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There are many different ways of preparing coffee and different methods within the ways and different levels of madness within the methods. These are the most sane:
Turkish coffee - superfine grind often with ground chicory and ground rye. Using a ibrik( ibriq), jezveh (cezve, djezva, xhezve) or briki, put in enough cold water to fill your cup, a good teaspoon or two of coffee and sugar to taste (despite fanatical belief to the contrary, order really doesn’t matter). Put the jezveh on a low heat and wait until the water starts to froth up then pour out the coffee into your cup. The heat source can be very hot sand. The coffee should be smooth, rich and foamy. Greek coffee - is Turkish coffee. Arabic coffee - superfine grind often with cardamon. As with the Turkish coffee but instead of pouring off the froth, bring the coffee to the boil five times before pouring out into small cups. In Amman little sugar is used, yet in the desert the Beduin will pour coffee into their sugar. In many places coffee is served to every guest and it’s bad form to refuse the first cup. A gravity percolator has two chambers - a lower for water and an upper for the coffee. The lower is heated and the heated water rises through a pipe to the upper chamber where it seeps through the coffee and falls back to the lower chamber. The process repeats until the coffee is brewed. The grind used is generally coarse, but depends on taste. Again, brew time depends on how strong you like your coffee. 1-4 mins is the range. Because the water is boiling coffee in the bottom chamber, the longer you brew the more bitter the coffee will be. The percolator has a bad name in snob circles, but a lot of people enjoyed their coffee like this once. Moka pot/Italian espresso pot - The Moka is similar in design to the percolator, however, the water only passes through the coffee once under pressure. The grind is slightly coarser than espresso and needs to be packed in to the basket. If the coffee is too fine the water will not be able to force its way through the grinds and the release valve will go. If it is too coarse the water will gush through the coffee without extracting all the coffee. Depending on the heat source the brew time is 5-10mins. This method is very popular in Italy and the Balkans. Cona vacuum - Invented by Scottish marine engineer, Robert Napier, in 1840. This ingenious vacuum method is one of the best methods for brewing coffee. It takes water at an ideal temperature through the coffee only once and over-extraction is impossible. However, the process produces a very clean cup, which some may find too weak. Fine (not powdery) to medium ground coffee (as filter coffee). Brew time 1-3 mins after water has been drawn into the top. Drip method - hot water is poured over the coffee held in a filter. The brew drips down by gravity taking 6-8 mins. There are two types: paper and permanent (metal or plastic) filter, with the permanent filter requiring a slightly coarser grind. Hand drip - bring water almost to the boil, pour some water into the grounds to initiate brewing then pour in the rest of the water. The cafetière - extracts the full flavour from the beans, whereas other methods tend to remove some of the flavour, or taint the flavour of the coffee. The coarse grounds are put into the pot and hot water is added. If the grounds haven’t mixed well, the mix can be given a quick stir. The coffee steeps over 4-5 mins then the pot is plunged and the coffee is poured into one’s cup. Open pot or jug - add coarse grounds and water to the pot and allowing to steep for 4-5 minutes. Pour into a cup using a strainer. |
Coffee 