Cruising through February with Greek Coffee!

One of our friends is from Greece, and she recently visited her beautiful hometown of Ioannina. Knowing about our little coffee blogging experiment, she was kind enough to get us a pack of Loumidis coffee (one of the most famous Greek Coffees available in the world). Also, another close Greek friend of ours made these appetizing Christmas-special Greek cookies called Melomakarona. After having a freshly brewed cup, and these scrumptious cookies we were sure that this combination needed a dedicated blog post. Out of all the coffees, we have tried so far, this one is very special, which is something that is not easily available in most of the coffee shops in the US. That being said, this is one of the easiest brew methods, which is super easy to try out at your home and exudes the magic of the brew in the most unexpected fashion.

Origins and Socio-cultural connotation

Greece is one of the top 20 countries which import coffee beans, and most of the coffee brands use finely ground Arabica beans, and you will notice that they are more finely ground than the usual espresso powder. The beans are lightly roasted before they are ground, and are generally not mixed (blended as it’s called in the coffee community) with other roasts/beans. The combination of fine ground and light roast makes it easy to taste the original flavor of the coffee bean, and also provides a very unique texture, something which is quintessential of Greek Coffee. In this way, each cup is concentrated with antioxidants, chlorogenic acid, polyphenols, and a significant kick of caffeine. It has been shown to contribute to cardiovascular health, and reports show that inhabitants of the Greek island of Ikaria have the longest lifespans in the world. Finally, coffee carries a significant socio-cultural connotation in Greece, which is evident by the endless number of coffee shops ornamenting cobblestone streets in small-and-large Greek cities. An average Greek coffee break lasts for hours, and is replete with gossip, socialization, and acts the perfect repose before going back to the work.

Brewing a Cup of Traditional Greek Coffee

Firstly, at the heart of Greek coffee lies the briki; a copper/brass-based coffee pot that is traditional to Greek and Turkish coffee cultures. You can buy this for under $15 from amazon.com, and even get stainless steel on from Walmart. We wanted an authentic experience, and we got a brass/copper briki with a tin coating like the one in the picture below. The second important thing is the coffee cup (demitasse cup); demitasse means ‘half-cup’ in French, and generally holds ~ 3 ounces of coffee. You can find well ornamented, and expensive demitasse in some European and Turkish cultures, but today we are sticking with a simple demitasse. Thirdly, the Greek coffee powder is so finely ground that it quite resembles the consistency of the cocoa powder. And hence, if you try using a Moka pot, or similar coffee filters, the fine ground coffee would just permeate from the filter sieve. Now coming to the actual brew, the Greek brewing process is perhaps the easiest and most gentle method out there, and does not even require a coffee filter. You can follow these steps to brew the perfect cup.

• Fill the demitasse with warm water and pour it into the briki. This is around 90 ml (3 fluid ounces) and is perfect for a single cup of coffee.

• Put 1 tbsp of finely ground Greek coffee in the briki. Now there are 3 levels of coffee you can have:

a) Sketos – unsweetened version, which means you don’t add any sugar.

b) Metrios – medium-sweet version, which means you add 1 tbsp of sugar.

c) Glykos – Sweet coffee, which means you add 2 tbsp of sugar.

• Stir the mixture and keep the briki on the stove-top on medium heat. Generally, 5-7 min. of medium heat is recommended, and please do not stir the coffee after the initial stirring.

• The most critical step: You will see the coffee coming to a boil. Do not stir the coffee to make the boiling foam go away. This rich froth at the top is called kaimaki and indicates a higher quality brew.

• Finally, when the coffee starts to boil and rise up to the brim of the briki, remove it from the stove and directly pour it in the demitasse until you see the perfect kaimaki on the top of the cup.

• The video demonstration below is super helpful in this regard.

The Verdict

After you pour the cup, it is recommended to wait for about a minute for the coffee to cool down, and the particles to settle down. Since this brewing method does not use any coffee filter, the coffee powder can undermine the coffee experience. Irrespective of the strength of the coffee (i.e., Sketos, Metrios, or Glykos), the overall texture of the cup is very rich, earthy, and particulate to some extent. The high coffee-to-water ratio makes it feel very thick and concentrated, which is unlike typical drip coffee (we covered this in the previous blog post). We had this coffee during some rainy and snowy days, and the taste complements the petrichor making this experience highly refreshing. Having this coffee in the backyard on a pleasant sunny Texas weekend feels like a warm wind in the shade, and suddenly you can hear the leaves rustling, the birds chirping, and the perfect weekend solace. Out of the three types, we personally like the Metrios version. The earthy coffee flavor and the tinge of sugar undergo some revitalizing alchemy to enhance the experience of the cup. The Glykos version is for a habitual sweet-tooth, and the Sketos version may seem bland or too strong for some of the fledgling coffee enthusiasts. It is all up to you to decide your preference, and the setting to have this atypical coffee yet refreshing coffee.

