AFP, Riyadh :
Crowds are jamming the aisles of a Riyadh coffee and chocolate exhibition this week, as Saudis indulge the country’s sweet tooth and craze for caffeine.
The International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition, which opened Tuesday and will run to Friday, is billed as the largest of its kind in the Middle East.
In its third year, the 2016 exhibition is the biggest yet with 130 exhibitors, despite a slowing economy that has seen Saudis cut back on even routine expenditures.
Saudi Arabia has a long history with coffee-which spread from Ethiopia to Yemen and then to the rest of the Middle East around the 15th century.
Crowds are jamming the aisles of a Riyadh coffee and chocolate exhibition this week, as Saudis indulge the country’s sweet tooth and craze for caffeine.
The International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition, which opened Tuesday and will run to Friday, is billed as the largest of its kind in the Middle East.
In its third year, the 2016 exhibition is the biggest yet with 130 exhibitors, despite a slowing economy that has seen Saudis cut back on even routine expenditures.
Saudi Arabia has a long history with coffee-which spread from Ethiopia to Yemen and then to the rest of the Middle East around the 15th century.
