Last night as I was rummaging through some old photo folders, I came across a few from a vacation that never made its way to facebook. While I was curious why I never posted these, I also was reminded of this little piece of coffee history I had to endure:
On a clear, bright (and incredibly humid) morning in July in 2007, our family (well julie and michelle's family...I just tagged along) sat down for breakfast in a little cafe near the Megaro Mousikis metro station, a quick little meal before tackling the famed acropolis (back when athens was nice and not rioting). After the girls had ordered their crepes, it was my turn, and since I didn't have any way of getting my usual caffeine fix, I decided to give their turkish coffee a try.
Now here comes a little jolt of caffinated history (you can tune this paragraph out if you like). Although coffee had its birthplace in Ethiopia and the word is arabic, the coffeehouse concept was developed in modern-day Turkey, where the first coffeehouse was opened in Istanbul in 1554. Coffee had a profound impact on Ottoman empire, so much that the turkish word for breakfast literally translates to "before coffee". The primary form of coffee served at that time in turkish coffeehouses was turkish coffee (although i'm sure it was just referred to as coffee), and so it reflects one of the earliest preparation methods for coffee. Naturally, I had to try it.
Well, le me be the first to say that I am extremely glad that we've come a long way since then. 500+ years of progress has certainly benefitted coffee drinkers everywhere. The coffee came in a tiny little pot sitting on a tray with an espresso cup. As I poured the coffee into my cup, I noticed it had a color and consistency similar to used motor oil. While not being too excited about putting that into my body (there was no way this was gonna be healthy), I figured, what the heck, I'll give it a go.
Apparently "strong" isn't enough to describe what it tasted like. Due to the way it's prepared (the finely ground coffee powder isn't actually filtered out), you pretty much have to know how long to let the grounds settle before drinking it, and you also have to know when to stop drinking it, lest you end up with a mouthful of silt. I didn't know either. What resulted was a horrifying ten seconds of coffee drinking that I wish I will never experience again.
Since the Ottoman empire, coffee consumption and enjoyment has evolved in ways that the first coffeehouse owner never would've imagined. We now have, at our disposal, hundreds of different ways of brewing coffee, and thankfully, quite a few ways of filtering it as well. While it was interesting to get a glimpse of what coffee would have been like all those years ago, I'm perfectly fine getting my cup of brew from a chemex or espresso machine.
On a clear, bright (and incredibly humid) morning in July in 2007, our family (well julie and michelle's family...I just tagged along) sat down for breakfast in a little cafe near the Megaro Mousikis metro station, a quick little meal before tackling the famed acropolis (back when athens was nice and not rioting). After the girls had ordered their crepes, it was my turn, and since I didn't have any way of getting my usual caffeine fix, I decided to give their turkish coffee a try.
Now here comes a little jolt of caffinated history (you can tune this paragraph out if you like). Although coffee had its birthplace in Ethiopia and the word is arabic, the coffeehouse concept was developed in modern-day Turkey, where the first coffeehouse was opened in Istanbul in 1554. Coffee had a profound impact on Ottoman empire, so much that the turkish word for breakfast literally translates to "before coffee". The primary form of coffee served at that time in turkish coffeehouses was turkish coffee (although i'm sure it was just referred to as coffee), and so it reflects one of the earliest preparation methods for coffee. Naturally, I had to try it.
Well, le me be the first to say that I am extremely glad that we've come a long way since then. 500+ years of progress has certainly benefitted coffee drinkers everywhere. The coffee came in a tiny little pot sitting on a tray with an espresso cup. As I poured the coffee into my cup, I noticed it had a color and consistency similar to used motor oil. While not being too excited about putting that into my body (there was no way this was gonna be healthy), I figured, what the heck, I'll give it a go.
Apparently "strong" isn't enough to describe what it tasted like. Due to the way it's prepared (the finely ground coffee powder isn't actually filtered out), you pretty much have to know how long to let the grounds settle before drinking it, and you also have to know when to stop drinking it, lest you end up with a mouthful of silt. I didn't know either. What resulted was a horrifying ten seconds of coffee drinking that I wish I will never experience again.
Since the Ottoman empire, coffee consumption and enjoyment has evolved in ways that the first coffeehouse owner never would've imagined. We now have, at our disposal, hundreds of different ways of brewing coffee, and thankfully, quite a few ways of filtering it as well. While it was interesting to get a glimpse of what coffee would have been like all those years ago, I'm perfectly fine getting my cup of brew from a chemex or espresso machine.
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