5 of 78

Write now Article Tools

The best hot beverage I ever had, and I have never been able to duplicate, was a drink we had at the home of some Druze friends of my husband.

My husband and his brother own and run a metal shop together. Often Druze are coming and asking them to build machinery, or make a small repair on one of their machines; often they ask for very small favors. My husband's friend, Mahmud's son was getting married, and my husband had been invited to the wedding but was unable to make it. So we decided to come and bring a gift.

It was a Saturday morning, we took our then 12 year old daughter with us and we drove up to a Druze village in the Golan, called Maz del Shams. It's about a forty-five minute drive from where we live, and Mahmud lives near the Syrian border. His house is right on the outskirts of town. It was late fall, not really cold where we live, but near Maz del Shams, very cold, because they are higher up near the mountains.

Druze are extremely hospitable. You can come and visit them for no reason at all, just to say hello and they will be sure to make you stay for quite a spread. You have to stay, because otherwise it will insult them. And unfortunately, women's libbers, it is the women who prepare the food, with the help of their children, of course, but they don't sit with the guests, at least they did not sit with us.

Well, one of their living rooms where we sat had wall-to-wall couches and a T.V. in the center of the room. There was a giant coffee table in the middle of the room. Mahmud's wife was my age at the time (39) and she had nine children. Some of the children were home, and we sat with them too. We all sat quietly and talked and some relatives came in and we talked with them too. There was a nice little fuel stove keeping the room warm, almost making us forget how cold it was outside.

And then some of the food came in. There were trays of nuts and dried fruit, and then Mahmud's wife had one of the children bring in a tray of cinnamon flavored tea with roasted or sugared broken pecans on the top. We are not talking about the fancy flavored teas you buy in the store, we are talking here about the real thing, and the cinnamon was freshly ground into the tea. I don't remember if the nuts were sugared or not but they were not soggy. Not only was the mixture of cinnamon, nuts and tea soothing, it was the tastiest drink I ever had.

One would think such a concoction would be simple to imitate. I've tried. But I can't. I wonder if it's the combination of love, old world secrets, cold mountain air and good old-fashioned hospitality that made it taste so good. But by God, we will never really know.

Learn more about this author, Rocket.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Thoughts on food and beverages?
We want to hear your view. Write now!