There’s an old Arab saying that coffee should be as “Black as hell, strong as death and sweet as love.” A thimbleful of fine, potent cup of Greek coffee definitely fits that criteria as it is beautiful to look at, has an aroma that rejuvinates you and has an intense flavor that blows people away.

The history

The murky, frothy coffee we have come to know as Greek coffee was originally created in Yemen. An Ottoman governor stationed there in the 16^th century fell in love with it and introduced it to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who popularized coffee in Istanbul and beyond. Just one century later, Sultan Murad IV chopped off the heads of those who drank it. Clearly, he thought coffee-drinking insulted the Turkish nation and he’d stalk the streets of Turkey disguised as a commoner and decapitated anyone sipping. Even Murad IV’s more lenient successor would let coffee drinkers off with a light cudgeling the first time but sew them into a light leather bag and toss them in the river if caught a second time.

The coffee won out in the end and Turks think they can call it Turkish coffee because they paid for it with their lives, but in Greece its called elliniko (Greek coffee). In Armenia, where the Ottoman’s led a genocide between 1915 and 1923 its “Armenian”, in Cyprus its “Cypriot” and in Bosnia its “Bosanska (Bosnian) kafa”.

Making it

What you need:

* Greek coffee such as Bravo or Loumidis

* sugar

* water

* a briki (small pot)

* small espresso-sized cups

How to make it:

Fill water in as many espresso-sized cups that you intend to make and dump the water from each cup into the briki.

Add 1 heaped teaspoon of Greek coffee into the briki for each cup. Add the amount of sugar you want – sketos (unsweetened), metrios (medium-sweet with just 1 teaspoon of sugar per cup) and glykos (2 teaspoons of sugar per heaping).

Put the briki on a gas burner and turn it on medium-low heat.

Start to stir the mixture continuously when it gets hot and the mixture dissolves. Once all is dissolved and blended stop stirring.

Continue to slowly heat and watch for the foam to rise and take it off just before it begins to boil. The richer the foam, the better the coffee.

Pour and enjoy.

And when you finish drinking swirl it around, make a wish, turn the cup upside down and learn about what’s in store in the future…