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Coffee is a special drink capable of arousing all-round sensory experiences. From the ritual preparation to the unmistakable taste and pleasant aroma, it is able to conquer many consumers. There exist different types and today, as in the past, many are the tools used for its preparation. What are the most characteristic and traditional ones?
Lots of coffees
Coffee prepared in the Mediterranean countries varies: in some areas it is sipped more concentrated, in others it is diluted with water and milk. The Arabs love to flavour it with spices and herbs, and the Turks often accompany it with sweets, the famous lokum, which neutralize its bitter taste.
This drink therefore has multiple “souls”, depending on where it is consumed. Its variety is also accentuated by the use of specific tools. Some hand tools for the maikng of coffee include infusion, while others filtration and even cooking at more or less high temperatures capable of giving varying intensities to the drink.
Italian coffee
In Italy, for example, the moka is very common today. Alfonso Bialetti invented it in 1933 and has since spread nationally and internationally. Not everyone knows, however, that another instrument was in use before: the Neapolitan cuccumella. Although it was invented in France in the 1800s, it found great success in Italy.
It is a tool made up of three main components. These are: a boiler, inside which water is poured, a cylindrical filter that contains the ground coffee not too finely and, finally, a coffee pot with handle and spout. Cuccumella works by filtration, since the boiler containing the water is then turned upside down and filtered into the coffee that flows inside the coffee pot.
Ibrik: traditional Turkish way of making coffee
In other countries, the most common coffee extraction method is the Turkish one. Reference is made to the use of the so-called ibrik or cezve, widely known among the Arabs and in the Balkan countries, as well as in Turkey. The unmistakable characteristics of the Turkish kahve are its thick texture and the deposit of powdery sediment at the bottom of the cup. In fact, this well-known drink should never be drunk until the end.
Ibrik is a metal pot with a narrow neck and a long handle. Very finely ground coffee powder, water and, if desired, sugar are poured into it. Then, coffee is left to cook on the stove and served boiling hot.
The Arabic qawha
Another interesting tradition linked to coffee is the Arab one. In the Arab countries, as has been said, the Turkish cezve is widespread, but the Bedouins of the desert once used to prepare the beloved drink in elegant, and sometimes embellished, dalla.
These tools, similar to closed hourglass-shaped carafes, with a hooked spout and a long curved handle, were placed in the sand. Thanks to the heat coming from there, it was possible to obtain the coffee drink (qahwa, in Arabic), which couldn’t cook perfectly, thus acquiring a yellowish colour. Indeed, the temperature of the desert sand was high, but not such as to allow a sufficient roasting of the coffee beans.
Nowadays dalla is still used, especially in the Arabian Peninsula, but stovetops are preferred, for obvious reasons. Coffee is therefore a vast universe of curious traditions and pleasant moments of conviviality.
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