# Bitter Coffee (2010)

> A modern Tehran history teacher is transported by a bitter coffee into 1820s Qajar Iran, where his knowledge becomes a comic weapon at a royal court.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/31552

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 102
- Episode runtime: 40 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, drama
- Created by: Mehran Modiri
- Cast: Siamak Ansari, Mohammadreza Hedayati, Mehran Modiri, Elika Abdolrazzaghi, Sahar Zakaria, Reza Feyznorouzi, Maryam Bbakhshi, Sahar Jafari Jozani
- TMDB rating: 7.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1785914/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: playful, satirical, warm, wistful, comedic

## Synopsis

Bitter Coffee (2010-2012) is an Iranian national-television comedy drama series created by Mehran Modiri. History teacher Nima Zand-Karimi (Siamak Ansari) is about to abandon Tehran and his unpaid research when an anonymous call sends him to Niavaran Palace, where a bitter coffee plunges him into the year 1201 of the Persian calendar. There he is rebranded as Mostashar-ol-Molk and drawn into the rivalries of the court of King Jahangir Doloo (Mohammadreza Hedayati) and Queen Fakhr-o-Taj (Elika Abdolrazzaghi). His engine is simple and comic: he wants to get home, and every attempt to use his modern knowledge tangles him deeper in palace intrigue, bureaucratic absurdity and the schemes of ministers. Student Roya Atabaki (Sahar Jafari Jozani), whose dissertation on the turbulent period first brought them together, becomes a counterweight to his scheming. The series runs as a single season of 102 episodes, each about forty minutes long, with a mix of episodic court mishaps and a continuing thread about his return. Its tone is playful and satirical, with a warm, slightly wistful undertone about history and national identity. Fans of Blackadder and Shahrzad will find resonance in its court farce and historical comedy.

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