Finally, towards the end of the cup, you may not want to have a bottom’s up approach. This is because the coffee powder settles at the bottom of the cup and may not give a pleasant feel when drank unintentionally. It will also give a sharp caffeine punch if you consume this coffee sludge. There is a fun story of the coffee grounds left in the cup; the Greek culture tells us to turn the cup upside down, and foretell our future based on the shape of the sedimented coffee; this is known as Greek coffee tasseography. Surprisingly, a similar principle forms the basis of Tessomancy, which is taught as a part of the Divination course in Hogwarts by Prof. Trelawney. This particular scene shows Harry getting the ‘Grim’ shape in his cup, which is the evilest omen suggesting death. We certainly hope that your Greek coffee experience is not as grim as Harry’s.

Jokes apart, to summarize our month of drinking Greek coffee, it was the most pleasantly unexpected experience. The coffee texture is unlike any other we have seen so far, the brewing method is unique and simple, and the socio-cultural connotations of Greek coffee are never-ending. We highly recommend this coffee and the corresponding unique brewing method to shake things up in presence of monotony in your coffee drinking habits.

Bake of the month: Melomakarona-Greek Christmas Cookies

A friend of ours' bakes these cookies literally every Christmas, irrespective of his location during the period, be it the United States or Greece. It’s his family favorite, the melomakarona: an egg-shaped honey & spice syrup-soaked spongy cookie. Bombe Alaska, cinnamon & apple crumb pies, rum baba, gingerbread cookies, pavlova, puddings, etc. are some Christmas bakes from around the world. All the aforementioned bakes contain basic common ingredients: honey, spices, and fats: the three pillars of warmth. The zeal provided by these ingredients is craved by everyone. Melomakarona is one such Christmas bake that comprises of those 3 ingredients along with a few more that make it an enriched delicacy.

Let’s quickly delve into the history of melomakarona. It’s a name actually derived from two words: 'meli' meaning honey and 'makaria' (literally meaning ‘blessed’) that was a dish made from flour. Over the course of time during the periods of the Byzantine empire, the 'makaria' were dipped in 'meli' (honey), and thus the “melomakarona” name was derived. It’s still unclear how did it become a Christmas bake in a later part of Greek history. One possible reason could be the warmth associated with the spices, oils, and honey in it that was essential during winters. In the present world, melomakarona cookies are eaten most popularly during the twelve days of Christmas.

The cookies are made from basic ingredients that are usually available in every household and are easy to bake. You can find the comprehensive recipe here and the corresponding video here. That being said, we will briefly mention the important steps in this blog post.

• More specifically, the first step is to make the dipping honey and spiced syrup. It’s crucial, to begin with because the syrup is boiling hot when made while the cookies must be dipped in cold syrup. So, there is a holding time after making the syrup that is the cooling stage.

• To make the syrup in the pot, take water and add sugar, cloves, cinnamon sticks, sugar, and half an orange and bring this to a boil, let it bubble for 4-5 mins until the sugar dissolves completely, and take it off the gas.

• Let it cool for a bit and then add honey. We don’t want to cook the honey, just want it to express itself while the whole syrup cools down.

• Set this honey and spiced syrup aside to cool completely until room temperature.

• Meanwhile, pre-heated the oven to 360 F.

• To prepare the dough, whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl: all-purpose flour, semolina, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon powder, baking soda, and zest of 2 oranges.

• Separately mix all the wet ingredients together: orange juice, vanilla extract, water, olive oil, sunflower oil, and honey.

• Ideally, you can also add cognac or rum to this recipe, but we proceeded without any alcohol in this.

• Now we combine the wet mixture into the dry ingredients in parts for the mixtures to homogenize together.

• It forms a sticky ball of dough and hence needs oiled hands to handle hereafter. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes as it becomes smoother and softer. It’s important to not overwork the dough, as it results in hard and tough cookies which are undesired.

• Prepare small egg-shaped balls from the dough and set them on a parchment-lined baking tray.

• Bake these at 360 F for 18-20 minutes until they become golden brown.

• Generally, after baking we let the item cool down naturally, but in this case, it’s different. The hot melomakarona is taken out of the oven and is immediately dipped into cold syrup for 25-30 seconds.

