The Incense Road - Sufra Time at Mocha Box Coffeehouse

What do the ancient incense routes of Arabia have in common with the mountains of Appalachia? More than you might imagine.

Join us at MochaBox Coffeehouse for Sufra Time: The Incense Road, an immersive evening of Arabian food, fragrance, history, humor, and storytelling—connecting the ancient cultures of Arabia with the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina.

For thousands of years, some of the world's most prized aromatics traveled out of Arabia along legendary trade routes, crossing mountains and deserts by camel caravan and ultimately reaching the great civilizations of the ancient world. Incense became a symbol of wealth, hospitality, ceremony, and luxury—and helped make southern Arabia a land the Romans called Arabia Felix: “Fortunate Arabia.”

But this isn't a history lecture.

Around a shared table, we'll bring that world to life through Arabian food and coffee, the extraordinary fragrance of oud incense, unforgettable stories, and surprising connections between Arabian and Appalachian mountain cultures—from old trade paths and closely guarded treasures to oral storytelling, extended family, and the deeply rooted obligation to welcome a guest.

Along the way, we'll encounter extravagant Roman emperors, camel caravans crossing seemingly impossible terrain, ancient traders who told fantastic stories to protect valuable secrets, and the remarkable ways two mountain cultures separated by an ocean developed traditions that can feel surprisingly familiar to one another.

You'll smell the story as you hear it, taste it as it's told, and experience it in community around the table.

Because beneath the exotic fragrances, ancient trade routes, and thousands of miles separating Arabia from Appalachia lies something wonderfully human:

Hospitality creates community.

Come hungry. Come curious. Come ready to travel a few thousand years without leaving Asheville.

Sufra Time: The Incense Road
Friday, September 4
MochaBox Coffeehouse · Asheville, NC

One table. Two mountain cultures. Thousands of years of stories.