This is known as the 'face' of the coffee and you risk offending your guests if they don't get enough. Coffee in the Arab world is usually served sweetened. You can order it with less sugar but sugar-free coffee doesn't appear to feature on any menu. Big cities like Cairo have serious problems with overcrowding and cramped living conditions. Cafes, therefore, provide a haven of relative peace and quiet, away from screaming kids and problems at home - for men anyway, as it is not normal for women to go to cafes.
Men gather in coffee houses to play games, talk, meet friends and even to find work.
There are cafes for different trades, including musicians, where the men sit and wait for orders for work to come in . Female singers and dancers also go to the cafes for work orders but, because it is not considered appropriate for women to go into them, they sit outside in cars instead. Cafes also used to be major sources of music, dancing, storytelling, news and information. Until around 70 years ago, they were important vehicles for the transmission of popular culture, rich sources of cultural references available to everyone, but the development of mass communications gradually brought about the death of the coffee house's traditional role in society. However, during Ramadan, it is still possible to gain a glimpse of cafes as they were in their heyday, when once again, they become centres of entertainment.