News

Coffee without end: Oasis village tests limits of hospitality

In the palm-lined Saudi oasis village of Jubbah, residents provide hospitality as extreme as the desert elements – even too extreme for some locals. “You will enjoy it,” says an Uber driver in Hail who has family in Jubbah. “But they will host you until it hurts.”

Jubbah is a village whose residents never close their doors, an invitation for anyone to walk in unannounced. “Here you are judged by your hospitality,” says tour guide Rami Shimri, pouring coffee at his home at the entrance to Jubbah.

Why We Wrote This

How generous is too generous? In the Saudi oasis village of Jubbah, where doors are never closed, hospitality that once served as a lifeline for desert travelers pushes politeness, and guests’ capacities, to the limits.

Once the invitations begin, in home after home, it’s an endurance test of politeness – and the stomach. A culinary cycle quickly emerges: coffee, dates, tea; coffee, dates, tea, and biscuits; coffee, dates, fruit, and tea.

Hosts do not take “no” for an answer. “Please show us mercy, we have already drunk 20 cups of coffee today!” says one Saudi visitor. “I can’t have another date,” says another, clutching his stomach.

“Just put the coffee pot down,” a Saudi guest says to his host, in a break from Arab etiquette. “This is only the introductory coffee,” the host says, stone-faced. “I invite you for an informal coffee at my residence out back. Now, please eat.”

Alighting from an Uber at the souq in downtown Hail, the reporter gets a warning from his young driver about his next destination.

“Don’t eat or drink before you go to Jubbah,” he says.

It’s an odd and ominous warning to receive in Hail, a northern Saudi region so famous for hospitality that it has inspired centuries-old Arabic poems and modern Youtube videos – and where you are never more than a few minutes away from your next lunch invitation.

Why We Wrote This

How generous is too generous? In the Saudi oasis village of Jubbah, where doors are never closed, hospitality that once served as a lifeline for desert travelers pushes politeness, and guests’ capacities, to the limits.

But in the palm-lined oasis village of Jubbah, 72 miles north of Hail in the desert, where generosity toward guests was ingrained in generations who endured severe hardship, residents provide hospitality as extreme as the elements – even too extreme for Hail locals.

“You will enjoy it,” advises the driver, who today lives in Hail but has family back in Jubbah, “but they will host you until it hurts.”

Previous ArticleNext Article