The holy city of Karbala was famous for its many cafés and coffee shops since the ancient times, as every one of them was a headquarter to the elders, dignitaries and poets, as well as writers and intellectuals who frequented them on daily basis, especially at the night time to spend their free time and to have a cup of tea, coffee or to smoke Hookah.
The men of the city were having good talks about the most important issues of the Karbala's daily reality. Most of these conversations were related to the political affairs and to resolve the conflicts occur between any two parties, as well as to read poems among popular poets. The most famous coffee shops at that time were:
Ali Hadla Café: Which were located in the "Sa'achiyah" market, and has been demolished because of the opening of a street between the two holy mosques. This cafe was famous for its attendees of the fugitives from compulsory military service during the Ottoman era. As the cafe owner had led a struggle against the Ottoman authorities in 1872 AD.
Al-Mostawfi Café: it was located in the Bab Al-Taq district near Al-Maleh Public Bath and was frequented by the people of the region and the nearby shops.
Haj Karim Al-Nasraoui's Café: This café was located in the entrance of the "Carpenters Market", and was frequented by merchants, labor and members of the Karbala tribes.
Sayyid Hussein Al-Hindi's Café: this one was located cross the street from the train station outside the city center of Karbala. The café's owner has brought the first radio device in Karbala ever, which was called then "The Singing Box ".
There were also many other cafes that are still stuck in the minds of the people of the holy city of Karbala, such as the Abbas Mal Allah café, Jihad al-Baghdadi café and Abd al-Hussein al-Qahwati café, as well as the Hussein Abu Sha'ir café, Hasan Jada café and Hussein al-Balushi café, and many others.
It is worth mentioning that these ancient heritage cafes have been demolished and were turned into large houses and commercial shops, while there are other café who have no heritage history had been emerged.
Source:
"Karbala - History And Heritage": The series of publications of The Karbala Center for Studies and Research, by Saied Rasheed Zumaizm.
