Coffee with the principal

Today Mr Omar the principal of the boys school invited me into his office for coffee. He is a very tall man with a commanding presence, a huge smile on his face and very good spoken English. He has spent time working for British Petroleum amongst other companies in Australia and Canada.
I got offered a small glass of coffee, much like the glasses of hibiscus tea you get in Egypt. He then offered me dates which sit on his coffee table. Coffee and dates are part of the meeting protocol. Every meeting begins with dates and coffee or tea. He has a basket of fresh dates which look like small balls, about the same size as a large jaffa. You take the dates, wash them in the bowl of water also on the coffee table and eat. The caramel coloured dates are riper, than the pale yellow dates, so it's a preference thing, slightly over ripe or ripe. I had one of each. The over ripe are sweet and mushy inside the "skin" which you eat too. The ripe dates have that slightly unripe, crispness about them. He also has a bowl of "sticky" dates which look like the brown coloured dates we know. These ones have aged a little more, are quite moist and sweeter than the very fresh dates. I liked those dates in the aging process. All the dates in his office are farmed locally. Dates from around the Gulf have their own particular flavours and colours. Saudi dates are redder and sweeter than UAE dates. Jordanian dates are a darker colour again. While I talk of sweet, its not at all over the top, just a lovely fruit sweet flavour. Dates in olden times were farmed for many reasons eg food, medicinal and used like an oil in combat.