via klearchos on Flickr

Guest Post: “Enan kafe parakalo”: Greeks and Coffee

“Café”, “cafedaki”, “frappedaki”, “espressaki”: these are only a few ways coffee drinkers in Greece call their favorite beverage of coffee. Greeks take their coffee very seriously; it is the most social of beverages, drowning even alcohol and water in its consumption. The title, “enan kafe parakalo”, means “one coffee please,” and it’s just about the phrase most heard on a daily basis in Greece!

The favorite types of coffee enjoyed in Greece are the classic espresso, the zesty cappuccino, the simple but potent filter coffee, the traditional “Greek” coffee, and a Greek invention called the “frappe”. Greeks are so serious about their coffee, that even the colossal international empire of Starbucks had to adapt, adding the Greek “frappe” ice coffee to its menu.

Greek coffee (also frequently called “Turkish” coffee) is usually consumed by older people, in the specially named “cafene” coffee houses. Greek coffee is a rich, thick blend made in a special coffee pot, traditionally made by leaving the coffee pot to boil in hot coals, embers or sand (called the “chovoli”). Any new-fangled methods of making Greek coffee, like the steam tube on espresso machines or oven tops, are generally frowned upon.

The ice-cold “frappe” is definitely the most popular coffee in Greece: it is easily made with instant coffee mixed or whipped with water and sugar and poured over ice. The most common way to drink it is sweet with milk, usually made with two spoons of instant coffee blended with four to six spoons of sugar. “Frappe” actually means “shaken”: the “café Frappe” was invented during the 1957 International Trade Fair in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, by a Nestle employee looking for a quick way to enjoy some instant coffee during his break. The employee put some coffee and sugar in a shaker, and lo and behold, a new trend was born!
Filter coffee, or “French” coffee as it’s called in Greece, is rarely ordered in restaurants, except by those who want a simple and inexpensive beverage instead of ordering nothing at all. Every dignified workplace in the country is equipped with a bottomless coffee pot, with endless quantities of filter coffee brewing. One can say that filter coffee is consumed almost as much as water, or actually instead of it. Not tending to the coffee pot after it has been emptied is a frequent, and justified, cause of picking a fight (especially in the morning!) The vast majority of Greek hotel rooms, private villas and apartments will be equipped with coffee making facilities too!

Decaffeinated coffee, although offered in retail stores, is not very common in Greece. Even the thought of “decaf” strikes a Greek’s funny bone – “it’s not coffee if it’s decaffeinated; it’s just water!” Coffee is considered more of a social drink than a pick-me-up. Just think that most people are so used to drinking large quantities of caffeine, that they’re hardly affected by the stuff anymore!
One very popular coffee beverage, made widely known in the last decade in Greece, is the “freddo”, or “cold”, espresso and cappuccino, which is comprised of the regular respective parts of espresso and cream poured over ice – this is a favoured drink especially for the summer months. Apparently, Italians have no idea of the existence of these drinks!

An invitation for a sip of coffee in Greece is also used as the most well-known pick up line, or friendly socialization: “Let’s go for coffee.” It’s the most widespread invitation to meet up with a friend or love interest, or an outing with friends. In contrast to other countries, especially Italy, where espresso is considered a quick drink, there is no such thing as a “quick” coffee: Greeks can drink the smallest sizes of coffee for hours on end. “Going out for coffee” is an outing in itself! Just the number of coffee shops and cafeterias in Greece proves how much we fill (and take up space) these shops: one can expect to see about 4-5 cafeterias on a busy city street in Athens, all full during all seasons of the year.

The price of coffee in Greece ranges from about €1.00 for a simple instant coffee, either hot or cold, bought at a fast food & beverage stand on the street, to about €5-6 for fancy cappuccinos and espressos at the hot cosmopolitan cafeterias in city centres and designer stores.

One thing that Greeks don’t tend to do, unlike the rest of the world, is order coffee after a meal. It’s actually safe to say that coffee is actually considered a meal in itself!

One thing one hears a lot in Greece is “I can’t wake up in the morning if I don’t have my coffee and a cigarette.” Truth is, coffee and a cigarette are so widespread and natural in Greece, that smoking laws are never followed in cafeterias. Smoking and no-smoking areas have been brought back, sometimes even integrated if the café is small enough, because it’s unthinkable for Greek smokers to comply with the smoking ban. Coffee and smoking go together hand in hand, so much so that the law has been overseen altogether! Never deny a Greek their basic pleasures, then!

To get a feel of how important coffee is to Greeks, here’s an example of a weird, probably even awful (albeit convenient) way to quickly make some coffee: the “karavisio”, or “boat-made” coffee. This is just spoonfuls of instant coffee and sugar poured into a cup of water, lightly blended together with a spoon. No mixing, no shaking, nothing! Sounds awful, doesn’t it?

In a nutshell, coffee is one of the most important – if not the most important altogether – beverage in Greece. With so many coffee shops, cafeterias and fast food & beverage stands on every road, no economic recession will quench the Greeks’ thirst for a good brew!

About the Author: American-born, living in Greece, and a professional copywriter, Vicky spends her time writing about what she loves, jots down occasional rants, and loves answering readers’ questions ’bout stuff. Catch Vicky on Twitter

Image via turyddu on Flickr, used with creative commons license

Guest Post: Ways to Make proper Italian Moka Coffee at Home

Since I first traveled to Italy and drunk Italian coffee I am not able to drink any other type of coffee and drive the same immense pleasure from it. Sure I drink Turkish, American and French coffee, among the many available internationally, but to have the full bodied experience I must always return to Italian coffee. And how could it be any different? Italians invented coffee as we drink it nowadays.