• The cookies are inflated and porous while being hot and dipping them into cold syrup causes a mass transport of syrup into the cookie that also makes it moist from inside. The reason for not using hot syrup is that it can absolutely wreck the cookie and disintegrate it. We basically want to only moisten the cookie from the inside with syrup, while keeping the outside crisp and hence the trade-off with the hot cookie and cold syrup.

• Finely chopped walnuts are sprinkled over the cookies while plating to finish them off.

The melomakarona cookies were one of the best we’ve ever tasted, moist and spongy internally but with a crunchy exterior. The blitzed walnuts on top add nutrition as well as contribute to the texture of the cookies. The honey & spices containing syrup provides a shiny glaze to the cookie surface, sweetness to its taste, and warmth. The cookies are limited in sweetness because of the spices and citrussy oranges in them and hence as a pairing, these are perfect with all 3 forms of Greek coffee: sketos, metrios, or glykos. Had the cookies being too sweet, they’d be overwhelming especially with the glykos but as we mentioned, they are balanced in flavors. These are worth a try for every home-baker since all they require are household ingredients, a couple of hours, and some love for baking!

Book of the month: Lord of the rings (LOTR) by J.R.R. Tolkien

Anyone who has read or watched LOTR knows that this is the OG modern fantasy book. More than 60 years old, the first edition of LOTR was nothing like the novels of the 1950s. For those who might be unaware of LOTR: it is a fantasy trilogy, which focuses on a massive war between orcs, goblins, other despicable creatures in service of the dark lord Sauron (literally the Lord of the Rings), and elves, dwarves, and armies of men. However, amidst this chaos, kindled by hordes of abominable creatures, horses, and eagles, the book is focused on the tumultuous journey of the most unlikely creature imaginable: a Hobbit, Frodo Baggins! What struck us the most was that the book describes the various landscapes and terrains in excruciating detail (even assisted with a huge map of Middle-Earth), and the myriad of songs in elvish and common. Tolkien created a set of elvish and dwarvish languages, and even a written script while authoring LOTR. This is something that hardly any fantasy novel can match. Best of all, Spotify has the complete audiobook of LOTR, which has background music, different voice characters, and even elvish songs providing the best listening experience we have ever encountered in an audiobook. Check it out here.

The first book is majorly about Frodo’s perilous journey through the wilderness while dodging numerous foes and traps. The description of various ravines, thickets, mountains enhanced by the poems and music literally teleports you into Middle-Earth; an entire world created by Tolkien for his novels. The Fellowship of the Ring, which is a motley crew comprising of an elf, a dwarf, a wizard, kings of men, and fellow hobbits, accompany Frodo to help him fend off the forces of evil. Frodo’s quest is to take the ring of power to Mordor, the foul land of the evil master Sauron, and destroy it; The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom, and only there can it be unmade! The book concludes with a pivotal moment when Frodo realizes that the ring attracts all evil and dangers to the lives of all in his company, and he decides to shoulder this burden alone. Thumped by the fact that it his destiny to be the ring bearer, and the ring’s power to corrupt the hearts of men, Frodo takes the treacherous path to Mordor, away from the safeguard of the fellowship. Ironically, this has drawn an uncanny resemblance to pursuing a Ph.D.; one embarks on a 5-year long journey across uncharted waters, constantly being tested against unanticipated research challenges, and fazed by battles with funding agencies. And like Frodo, you will have companions and collaborators to aid this journey, like a Fellowship of the Dissertation! if you will, and yet in the end it is only you alone who needs to come through.

Lastly, we want to emphasize why this is not just another fantasy novel you read as kids, but rather it offers much more than what meets the eye. The legacy of LOTR and J.R.R. Tolkien spans past decades until this very day. Specifically, G.R.R. Martin’s (notice the similarity in the name) Game of Thrones owes much to LOTR, and a detailed comparison is mentioned here. Harry Potter’s beloved Dumbledore draws inspiration from LOTR’s Gandalf. Not surprising that for a brief time in history, the term 'fantasy' was influenced by Tolkien's work, which included multiple races (i.e., elves, orcs, dwarves, etc.), an evil grandmaster seeking world domination, and an arduous quest of unlikely characters trying to save the world. More notably, LOTR has largely shaped and provided a solid foundation for Dungeons & Dragons, which is perhaps one of the most exhaustive role-playing tabletop games out there. This video provides a comprehensive account of the influence of LOTR on the fantasy genre.

Finally, we want to end our second blog in pure LOTR fashion:

‘One cup to find them all, One cup to bring them all, One cup to caffeinate them all, and the magic of the brew to bind them!’