At the Arashk Cafe, My Rials Are No Good
When I heard there was a place that sold lattes right down the street from the Armenian church in Esfahan, I hightailed it right over. And when Elham and his sister heard that I owned a cafe in the US, well that made it a day to celebrate!
They refused my 20,000 rials for the latte, and instead put me on the phone with his wife, who excitedly told me to send this photo to them.
The farsi word for coffee is Arashk, which is the name of their little cafe here. They are just a few of the many wonderfully friendly Iranians we’ve met here who are so eager to share their tastes, sounds, smells, and lattes with any visiting Americans.
I laugh when I read the well-intentioned emails I got saying, ‘stay safe’ and ‘be careful.’ I think I’m safer here than in many US cities, since Iranians only want to take care of you and know more about you…and maybe sell you a few carpets too!
March 23, 2009 @ 8:26 pm
HI glad you had a good time there but…The persian/farsi word for coffee is not Arashk in any dialect.Arashk was the name of some king or soldier who lived thousands of years a go.the word for coffee in iran is “Ghah-veh” really.I encourage you to check this with more iranians and I promise you that they will agree with me.oh and the iranian money is called Toomawn today since the 1979 and rial is like saying penny ,it has no use!from an Iranian/Canadianbye Edmonton ab Canada