20 words for snow

At home I am a creature of habit when it comes to my morning coffee. It's a satisfying cup, and I like it the same way everyday. When we travel, however, getting that reliable cup of coffee that tastes the way I want it becomes more difficult. I have yet to see an American-style drip coffee maker in Italy or in Turkey.

I realized yesterday that after 2 months of being here, we have amassed FIVE ways to make coffee in this house. I guess it shows you what's important around here - like how in the far North they have so many words for snow and cold weather, we have multiple methods for making coffee! :-)

First is the most traditional here, TURKISH COFFEE.  Not my favourite, and probably the last of the 5 ways I would choose to receive my caffeine intake for the day. Turkish coffee is strong and sludgy, and since it's a small cup, the satisfaction of lingering and savouring is pretty diminished.

The most famous brand of Turkish coffee is Mehmet Effendi. Turkish coffee grounds are ground very, very fine. It's almost a powder that you mix with your water and sugar in your pot on the stove. When you order your Turkish coffee, you would indicate how sweet you would like it: sade (no sugar), orta (medium) or shekerli (sweet). I go for orta:

Here's a little video on how to make Turkish coffee:



I love the cultural heritage of Turkish coffee and its many traditions... but the taste is far too strong for me and I usually only manage one cup of this stuff per visit. For me, Turkish tea or çay is a much easier custom to adopt.

Unless you are at a fancy coffee shop in Istanbul, if you don't want Turkish Kahve, you will be offered Nescafé as your next coffee option. They actually call it that, by its brand name. We have some of that hanging around too:

The slightly upper level version of this is something we lived off of last year, Starbuck's brand Columbian instant coffee. Is it that much better than Nescafé? Well, not really, but I enjoyed being able to vary flavour after a while.

When my sister-in-law came from South Africa earlier this month, I really wanted a quick and easy way to make 2 perfect cups of coffee for us quick and easy that would most resemble our at-home coffee makers. Enter the French Press:

I thought it would give us the best coffee the closest to a "drip" coffee maker. Here's a little tutorial on getting the best out of your French Press:



Did I follow all those steps? No, not really. Maybe for that reason our coffee was okay, but not great.

Our last coffee making device is the most messy and time consuming perhaps, but delivers the most satisfying cup, the Moka Pot:

Ozayr brought this back from Rome on his trip there this year, along with a bag of really great espresso coffee from Sant' Eustachio -

I didn't really understand how a Moka Pot works, but this diagram helps:

You put water in the bottom chamber, and espresso coffee grounds in the middle section. After a few minutes on the burner, the water in the bottom part begins to boil. The rising water/steam/bubbles go up through the coffee grounds, and end up in the top part - becoming a lovely, rich espresso. You can mix this with hot milk, and voilà!

Here is a little video that does a good job at explaining:



So there you have it - COFFEE. I'll leave you with my favourite coffee quote, and then I'm off to enjoy a cup myself...

“Without my morning coffee I’m just like a dried up piece of roast goat."

~Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Alfiyet Olsun!