas where middle aged men sit drinking tea and coffee ('ahwa in Egyptian Arabic), smoking sheesha, playing backgammon, and just watching the world go by. Arabic coffee is thick, ususally sweet, and sometimes flavored with cardamom. As with the tea, the sediment settles on the bottom so impatient people (i.e. me) end up eating their coffee as well as drinking it. 'Ahwas are institutions really and are found everywhere from across AUC to our quiet neighborhood next to the grain and spice store two doors down from the apartment. They are male-only which is more understood than enforced really. If I sat down in an 'ahwa I might be served (especially since I'm foreign) but more likely would just get weird looks and maybe a comment or two.

Even though Cairo is a huge city, 'ahwas are just an example of how life is a bit slower, taken a bit easier here. Patience is definitely a virtue, whether it's running to twenty different offices to get one visa application filed or whether it's just waiting for your tea to settle before taking your first sip.

The tea-milk of the title was a great comment Helen made one tea-drinking day about the possibilities of the tea leaf and/or bag. We talked about tea infused desserts, peppermint tea-flavored hot chocolate, but the best suggestion was definitely tea-milk (Wouldn't it be really cool if we flavored milk with different kinds of tea!.....Oh, yeah that would just be making tea- with milk) :)

My tea is probably cool enough to drink by now, so I'll leave this as Part I and finish the other drinkables at a later date.