I recently had the pleasure of trying a new kind of coffee for me, an Egyptian. Now, this was not just “an Egyptian coffee”, like you would get a “Kenyan” at Starbucks (stay tuned for a Kenyan “from Kenya” post soon!) it was an Egyptian coffee that was “exported” from Egypt straight into my hands (well, with a few non-commercial handlers along the way – thank you Seb and Seb’s co-worker!).
The coffee had two interesting features, its taste and its consistency.
First, on the taste – this is a very dark roast that reminds me of an illy espresso. It is deep and full, with an aftertaste that coats the back of your throat up into your nose. There is no getting around the aroma of this coffee! Some of the Orouba coffees come with a hint of cardamon, but I was relegated to just the regular (yet still delicious and high-octane) version. A little cardamon would add a great flavor to this dark roast though… Maybe next time I will just add my own.
The consistency of this coffee, however, is unlike any western one. The beans came pre-ground, which I usually dislike (for freshness reasons), but in this case it forced me to drink the coffee how it is intended.
The grind is incredibly fine, so fine in fact that it will clog my Rancilio if I try to make an espresso, so the options are to make it as a traditional Turkish coffee or to prepare it in my french press. Being a lover of the french press (and a complete novice at Turkish) I chose the press, knowing that the mesh would likely not be fine enough to strain out any but the largest grinds. This gave me a thick, toothsome cup of coffee that is almost a meal unto itself. This, my friends, is the Guinness of coffees.
