A post about coffee you don’t want to miss!

· by · in Greek culture, Greek Recipes 2, Uncategorized. ·

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Yesterday it was International Coffee Day, so to celebrate the occasion I made myself this cup of Greek coffee, then I had the notion to blog about it. I thought it would be nice to present Greek coffee to you and then tell you all about this amazing article I read the other day… it lists the benefits of coffee-drinking for everyone, and especially for professionals like… authors! Intrigued? Good! I guarantee you’ll be amazed by the end of this post!
So, to start with, let me share with you a little about Greek coffee!
In case you didn’t know, Greek coffee is prepared in a small pot called a briki. It has a long handle and a spout so that when the beverage is ready, you can pour it into your tiny, special teacup. You don’t have to buy a set of six if you’re ever in Greece and want to take your new favorite habit home with you! Any souvenir shop is bound to stock individual teacups so you can buy one or two that sport a nice image from your holiday destination.
Greek coffee is strong so I wouldn’t recommend drinking it after 5 p.m. unless you’d welcome insomnia. Another word of warning, careful when you drink it, not to get to the powdery yukiness at the bottom. Doesn’t taste good – so leave some liquid towards the end, just in case!

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The coffee itself tastes something divine. Make sure to pick either of the two classic brands: Bravo or Loumidis (my favorite is Loumidis despite the old Bravo tin in this photo!) They don’t all taste the same so don’t go for anything else or you’ll never know what a unique experience this coffee can be! Having said that, there’s wonderful coffee on offer in all ‘kafekopteia’, i.e. shops that sell freshly ground coffee by weight – the divine smell will lure you in if you pass one by!
How to prepare Greek coffee!

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Fill your tiny teacup with water, stopping just before the rim. Empty the water into the briki. Turn on the heat and leave it on high. Add 1 heaped teaspoon of coffee. Now, the sugar depends on how you like it, and that’s how you’ll order it to the waiter, by the way:
Enan kafe, SKETO (this means neat, so no sugar)
Enan kafe, METRIO (this means moderate, so use 1 level teaspoon of sugar)
Enan kafe, GLIKO (this means sweet, so use 2 level teaspoons of sugar)
For your first cup, try METRIO (that’s how I enjoy mine, by the way)
So, add the sugar (if using) to the liquid and wait till you hear sounds from the briki which obviously indicates the contents are starting to heat up. Take your teaspoon and start stirring continuously (and fast) for about 20-30 seconds. You’ll see froth and vapors in the briki. Stop stirring and watch the contents. As the coffee rises, it froths more and more. Take it off the heat anytime you like, before it reaches the top. Serve immediately, let it settle for a few minutes and then enjoy it with your favorite brand of biscuit (or cookie). Mine is Miranda Papadopoulou. Do give them a try if you’re ever in Greece!
Important: Don’t dunk cookies in the coffee. Drink the coffee on its own and only then have cookies or anything else sweet, otherwise it will taste bitter and awful.
Now, on to the blog post I promised you earlier. I found it on this awesome site called Lifehack.Once you get on there, you become addicted! There’s a whole lot of subjects on offer, and some incredible posts indeed. Take the specific post for instance:
Did you know that coffee drinkers live longer or that coffee makes you smarter?
Head over to LifeHack to read all about it: 8 Reasons Why Coffee Drinkers Are More Likely to Succeed

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Enjoy it with a steaming cup of coffee!

 

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Do you enjoy Greek food? My historical romance, The Ebb, that’s set in Corfu, brims over with tastes and smells of delicious Greek dishes. Check it out on Amazon: http://bit.ly/1WM8BRy

Hungry for more? Browse through all my recipes here: https://effrosinimoss.wordpress.com/category/greek-recipes-2/

30 responses to “A post about coffee you don’t want to miss!”

  1. Best description of the Greek coffee ever! Of course, in English it’s known as Turkish coffee. Ironically enough, in Turkey it’s called an Arab coffee- which is probably the most accurate name, as coffee drinking is believed to originate in the Arab peninsula.

    According to the legend, a herder noticed how energized his camels were after nibbling coffee beans. He tried some (coffee beans, not camels), but found them too bitter to eat, so he experimented with boiling them. However, some beans ended up in the fire, and the aroma enticed him to use those beans instead of raw ones. The final step was the grinding, which presumably was the result of further experimentation by our intrepid shepherd 🙂

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  7. I had an ESL student who couldn’t wait to go home to Saudi Arabia and have a good Turkish coffee. He said something about it being good and strong enough to hold up a teaspoon in it. Sounds too strong for me, but I do like a good black coffee.
    Interesting post about coffee. Thanks.

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    • LOL – I see what your friend meant. Although, please note, I can’t have too much caffeine for health reasons so cannot have a Greek frappe or an espresso, but Greek coffee is ok for me as long as I don’t have it too often. This means it’s not as strong as you would think and you’d be okay to try it at least once. Being a black coffee drinker, it sounds like you’d love it 🙂 Thank you for stopping by!

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  10. Great description of coffee here. It seems very similar to Italian espresso, although I’m not sure it tastes the same but the method of making it is similar. 🙂

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  11. Interesting topic, Effrosyni!

    I don’t like GREEK coffee at all. I tried it for a while but could not get used to it. I love a fredo once in a while…No American coffee either.

    I make Greek coffee for my husband every morning. A “connoisseur” told me once how to do it and snce then my hubby loves it.

    I measure the sugar and coffe in the briki and add the measured in the flitzani water. I place it on a small flame to begin heating up and then I stiir well and place back on a little higher flame until it rises just below the top.

    My hubby tells me that he loves how I make it (Bari Glyko) and pour it. ..always with bubbles. We keep expecting money to come to us, but nothing yet.:-) We are not giving up.

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    • Your comment made me laugh, Katina. For me, the words ‘Vari Glyko’ bring to mind Greek men with big mustaches – LOL. You know, the old style Greeks who were very traditional in every way. Is your husband a traditional Greek, I wonder? Bless – he sounds lovely. Yes, bubbles is a big thing! I always try to have as many as possible. And I think I saved face by having a couple showing in the photos here 😀 About having money come to you, I thought this quaint Greek superstition refers to spilling the coffee as you serve it, not if it has bubbles? I could be wrong and I trust a traditional Greek to know better than me, so there! Thank you for your visit, Katina mou, I appreciate it 🙂

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  12. You made me laugh too, Effrosyni mou! Yes! My hubby is the traditional kind, or he pretends to…more so when we first got married than now. He is the man I love for over 50 years. He loves me too, especially since I make his coffee the way he likes it.

    Never knew about the spill. I will try that next time. Perhaps then we will win the lottery 😉

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