The most famous type is Espresso, which is not the one made at home with a stove top machine; in fact espresso is the one made with pressure machines, it entails a different degree of coffee bean grinding, water temperature and shorter brewing time. Next time you rent a villa in Tuscany, remember to practice making your own Italian coffee at home.

This type of coffee brewing involves the Moka machine, the quintessential coffee maker in Italy. Its name derives from Mokha in Yemen, one of the first and most renown coffee production cities.

To prepare a good Italian coffee with a Moka machine is an art. First of all it is hard to brew a decent beverage from a new or long-unused Moka. The reason has to do with the aluminum getting permeated by the scents and aromas of coffee. That is why you should never ever clean your Moka pot with soap. Aluminum is porous and absorbs micro particles of soap, making your delicious coffee extremely bitter and undrinkable. If you unscrew an clean your Moka under running water after each use and let it dry properly, that is enough to provide a perfectly healthy cleaning process.

What are the secrets to prepare a delicious Italian coffee brew at home using a Moka pot?
Supposing you have a good Moka, the first thing you need to get is Italian coffee, roasted properly and ground for Moka pot use. The only other thing you need is good water without chlorine and with a low calcium content.

The Three-Holes tip
The Moka machine has three main parts: the water chamber, the filter and the coffee brewer. Fill the chamber with water until you reach the exhaust security valve. If you want the coffee to be more “ristretto”, more concentrated, stay five millimeters below the valve. Never go above it.

Set the filter in place, granted it is completely dry. Using a teaspoon, start filling the filter with coffee powder until it is evenly full. Add another teaspoon of coffee powder, then gently press it down to level evenly with the rim. Using a toothpick, make three small holes more or less equidistant from the rim and each other, piercing until you reach the bottom of the filter. Now screw the brewer tightly on top (do not tilt the coffee pot sharply or more than 30 degrees) and set on the lowest heat possible leaving the lid open. Once the coffee starts coming up it should overflow from the brewer’s nozzle very slowly. As soon as it stops pouring evenly, remove from heat, close the lid and let it rest a minute. Stir with a teaspoon before serving in espresso cups.

The Mound Tip
This technique differs from the Three-Holes one only for the filling step. Using a teaspoon fill the filter with the coffee powder to create a tall, pointy mound. Do this inside a bowl or a flexible cutting board, so you can recuperate the spilled coffee easily. Once no more coffee can be added to the mound, gently set the brewer on top and screw tightly without applying any other pressure. Now proceed as above.

These techniques give a very rich, black coffee. Experiment adjusting pressure and water quantity to your taste.
Remember: the more coffees your Moka pot produces, the better the coffee taste will be; keep your coffee air-tight and refrigerated; never wash your Moka with anything else but water.

About the author: Matt loves good Italian coffee, and enjoys it while vacationing in Tuscan villas with fully equipped kitchens where a Moka pot can always be found.

My Espresso Deco

Share Your Coffee Experience!

We’re very pleased to announce a new experience for coffee drinkers around the world, MyEspressoDeco – a place to share your coffee photos!

We’re firm believers indulging in the enjoyment of coffee, whether that’s sharing it with others or enjoying it alone — it’s a special experience.

my.espressodeco.com are looking for great photos of your coffee.

Enjoying a nice view with a drink? Submit it! Drinking coffee in the great outdoors? Send it in!

We’ll happily publish all photos of coffee cups, coffee makers, unique images and even messy mistakes!

Submit your coffee photos today!

Bialetti are famous around the world for producing distinctive-looking, reliable espresso makers. Their logo is instantly recognisable and has an interesting history of its own: it is a cartoon caricature of Renato Bialetti, son of company-founder Alfonso, portrayed as “l’omino con i baffi” – the ‘mustachioed little man’.

Alfonso Bialetti was a metal engineer who kick-started his company by acquiring the invention for the Moka Pot from its creator Luigi De Ponti. The unique appearance of the coffee maker had gathered momentum as an iconic item since the 1930s. It’s the world’s “most famous” coffee maker due to two primary reasons: it looks great and makes making good coffee consistently easy. Its status has led the plans for the original Moka Coffee Maker to be kept in the London Science Museum. One of the great things about the Moka is that the design and material hasn’t really changed over the last 80 years – it’s still made of aluminium and has kept its octagonal aesthetic.

It was by focusing on this single product that the Bialetti family was able to become a household name. After the Second World War the company was led by Renato with a marketing blitz that included building a huge Moka Coffee Pot in Milan. By reinforcing the Bialetti brand the company were able to beat away copycat companies and distribute the product internationally.

By promoting the Moka Pot Bialetti were not only marketing themselves but also the idea that you can produce coffee cheaply at home – in contrast to large coffee machines which had to be maintained and operated by more experienced baristas. To a certain extent this is still a valid message today, which is why the Bialetti Moka Express continues to thrive up against other large machines. Its classic design also sets it apart from new products such as the AeroPress or mypressi TWIST, which helps Bialetti maintain their reputation for affordable luxury. These other coffee makers are also reliable and distinctive, but they don’t have the tradition and history of the Bialetti stovetop.

Bialetti continue to add related products to their line including the Induction Coffee Maker (made of stainless steel – for an induction stove), the Mukka (for making hot chocolate) and a wide range of cooking and kitchenware.

For as long as people want to make espresso at home the Bialetti Stovetop will continue to be with us.

Image credit: beppezizzi on Flickr. Data via Wikipedia, bialetti.com and objects.designapplause.com.