page_title: Coffeehouse
section_title: Middle East and Asia
hierarchical_section_title: Coffeehouse / Format / Middle East and Asia
caption_attribution_description: English: Rustic Barista Specialty Coffee in Korat
context_page_description: A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks such as iced coffee and iced tea; in continental Europe, cafés serve alcoholic drinks. A coffeehouse may also serve food such as light snacks, sandwiches, muffins or pastries. Coffeehouses range from owner-operated small businesses to large multinational corporations. Some coffeehouse chains operate on a franchise business model, with numerous branches across various countries around the world.
  While café may refer to a coffeehouse, the term "café" generally refers to a diner, British café, "greasy spoon", transport café, teahouse or tea room, or other casual eating and drinking place. A coffeehouse may share some of the same characteristics of a bar or restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. Many coffeehouses in the Middle East and in West Asian immigrant districts in the Western world offer shisha, flavored tobacco smoked through a hookah. An espresso bar is a type of coffeehouse that specializes in serving espresso and espresso-based drinks.
context_section_description: In the Middle East, the coffeehouse (Arabic: مقهى‎ maqha; Persian: قهوه خانه‎ qahveh-khaneh; Turkish: kahvehane or kırâthane) serves as an important social gathering place for men. Men assemble in coffeehouses to drink coffee (usually Arabic coffee) and tea. In addition, men go there to listen to music, read books, play chess and backgammon, watch TV and enjoy other social activities around the Arab world and in Turkey. Hookah (shisha) is traditionally served as well.
  Coffeehouses in Egypt are colloquially called 'ahwah /ʔhwa/, which is the dialectal pronunciation of قَهْوة qahwah (literally "coffee") (see also Arabic phonology#Local variations). Also commonly served in 'ahwah are tea (shāy) and herbal teas, especially the highly popular hibiscus blend (Egyptian Arabic: karkadeh or ennab). The first 'ahwah opened around the 1850s and were originally patronized mostly by older people, with youths frequenting but not always ordering. There were associated by the 1920s with clubs (Cairo), bursa  (Alexandria) and gharza (rural inns). In the early 20th century, some of them became crucial venues for political and social debates.
  In India, coffee culture has expanded in the past twenty years. Chains like Indian Coffee House, Café Coffee Day, Barista Lavazza have become very popular. Cafes are considered good venues to conduct office meetings and for friends to meet.
  In China, an abundance of recently started domestic coffeehouse chains may be seen accommodating business people for conspicuous consumption, with coffee prices sometimes even higher than in the West.
  In Malaysia and Singapore, traditional breakfast and coffee shops are called kopi tiam. The word is a portmanteau of the Malay word for coffee (as borrowed and altered from English) and the Hokkien dialect word for shop (店; POJ: tiàm). Menus typically feature simple offerings: a variety of foods based on egg, toast, and coconut jam, plus coffee, tea, and Milo, a malted chocolate drink that is extremely popular in Southeast Asia and Australasia, particularly Singapore and Malaysia.
  In the Philippines, coffee shop chains like Starbucks became prevalent in upper and middle class professionals especially in Makati. However, Carinderias also serve coffee alongside viands. Events such as "Kapihan" often officiated at bakeshops and restaurants that also served coffee for breakfast and merienda.
  In Thailand, the term "café" is not only a coffeehouse in the international definition, as in other countries, but in the past was considered a night restaurant that serves alcoholic drinks during a comedy show on stage. The era in which this type of business flourished was the 1990s, before the 1997 financial crisis. 
  The first real coffeehouse in Thailand opened in 1917 at the Si Kak Phraya Si in the area of Rattanakosin Island, by Madam Cole, an American woman who living in Thailand at that time, Later, Chao Phraya Ram Rakop (เจ้าพระยารามราฆพ), Thai aristocrat, opened a coffeehouse named "Café de Norasingha" (คาเฟ่นรสิงห์) located at Sanam Suea Pa (สนามเสือป่า), the ground next to the Royal Plaza. At present, Café de Norasingha has been renovated and moved to within Phayathai Palace. In the southern region, a traditional coffeehouse or kopi tiam is popular with locals, like many countries in the Malay Peninsula.
caption: A shop specialised in drip coffee in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "X-T3", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 8.2 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2019:02:16 13:48:12", "Image ExifOffset": "210", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "938", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "21778", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/35", "EXIF FNumber": "18/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "500", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:02:10 15:20:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:02:10 15:20:51", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5129283/1000000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1847997/500000", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "341/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "67/100", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "23", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "43505143/16384", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "43505143/16384", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "8CQ07226", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[23, 23, 2, 2]", "EXIF LensMake": "FUJIFILM", "EXIF LensModel": "XF23mmF2 R WR", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "78A11169"}