Espresso vs the Turks!
Salutations once again folks! The mighty Kartoffel once again bringing you adventures from the culinary edge! Todays experiment was a deep dive into the realm of Java! I have received some new coffee paraphernalia and was putting it through its paces. I was given an espresso pot recently and it was time to put that bad boy through its paces. So in this corner we have Espresso, weighing in at a measly 2 little bitty cup servings.
Obviously this match is going to be in the lightweight category. But as yo know folks those little fighters pack a lot of energy and can really go at it. Now without further ado our contender. Turkish coffee! This contender is slightly bigger and can be considered a 3 cupper compared to the 2 from Espresso. So with me serving as the referee and the ring, let the match begin! First we have Espresso coming with with a solid performance in the first rounds. A good flavor and his time to prepare isn't too long, however he does lose some points in this match due to needing 2 pots to be made for a decent Kartoffel sized cup to be had. He also loses points due to it being a pain to have to deal with a hot pot that needs to be cooled off to be able to handle it for the reloading for the second pot of caffeiny goodness. Once that is over, he clocks in a great score on flavor, some cream and a bit of chilling since this Kartoffel doesn't do hot beverages if it can be helped. So Espresso puts in a
very solid round, now for its competitor the Turkish coffee! I followed the old proverb for how I prepared my turkish coffee:
"Coffee should be as black as hell, as strong as death, and as sweet as love" .
Turkish coffee were noted for their spices and strong sweetness, with a near syrup like consistency for some. So I am preparing my Turkish coffee following this old style. I used a pumpkin pie spice mixture with a healthy does of splenda and coffee in the Ibrik (a special Turkish coffee pot). Both espresso and Turkish coffee use very fine grinds, so I used my Turkish coffee grinder ( a hand powered model) to do the job for both grindings. Now in this round, the Turkish coffee loses some points right off the bat. While it takes a bit of time for Espresso, it takes even longer for Turkish coffee to be made. You don't go for a straight boil, but more of slow simmer. Once it gets close to bubbling a bit, you take iit off and let it cool down some and then repeat the process. you can repeat this a 1 or 2 times depending upon preferences. It takes a lot longer to sit and watch this process so I of course wander off on occasion which means I missed catching it on the second try when I should have thus removing the chance for a third simmering. With this method the coffee floats on the top and after several simmerings will eventually sink to the bottom. So when you are pouring you need to be careful not to get a ton of grinds into your cup. So now on to the flavor stage for the Turkish coffee. While it is tasty, I am not a big fan of black coffee even if it is sweet and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and other ingredients. So the
Espresso wins this round due to the cream factor. If I tried the Turkish coffee with cream it probably would have received more bonus points. Now on to the final round the caffeine effect. While I have a great tolerance for caffeine even I have my limits. But this brings to mind the poem I heard about caffeine first:
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion,
It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed,
The hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning,
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
(author unknown)
That being said, I was getting close to achieving levels of caffeine that would have had me vibrate out of this plane of existence. Well I will leave you for now folks while I concentrate on not vibrating through my chair and into the ground below. That is all for now True Believers!
Excelsior!
Erik
Salutations once again folks! The mighty Kartoffel once again bringing you adventures from the culinary edge! Todays experiment was a deep dive into the realm of Java! I have received some new coffee paraphernalia and was putting it through its paces. I was given an espresso pot recently and it was time to put that bad boy through its paces. So in this corner we have Espresso, weighing in at a measly 2 little bitty cup servings.
Obviously this match is going to be in the lightweight category. But as yo know folks those little fighters pack a lot of energy and can really go at it. Now without further ado our contender. Turkish coffee! This contender is slightly bigger and can be considered a 3 cupper compared to the 2 from Espresso. So with me serving as the referee and the ring, let the match begin! First we have Espresso coming with with a solid performance in the first rounds. A good flavor and his time to prepare isn't too long, however he does lose some points in this match due to needing 2 pots to be made for a decent Kartoffel sized cup to be had. He also loses points due to it being a pain to have to deal with a hot pot that needs to be cooled off to be able to handle it for the reloading for the second pot of caffeiny goodness. Once that is over, he clocks in a great score on flavor, some cream and a bit of chilling since this Kartoffel doesn't do hot beverages if it can be helped. So Espresso puts in a
very solid round, now for its competitor the Turkish coffee! I followed the old proverb for how I prepared my turkish coffee:
"Coffee should be as black as hell, as strong as death, and as sweet as love" .
Turkish coffee were noted for their spices and strong sweetness, with a near syrup like consistency for some. So I am preparing my Turkish coffee following this old style. I used a pumpkin pie spice mixture with a healthy does of splenda and coffee in the Ibrik (a special Turkish coffee pot). Both espresso and Turkish coffee use very fine grinds, so I used my Turkish coffee grinder ( a hand powered model) to do the job for both grindings. Now in this round, the Turkish coffee loses some points right off the bat. While it takes a bit of time for Espresso, it takes even longer for Turkish coffee to be made. You don't go for a straight boil, but more of slow simmer. Once it gets close to bubbling a bit, you take iit off and let it cool down some and then repeat the process. you can repeat this a 1 or 2 times depending upon preferences. It takes a lot longer to sit and watch this process so I of course wander off on occasion which means I missed catching it on the second try when I should have thus removing the chance for a third simmering. With this method the coffee floats on the top and after several simmerings will eventually sink to the bottom. So when you are pouring you need to be careful not to get a ton of grinds into your cup. So now on to the flavor stage for the Turkish coffee. While it is tasty, I am not a big fan of black coffee even if it is sweet and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and other ingredients. So the
Espresso wins this round due to the cream factor. If I tried the Turkish coffee with cream it probably would have received more bonus points. Now on to the final round the caffeine effect. While I have a great tolerance for caffeine even I have my limits. But this brings to mind the poem I heard about caffeine first:
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion,
It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed,
The hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning,
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
(author unknown)
That being said, I was getting close to achieving levels of caffeine that would have had me vibrate out of this plane of existence. Well I will leave you for now folks while I concentrate on not vibrating through my chair and into the ground below. That is all for now True Believers!
Excelsior!
Erik