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Roasting for Turkish/Greek style coffee?

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  • Roasting for Turkish/Greek style coffee?

    I have a work colleague, of Greek background, who I was intending to roast some coffee for. He prefers a light Greek style coffee, which is apparently a lighter roast than Turkish, which he prepares by boiling on the stove, much like how Turkish coffee is prepared. He brought me a sample of what he currently drinks, and it is indeed a very light roast - caramel in colour. I’d assume to be this light that it would be roasted no further than the end of first crack, maybe even less than that.

    Does anyone here know what beans or blends are used for (or could be used to reproduce) a traditional Greek style coffee? What beans would work best at this light roast level? Should I use wet or dry processed beans? And any other roasting tips to suit this light roast style, and brewing method?

    thanks,
    Bill

  • #2
    Re: Roasting for Turkish/Greek style coffee?

    Bill,
    I use whatever beans I have roasted for greek coffee. Basically, if your friend prefers a lighter roast, roast something like a yirgacheffe, Tiger Mountain or a PNG peaberry to CS9/10. This is the level I have used to get the best flavours for a greek coffee.

    If you are grinding the coffee for him it needs to be very very fine - basically a powder.

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    • #3
      Re: Roasting for Turkish/Greek style coffee?

      Bill, a traditional Greek coffee is not made with a roast as light as you describe (my father was Greek so I think I can be trusted on that fact).

      Im with lucinda and have used whatever beans I have around.
      To make Turkish/Greek coffee you need an extremely fine grind and an ibrik/briki.

      I think you need to ask your colleague where he gets his beans from and what they are.
      Im interested in knowing the answer.

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      • #4
        Re: Roasting for Turkish/Greek style coffee?

        Hi Thungergod,

        According to a guy on HB, who lives in Turkey, he informs me that in Turkey roasters usually prefer 2 types of roast:

        a) as soon as first crack starts you stop roasting (and most people claim thats genuine Turkish Coffee)
        b) you keep roasting even after second crack ends which is dark french roast (and they call it double roasted)
        So, going by the sample my work colleague gave me, Id say its the type "a" roast. He can get another slightly darker roasted coffee, but he says he prefers the taste of the lighter one. This is very light in colour - I believe its commonly referred to as a "cinnamon roast", and it is very much that colour. This coffee he uses is stale, pre-ground, commercial packaged rubbish, so Id like to make him something better.


        Lucinda,

        The lighter roast he prefers is no darker than a CS5 colour, so there’d be no use me giving him something roasted to a CS9-10 as he won’t like it. He’s already told me he prefers the really light roasts.


        regards,
        Bill

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        • #5
          Re: Roasting for Turkish/Greek style coffee?

          Originally posted by Thundergod link=1202272493/0#2 date=1203226512
          Bill, a traditional Greek coffee is not made with a roast as light as you describe (my father was Greek so I think I can be trusted on that fact).
          Well this work colleague IS Greek, so Im not about to call him a lier. The coffee he buys is marketed as, and labeled as "Greek Coffee", it IS as light as I described (he gave me a sample), and he said he prefers his coffee this light. Now Im not going to tell him he has no taste and should be drinking something darker roasted. I am sure the coffee would taste heaps better roasted darker (at least to my taste), but hes been drinking coffee of this light roast all his life, so none of my arguing would be likely to convince him to change now. So all I want to do is give him some coffee of similar level of roast to what he is used to, but obviously fresher roasted than what he usually drinks.


          Bill

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          • #6
            Re: Roasting for Turkish/Greek style coffee?

            Bill,

            If the beans are roasted to a lighter level, from my experience they will need to rest quite a bit longer for the flavour to establish....

            So dont give him really fresh roasted beans (at the usual 2-3 days post roast) as they often taste sort of "grassy" - well to me at least. They probably need to be at least a week old (and even then wont taste like the the stale commercial roasts - which he might also prefer)......

            Bit hard to change the habit of a lifetime!

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