Greek Coffee
Ελληνικός καφέςel-lee-nee-KOS ka-FES
Thick, strong unfiltered coffee in a small cup, with a tan foam called kaimaki across the top and a layer of silt at the bottom you leave alone. The sugar goes in before the heat, so you order it sweet or not before it is made.
At a glance
- Coffee : water
- 1:10
- Active time
- 1 min
- Total time
- 5 min
- Makes
- 1 small cup
- Serve
- Hot, with water
- Kit
- Briki
Ingredients
Note: Most burr grinders cannot reach this fineness. Buy coffee sold as Greek or Turkish grind, or have a roaster grind it for you on a dedicated mill.
Method
-
Measure with the cup
Fill the cup you will drink from with cold water and tip it into the briki. That is the right amount for one.
For two, use two cups of water and a briki only just big enough. A wide briki spreads the foam too thin.
-
Coffee and sugar, stir cold
Add the coffee and sugar and stir until there are no dry lumps and everything is suspended. This is the only time you stir.
Stirring once it is hot breaks the foam that is starting to form.
-
Heat it slowly
Put the briki on the lowest flame you have. Watch it. Over three or four minutes a fine foam gathers at the edges and creeps inward.
Low heat is the technique. Fast heat gets you to the boil before the foam has formed.
3 to 4 minutes -
Lift before it boils
When the foam rises and starts to dome up towards the rim, take it off the heat at once. Do not let it boil over or come to a rolling boil.
If you are making two cups, spoon a little foam into each cup first, then pour.
-
Pour slowly and wait
Pour slowly, from low, so the foam slides into the cup whole. Serve with a glass of cold water and let it stand a minute so the grounds settle.
Drink it from the top. Stop when you reach the silt.
Settle 1 minute
Why this works
Greek coffee is a suspension, not a filtered drink. Nothing separates the grounds from the water, so the coffee is ground to a powder so fine that it hangs in the liquid without feeling gritty, then settles out when the cup stands. That fineness also means huge surface area and very fast extraction, which is why a few minutes of gentle heat is enough to make something strong.
The kaimaki is the quality test. It forms from dissolved carbon dioxide and fine coffee particles rising as the water warms, and it is stabilised by the coffee's oils and proteins. Slow heat builds it gradually. A fast flame or a rolling boil makes big bubbles that burst, takes the foam with them, and drives off the aromatics. A cup without kaimaki is considered badly made in any Greek kitchen.
The sugar goes in cold for two reasons. It dissolves fully before the foam forms, and dissolved sugar thickens the liquid slightly, which helps the foam hold. Sweetening afterwards means stirring, and stirring destroys the kaimaki.
The method is the same as Turkish coffee, and it came to Greece under Ottoman rule. Greeks called it Turkish coffee until relations between the two countries soured in the 1960s and 70s. After 1974 the name Greek coffee took over, and nobody in Athens will thank you for using the old one.
Variations
- Sketos: no sugar.
- Metrios: one teaspoon, the usual order.
- Glykys: two teaspoons, properly sweet.
- Vary glykys: very sweet, with a long boil, which is an older way and sacrifices some of the foam.
- Diplos: a double, made in a larger briki with twice of everything.
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Questions
Is Greek coffee the same as Turkish coffee?
The method is the same and so is the grind. Greek roasts tend to be a little lighter, and the cultural context is different, but if you can make Turkish coffee you can make Greek coffee. The name is a matter of national pride, so use the local one.
What does metrios mean?
Medium sweet: one teaspoon of sugar to one cup. Sketos is unsweetened and glykys is sweet, with two teaspoons. You order it before it is made because the sugar is brewed in.
Why has my Greek coffee got no foam?
The heat was too high or you stirred it once it was warm. Use the lowest flame, stir only at the start while cold, and lift it off the moment the foam rises.
Do you drink the grounds in Greek coffee?
No. Let the cup stand for a minute so they settle and stop drinking when you reach the thick layer at the bottom. In some families someone will turn the cup over afterwards and read your future in it.
Can I use a saucepan instead of a briki?
A very small milk pan works, but the wide surface spreads the foam thin. The narrow neck of a briki is what concentrates the kaimaki.