Common old Omani coffeepots Nizwa style (brass with silver top) The design includes a spike and "coxcomb" in fact the overall design is that of an abstract bird. Techniques used are: chasing, incising, driving and piercing. Different metal parts fixed together by interlocking a sort of "zip" in the metal and hammering flat so it becomes hardly visible. The lid of the coffee pot has little stones inside, so one hears when someone is opening the pot (avoid poisoning risk? ) Ref 1 demonstrates how such a pot is made. Size: 26 cm high.
The Omani dallah is very different form the heavier and less ornate pots made of brass and found elsewhere in the Gulf area.
Arab Name: Dallah (Nizwa style)
Period: 1850-1955. These coffee-pots have not been made over the past 60 years.
Origin: Northern Oman Purchased in Nizwa. (Carter refers to a similar one made in Nizwa by the silver silversmith Rashid bin Khalfan al Sabahiy.
Arabian folklore credits the discovery of coffee (khawa) as a drink to a goatherd named Al Shadri . He observed that his goats did not sleep after eating the leaves and berries of a particular bush. He tried the fruit and found it reduced fatigue and gave him energy. He picked the berries and carried them with him but, over time , they dried out making it difficult to eat the fleshy pulp. To soften the berries, he boiled them in water and coffee drinking began! (see ref 10) Arabian coffee is in fact native to Ethiopia and was introduced to Arabia 400 years ago.
Youtube film showing traditional roasting of coffee-beans and baking bread in Oman:
