‘Athina, what kind of coffee is Greek?’
A typical question i hear in Ariston, our eatery inside our small hotel, every summer, during breakfast time.
After this first try of a Greek coffee, not only does it become your first preference, but you also choose to enjoy it in a big cup.
Let’s take it from the beginning….
Greek Coffee is the same grind setting as Turkish, Armenian or Cyprian coffee. A very fine grind of Arabica beans boiled in a small coffee pot called ‘briki’ with or without sugar. Definitely not with milk.
Your personal preference depends on the amount of sugar
- Sketos with 1 full teaspoon of coffee and no sugar
- Metrios with 1 full teaspoon of coffee and 1 full teaspoon of sugar
- Glykos with 1 full teaspoon of coffee and 2 teaspoons of sugar
We always serve it with a glass of cold water. In Ariston we use to serve it with a traditional rose loukoumi, a delicious dessert of the spoon so famous in Greece, or with your favourite cinamon cookie. Make sure you dip the cookie into the coffee! It is delicious!
A tip: Don’t drink the coffee as soon as it is served. Let the grounds settle at the bottom of the cup first (we don’t drink the grounds… we read them!)
In the old days, Greek coffee was used to made in a brass or copper ‘briki’ placed in the hot sand. The coffee was boiling slowly, and this traditional method was called ‘sti hovoli’.
A good quality of Arabica beans and the knowledge of how to make it are the secrets for the right Greek coffee. I am so happy to share with you the way we make Greek coffee (type metrios on video) exactly like the way i was taught by my aunt, called with the lovely name Galatia (my grandmother’s sister) in my beloved hometown, Thessaloniki.
But the most interesting thing about this coffee, is that one can read your future from the coffee grounds. Thus, we never drink all of it. How we prepare the cup? Right before you finish off your coffee, flip the cup with a bit of coffee residue over your saucer, rotate it clockwise and let it fall into the saucer. You leave the cup turned upside down for a few minutes, so the coffee residue settles onto the slides and dries out. You will notice that inside the cup, many different shapes appear. It is then when the magic begins…when one could intepret these shapes and foretell your future! Only for good!
We wish that this will be one more summer that our breakfast room Ariston will be full of coffee smells! Cannot wait to welcoming you…
Always for you,
Athina
