Greek Coffee with a Canadian twist.
Put away your thousand dollar espresso barista machine from Italy designed by Ferrari engineers. You won’t need it. The best cup of coffee can be made with little more than a pot of sand and an open flame.
You’ll need some special equipment but they are easy to come by. First you’ll need a biriki. This is a special metal pot used to make greek coffee. It can be found at greek grocers (we like Omonia Food Imports) or other European grocery stores, or online.
Next you’ll need a fire safe pot of some kind. Cast iron is best. You’re going to fill this with sand so we suggest keeping one dedicated just for making coffee in this style. Trust us it’s worth it. The last thing you want to do is is to clean this pot each time you’re making coffee in hot sand. Something like THIS would be perfect. Any sand will do….I don’t believe there are any laws against filling up at a playground. Your coffee will not touch this sand so it’s not that important if it’s clean. The sand is simply a medium to heat the coffee. See video below.
INGREDIENTS
Two tbsp Greek Coffee (we recommend Loumidis brand)
300mL water
Sugar (to taste)
Cream (optional but lovely)
1/2 tsp ground cardamom or 1/2 tsp ground mastic (optional if you’re feeling fancy, Bailey’s if you’re feeling extra fancy)
First add your water to a biriki then add your sugar, optional cardamom or mastic and lastly add the coffee. Do not stir!
Place your pot of sand over a campfire and let it heat up thoroughly. Once you’re ready to make your coffee place the biriki on the surface and bury it in a bit of sand. The deeper you bury it, the faster it’ll brew.
Vigorously mix your coffee once the water has just started to show some steam. From the point forward do not stir again. Stay close by because it’ll soon foam up and could boil over quickly. This foam is known as kaimaki. The more volume of foam the better. This is essential and it’s the main reason why Greek coffee tastes so good. You want to remove it from the heat just after the kaimaki forms but before it boils over the biriki.
When you’re ready to pour just ensure that you don’t pour out the very bottom fluid in the biriki. It’s a thick sludge of coffee grounds that you want to avoid drinking. That is why the little pot is shaped the way it is!
Serve the coffee in tiny demitasse cups. This allows you to get many rounds from each serving that are always fresh and it gives you more opportunities to visit with your company as they lap up your delicious coffee.
Now for the Canadian twist……..drumroll please……..serve your greek coffee with your favourite timbit! Of course we suggest a honey-glazed.
A Biriki is small metal pot used for making Greek coffee.