Recipe #5 - Coffee

cawfee.

When I was little I always noticed that my mom made my dad an instant nescafe coffee for breakfast. Not filter coffee. Not Greek coffee. Not expresso or essssspresso. Just instant coffee. With milk and sugar. Every morning.

This confused me. Even at the age of like eight, I pretty much thought, it seriously couldn't be for the amazing taste. Moreover, when we went to other non-Greek houses, filter coffee* was served essentially on tap. Not exciting. But it was actual, real coffee.

(*We also owned a filter coffee machine, but it was so old it had wrinkles. In fact, and I am not kidding, we still own and operate this machine (I say operate because it actually necessitates operation) and it is the one we use when our guests insist on filter coffee (we usually give them many other options, including hand-pressed organic baby-kiwi juice). The machine is the size of a small factory and makes approximately one cup every 3 hours. My sister, who normally refuses to speak to anyone before 1pm without having had coffee, is usually in charge of its operation.)

But now I get it. Now that I have moved to Cyprus my cawfee intake has literally quintupled since I arrived. I alternate between Greek coffee, decaf coffee, chain-coffeehouse-addict-worthy small essssspressos. In fact, I am drinking coffee right now. And I have realised two things:

1. One thing people cannot live without here is nescafe. In Canada nescafe is confined to the odd hotel room kettle or piled up high in a dusty area of Safeway permanently on special. In Cyprus, judging by the price, it is a luxury good. Don't believe me?? I took a picture. :O Exhibit A:

2. I now understand my dad's morning coffee routine. In the winter-time here, people drink hot nescafe.  In the summertime and winter people drink cold nescafe (frappes).

There are two types of coffee that I would like to introduce you to:

The first: the Greek frappe. Everyone drinks Greek frappes. Even my 80 year old yia-yia drank Greek frappes. I have attempted to make a Greek frappe. Mine were OK. But some people have the magic touch. They are the picassos of frappe making. These people will often be called on by their friends or colleagues to make them frappes.

The drink is very simple. It literally consists of a spoon full of nescafe coffee (to taste) with a little water and sugar to taste. There are three sugar levels you can request: ("sketo"** - i.e. no sugar. "metreo" - i.e. a little sugar. and "leeko" - i.e. I'd like diabetes please.) This is whipped by a "frappe maker" -- i.e. a sort of milkshake maker device -- for about 30 seconds to a minute. Once you have enough foam to your liking, you can add as much ice, water and milk as you want. Again, there are three levels: ("horis yala" - i.e. without milk, all water. "miso-miso" - i.e. half milk, half water, or "alo yala" - i.e. all milk.). Most people consume at least 3 of these things a day. They are usually served with sunshine and good gossip.

(** My English-Greek is apparently ... fascinating. As my cousin's boyfriend put it mildly: "Christina, if I spoke English like you speak Greek, people would think I was retarded." ... yeah, bite me y'all.)

 

The second:  Cypriot coffee. (Also known as Greek coffee in Greece and coffee in Turkey and bitter, yucky coffee by five year olds in Canada.) This is literally a small teaspoon full of "Cyprus coffee" with a little Cyprus coffee cup full of water, brought to a stage just below a boil on a stove in something called a "brikee". I have attached photos, as I feel like I am speaking a foreign language. Again, you can have it "sketo", "metreo" or "leeko". 

Most people have one in the morning, and one in the afternoon after their naps, or whenever visiting friends' houses. It doesn't seem like a lot of younger people like Cypriot coffee. From what I have observed, it tends to be popular with old men with staring problems at old traditional coffee shops, or sociable people over the age of 40. I like it a lot. I sometimes try to stare at people too when I drink it, but too many men have interpreted this the wrong way.

I should also add that there is a 'traditional' way of making Cypriot coffee. This is to heat the brike in hot sand so that the heat warms the coffee up evenly. I have found only a couple of places in Cyprus that make Cyprus coffee the traditional way. There IS a difference in taste, believe it or not.

OK that's all for now. ... I'm going to go and make myself another cawfee. Like that wasn't predictable. ...