Greek coffee, a healthy coffee

I guess that Shakespeare's verses: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet", could apply to greek coffee as well.

Whether it is called Turkish, Cypriot, Armenian or Greek coffee, as I prefer to call it - as my national duty dictates-, the particularity of this coffee is the way it is prepared: "finely powdered roast coffee beans are boiled in a special pot, the briki, with sugar according to taste, before being served into a cup where the dregs settle". By doing this the taste and aroma of the coffee is retained: a wonderful and particular smell: A smell that reminds of mediterranean sea and middle east, of summer and basil. And a taste that brings to mind joyful companies and bitter farewells.

Whether of bronze, metal or tin, this sacred object is the main component of the ritual of preparing Greek coffee. Nowadays , due to the existence of roasting coffee machines, this ritual has been simplified, but love, care and a briki are still necesary in order to make a nice coffee, that satisfies each individual's taste.

Preparation of good Greek coffee is like an art. People who succeed in it, as well as those who insist on expecting particular and demanding tastes, are called "meraklides". A Turkish word that means a person who is gifted with "meraki", i.e. refined and high taste.

In the greek coffee pot we boil the mixture of water (75ml or one small coffee cup), with coffee and sugar.

For plain coffee (sketos) : 75 ml water and 1 teaspoon of coffee
Medium: (metrios): 75 ml water, 1 teaspoon coffee and one teaspoon sugar
Sweet (glykos): 75 ml water, 1 teaspoon coffee and 2 teaspoons sugar.

We stir a few times and then we let the coffee boil in very low temperature. We lift the briki from the fire as soon as it starts to boil and the froth comes up to the brim of the pot. We actually lift it just before it overflows.

We serve very carefully, holding the briki close to the cup. It is better to half fill all cups instead of filling them up one after the other so that the froth (kaimaki) is equally served in all cups.

The preparation of Greek coffee is considered successful when the froth is sustained during serving.

For big cups one has to double the dosage.The disadvantage of drinking Greek coffee in a big cup is that the froth doesn't come out so thick.

Other ways of preparing greek coffee have enigmatic names such as "heavy sweet" or "much heavier" or "heavy sweet and not" , "very heavy and not" . They relate to the thickness that the froth acquires by lowering the coffee pot when coffee is served in the cup. These kinds of taste appeal to the fanatics of Greek coffee and can only be prepared in traditional coffee shops.

We can use Greek coffee as an exellent antiodorant.

- In the fridge: an open bag of Greek coffee eliminates the odors

- To get rid of onion smell from our hands we rub them with a pinch of coffee

As a cure for diarrhea:

- We can drink bitter Greek coffee (no sugar at all) mixed with one teaspoon of lemon juice.

Finally, dregs are a first class fertilizer. So we pour them in pots instead of the sink. My mother has the habit of keeping the dregs of the coffee she drinks every day in a jar and fertilize her beautiful gardenia.