On-the-road café brews coffee on heated tray of sand

IRBID — There are dozens of cafés on the highway linking Amman with cities in the northern region, but one coffee vendor wants to offer customers a different taste. 

Mohammad Awadin, who owns a coffee shop on the highway near Irbid, brews coffee on a heated tray of sand. 

As one of the first shops to open more than 15 years ago, it should offer coffee drinkers something different, Awadin said. 

"Hundreds of commuters are loyal to our shop, so we thought of a new way of making coffee to keep customers happy and to attract new ones," the café proprietor told The Jordan Times on Friday night. 

Abdullah, a worker at the café, said people find this method of preparing coffee offers a better, more delicate flavour. 

"This way of brewing Turkish coffee has attracted many new customers," he said while gently stirring the mixture on top of the large sand-filled container. 

Watching cars parking near highway cafés to grab a coffee is a regular scene when travelling from Irbid to Amman or vice versa. 

With thousands of cars travelling on the 80-kilometre highway every day, dozens of shops have opened on both sides of the road. 

Ranging from small kiosks to large cafés, the outlets sell not only coffee but also water, cigarettes and snacks for the road.

"Increasing competition between shops pushed us to think of another way to prepare coffee for motorists," Awadin said.