No day starts without a Greek (Elliikos) Coffee, either at home or in a kafenio (cafe). If you are visiting a person at home, you will always be offered a cup. Sometimes, different businesses such as hairdressers of car hire offices will also offer you a cup.
If it is your first time trying a Greek coffee, there are a couple of things to consider. First, even though it comes in a small cups, you sip – don’t skull. And second, there will be sandy grounds in the bottom of the cup. You stop drinking the coffee when you reach this point!
To make Greek coffee at home, you will need a ‘briki’ (available in most Middle Eastern or Greek shops). Using a briki will make it much easier to achieve a proper ‘kaimaki.’ This is the creamy layer on top of a Greek coffee – the presence of which marks the success of your Greek coffee. Greek coffee is always served with a chilled glass of ice water for each person.
Ellinikos Kafes
ελληνικό καφέ
Ingredients
- 2 Greek/espresso cups of water
- your water is measured using the cups you will drink from
- 1 Briki Greek coffee pot
- 2 heaped teaspoons of Greek coffee
- Level of sweetness
- "Sketo' - means no coffee
- ''Metrio' - means 1 heaped teaspoons of sugar or honey per cup this is the most common way to drink Greek coffee
- ''Glykos' - means 2 heaped teaspoons of sugar or honey per cup
- 'Variglykos' - means loads of sugar or honey per cup
Instructions
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Pour water into your briki or small pot.
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Add the coffee and sugar to the water.
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Turn heat up to high and stir continuously until the coffee dissolves.
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As soon as bubbles appear to break on the edge of the briki and the coffee starts to boil, remove it from the heat. If you leave it to come to a full boil it will destroy your desired 'kamaki'
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To make sure you get the right kaimaki in each cup, pour 1/2 the coffee into one cup, and then fill your second cup of coffee completely. Return to the first, half-filled cup and fill that one with the remaining coffee.
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Note: generally it's best not to make more than two coffees at a time, as the kaimaki generally doesn't work well if you make more than two cups at a time.
