The
magic midnight melancholy of
Greek coffee.
Ancient Greek philosophers achieved
oodles. Certainly the intake of caffeine was the key, yes? All
great programmers depend on the stuff to
geek-amorphisize through long hard nights,
there is much to be done, and less time to do it. ‘But why the Greek philosophers?’ you may ask. You wouldn’t be wrong in asking either. Believe it or not
ladies and gentlemen, the
Greeks have some of, if not the, strongest coffee in the world. I’ll categorize categorically into three trade types: the
Frappas (as used in Greek,
Frappé as derived from
French, here though, is the Greek
frappas),
O Ellinikos (translated into English as The
Greek) and
O Diplos Ellinikos (The Double
Greek).
The
Frappas is derived from the French
frappé ("to hit"), served cold with ice cubes and a straw. This is the
summer coffee, consisting of (in character with the
cultural stereotype of the Greek, indescribable in English,
o klassikos ellinas), 2-3 spoons of traditional
Nescafé grain with 5-6 spoonfuls of sugar shaken using only enough water to cover the coffee and sugar to make a thick, creamy foam. Water and ice is added after and stirred. Under no circumstances do we add
milk; it
neutralizes the caffeine. Absurd.
O Ellinikos is the turbo-charge of Greek convention. A metallic coffee pot is loaded onto the stove filled with approximately two
shot-glasses of water; place on top of water 3 teaspoons of fine
Ellinikos grain (
Papagalos is one of the finer brands, translated as 'parrot' but remarkably fine coffee nevertheless). Allow water to simmer and stir very gently so coffee grain rises to top, but is not sitting on the simmering water. As water simmers and slowly nears boiling, stop stirring and wait for water and coffee mixture to rise. If you want a thick layer of coffee (
kaimaki) to sit on the top, leave rise as much as possible, if not, remove coffee as soon as it rises even a little. Served in a miniature coffee mug, down like a shot for some severe
incessant shaking syndrome.
O Diplos Ellinikos – Akin to
O Ellinikos. Double
everything. Drink slowly. Enough said.
Any Greek will campaign the perfect harmony that cigarettes and coffee bathe in when appreciated together. The
coffee-cigarette lifestyle is almost cult-like and is a key cultural value that
binds and unites contemporary
Greek society.