Saudi Gazette No culture in the world has weddings that are as glamorous as Saudi weddings. Beautiful decorations that adorn wedding halls, extravagant flower arrangements, dazzling lighting, and delicious Arabic coffee accompanied by dates, chocolates, and an endless variety of sweet delicacies are a few impressive features of a traditional Saudi wedding. A new trend that started in weddings and other ceremonies being held in the Eastern Province is that Saudi women are circulating the tables to serve coffee, rather than Asian women, as is the norm at most banquets. Young Saudi women skillfully prepare the coffee themselves and then present it to the attendees. Many guests are pleased with this new trend since it is much easier to communicate with caterers who speak the same language. Hiba Hussain, the Saudi entrepreneur who introduced this whole idea, started a business that she named ‘My Coffee.' “When I first decided to start, I called my acquaintances and friends and invited them to join me. Most of the young women on board are college and high school graduates who could not find employment. We started out with only a handful of women and now I have 30 women working with me. I give them the freedom to choose which nights are suitable for them to work and how many days off they want to take. A couple were able to work during evenings and then go back to college during the day to resume their education,” Hiba told Al-Watan Arabic daily newspaper. The only problem that these women face in their new jobs is that their families are usually reluctant to allow them to stay out so late at night, since weddings here usually last until well after midnight. Hiba explained that the amount of money she needed to launch her coffee business was only SR5000. “The start-up cost was low. All I needed was to purchase the tastiest coffee, several new gas flames, coffee pots, kettles, and attractive coffee cups since I use my own at the weddings I cater to. I also bought uniforms for all the girls who would serve coffee at the parties,” she said, Regarding society's reaction to having Saudi women serve coffee at social functions, Hiba explained that all the guests served by these women treated them with utmost respect and the hostesses of the functions were especially appreciative of them. “The brides' mothers usually have a thousand things on their minds, so our business aims to relieve them of the whole task of finding someone to make great coffee and to serve the guests because some banquet halls do not provide this service,” she added. Hiba's creativity has no limits and she continues to amaze the guests at the occasions she caters to. She sometimes brings a melted chocolate fountain or a small coffee fountain. “I make all sorts of coffee – French,Turkish, Arabic coffee, cappuccino, and mocha. I sometimes invent my own flavors of coffee such as a Galaxy chocolate flavor or Mars bar flavor. I always had a love for coffee and my work allows me to share my coffee with other people,” she said. The fresh taste of coffee served by Hiba's team and the excellent quality of services offered by them has gained so much popularity that they have also started receiving requests outside the Kingdom, to serve coffee in Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. __
