A short walk up from Khatmiya, a string of informal cafes sits among the giant tumbled boulders at the foot of Jebel Totil. Most are no more than a few low cushions, a charcoal fire, and a woman with a clay jebbana — the long-spouted Sudanese coffee pot — but they serve some of the best coffee in the country.
The Kassala speciality is jebbana coffee spiced with cinnamon and ginger, served alongside a stick of burning incense and a small dish of popcorn. The pot is brought to a slow boil over a tiny brazier, the grounds settle, and the coffee is poured in a long thin stream from above. A round is two or three small cups; refills are essentially the point of the visit.
Thursday and Friday evenings are particularly lively — weddings often gather here, with drumming and singing under the rocks. Behind the cafes is the well of Totil. Locals say if you drink from it you will return to Kassala.