Art of Gahwa

Gahwa reflects the spirit of Abu Dhabi and preserves its unique historical traditions, enjoying gahwa offers a new perspective on important customs and ancestral know-how resulting from a singular culture and territory.

Launched on the occasion of the Qasr Al Hosn Festival, the Gahwa is a place oriented towards the future, created in order to host, promote and share this rich heritage. The Gahwa experience invites a dialogue between past and present, tradition and modernity and contemporary practices. In enjoying gahwa, visitors can discover or rediscover this Emirati tradition, make it their own and reintegrate it in their everyday lives. Thanks to the traditions of gahwa, a new way to enjoy meeting with friends and families is established and encouraged.

Within Gahwa, ancestral Emirati stories and the Gahwa tradition are presented and showcased:

The techniques, the raw materials, the utensils, the ceremony of the preparation, the sound of the almnhaaz, the crackling of the fire and the smell of the coffee brewing, the serving in a right to left sequence, the respect of the status and age of the guests, the symbolic stories of the gahwa to drink for peace and mediation (aljah cup) or the gahwa for revenge and honour (althar cup), the skilfulness of the gesture of serving gahwa that creates a pure, thin line of exquisitely flavoured liquid poured into the cup, all are highlighted in order to create an unforgettable scene, a true sensory experience generated by sight, smell and taste.

Serving and drinking gahwa has a ritual with its proper sequence: from the first cup “allheif”, a sign of hospitality, through the second cup “alkeif”, a sign of shared pleasure, to the third cup “sword”, sign of alliance the passage of time slows, and personal and collective stories are woven together in an innovating way.