Coffee Mystery? I Need Your Help!
The mystery starts a couple weeks ago, my girlfriend’s father came back from a business trip in the middle east. Knowing how much a coffee addict I am, he brought me back a bag of coffee from the United Arab Emirates. Besides the address on the side of the bag, most of the packaging was in Arabic. I don’t know Arabic, but I do know that there was pictures of coffee beans also on the packaging, so I couldn’t wait to rip open this bag and dig in…
However, this is where the mystery really starts. He did say something about cardamom, but this coffee looked more like tea than anything else. I didn’t really know how to brew this coffee, so I decided to break out my ibrik, also known as a Turkish coffee pot.
The results smelled a lot like tea, cardamom and the smell of a new house under construction. The taste was creamy, very spicy with a distinct lemon flavor.
It was good and definitely had some caffeine in it, but is it really coffee? Do you know what I was drinking and more importantly the properly way to brew it?
Category: Coffee Information
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Mike Crimmins is the highly caffeinated blogger behind Daily Shot Of Coffee. Besides drinking way too much coffee, he's obsessed with the Yankees and getting dirty on his mountain bike.Subscribe
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From my time living in Europe and spending some time in the Balkans I think you stumbled upon a variation of Turkish Coffee:
There are other schools of preparing Turkish coffee that vary from the above. Lebanese coffee starts with hot water alone, to which sugar is added and dissolved. The product is in essence a sugar syrup with a higher boiling point than water. The coffee, and cardamom if wanted, are added, and the mixture is stirred. It is then brought to a boil two or three times; the double (or triple) boiling is an essential part of the process, both ceremonially and—as connoisseurs claim—for the palate. It has the effect of subjecting the coffee grounds to hot (but not boiling) water for longer, extracting more flavour without imparting the “cooked” taste of over-boiled coffee.
Did you ever know that you’re my hero! That would explain a lot and bring a little bit of sense to my mystery.
Mike …dude … you forgot to rate it…
I don’t know if I could properly give a fair rating.
i’ll go way out on a Middle Eastern ledge and say this
isn’t coffee but ‘coffee spices’. looks more like that
than any turkish grind i’ve seen.
check out the photos of this on Amazon;
Turkish Black Coffee is stronger than espresso, but not as bitter. Never-the-less, this hot drink doesn’t go without the exotic flavor of the Turkish coffee spice blend where Cardamom powder is the main ingredient. This bouquet of spice blend includes: Cardamom, Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla powder… Just add 1 tsp for each 2 Tbsp of coffee during the brewing process.
i swear the stuff you have and the stuff in the bottles on sale
are alike…and not coffee…unless someone grew and roasted
yellow beans. (nah)
http://www.amazon.com/Turkish-Coffee-Spice-Mix-2-0/dp/B000LZK630/ref=pd_sim_gro_2
I’ve had regular turkish coffee and like you’re saying it’s completely different. However, I’m still leaning towards this being some form of coffee, just from a different part of the region, so they do it differently.
update from nephew with US Military in Mid East/ Egypt this last summer.
he says ‘… The top part is the brand name, something to the effect of Bin Al-Bedwi, (our “uncle ben’s). And the writing on the bottom literally just says true flavor (al-nakha al-Hakakeea). …’
he agrees it seeems to be coffee related, but never having
tasted it, he can’t say for sure. i suggested the next time
the government assigns him to pyramid enjoyment duties,
to try some and let us know what he thinks of it.
Thanks for the update! That’s awesome! I feel that while the mystery isn’t completely solved, it is under control!
Mike,
If you can email me a picture of the packaging I can do a rough translation of the directions for you if you still need it!
I think I’ll take you up on that offer. I’ll get some better pictures next time I’m home.