Greek Coffee: How to Make It in a Briki

Greek coffee is ordered by sugar, judged by its foam and drunk slowly. It shares its grind, pot and method with Turkish coffee, so a powder-fine Turkish coffee, ours included, makes Greek coffee in a briki with no changes. Below: why each step matters, the sweetness orders, how the two coffees differ, and what to buy.

How to Make Greek Coffee: Why Each Step Matters

Cold water first. Measure with the cup you will drink from: one demitasse, 60 to 70 ml, per person. Cold water lets the pot warm slowly, and slow is where the kaimaki comes from.

7 g of coffee per cup. One heaping teaspoon of coffee ground to powder, finer than espresso. Nothing filters Greek coffee, so the grind has to be fine enough to sink and settle on its own. Want it stronger? Add a little more coffee, not more time on the heat.

Sugar before the heat. The sugar dissolves in the pot and becomes part of the foam, so it cannot be stirred in afterward without breaking the kaimaki. That is why Greeks order the sweetness with the coffee. Making cups at different sweetness? Brew them in separate brikia.

One stir, then hands off. Stir until the powder sinks and the sugar dissolves, and take the spoon out. Every stir after this knocks down foam that is trying to form.

The lowest heat that still warms the pot. After a few minutes a fine, cocoa-colored foam gathers at the edges and starts to climb the narrow neck. Stay with it: the last part happens fast.

Lift it off as the kaimaki reaches the rim. This is the moment that decides the cup. Some cooks set the briki back on the heat for a second rise; it is optional and adds little if the first rise was slow.

Share the kaimaki, then pour. For two or more cups, pour a little into each so everyone gets foam, then go back and top them up slowly down the side of the cup. Let the cups rest a minute so the grounds settle before the first sip.

Kaimaki came out thin? The usual causes are heat that was too high, coffee that has gone stale, or a briki too big for the amount in it. Fill the pot about halfway to two-thirds so the coffee sits deep enough to climb. Our step-by-step brewing guide has more fixes, and every one applies here.

Sketos, Metrios, Glykos: How Sweet, in Teaspoons

In a Greek kafeneio you order by sugar, because the cup comes to you already sweetened. Per cup:

You will also see the orders spelled sketo, metrio, glyko or glykys; the Greek ending changes with the grammar, not the coffee. Ask for a diplos and you get a double: twice the coffee and water, brewed together and served in a larger cup. "Ena diplo metrio" is a double, medium sweet.

Greek vs Turkish Coffee: Same Method, Different Names

Greek coffee and Turkish coffee are made the same way. Both start with coffee ground finer than espresso, both are brewed with cold water and the sugar already in the pot, and both reach the cup unfiltered, with the grounds settling to the bottom.

The name has its own history. Greeks called it Turkish coffee for generations. From the 1950s on, "Greek coffee" slowly became the usual name, and advertising in the 1990s finished the job. Only one word changed: kafes, itself a loan-word, stayed exactly as it was.

The one difference you can taste is the roast. Greek brands tend to roast a little lighter than Turkish brands, which gives a milder, slightly brighter cup. The same pot carries other names around the region too: cezve in Turkey, džezva in Bosnian coffee, rakweh in Lebanon, where the cup is known as Arabic coffee. For the longer story, start with what Turkish coffee is, then follow it across the region in our guide to Turkish, Greek and Arabic coffee history.

What Is a Briki?

A briki is the pot that makes Greek coffee: small, wide at the base, narrow at the neck, with a long handle and a pouring lip. The wide base gathers heat evenly. The narrow neck squeezes the rising foam into a thick layer, and the long handle keeps your hand clear of the flame. Traditional brikia are tin-lined copper; stainless steel works just as well. In Cyprus the same pot is called a tzisves.

Size matters more than material, so buy one sized for the cups you usually make. A 12 oz pot makes two to three small cups. No briki yet? The smallest saucepan you own works for two cups or more. Our guide to the best Turkish coffee pot compares copper and steel; everything in it applies to a briki, because it is the same pot.

How to Serve Greek Coffee

A Greek coffee comes on a saucer with a glass of cold water beside it, and often a koulouraki biscuit or a piece of loukoumi. Sip the water first to clear your palate.

Then take your time. A Greek coffee is meant to last a conversation, and the cup is small for a reason: it is strong, and it is sipped from the top. Stop when you reach the grounds, the katakathi, which stay in the cup. Some turn the cup over on its saucer and read them afterward.

What Is the Best Greek Coffee to Buy?

Our pick is Lezzet Traditional: specialty grade, fresh-roasted in the USA and ground powder-fine, so it goes straight into a briki. The best-known Greek brands are Loumidis Papagalos, the one with the parrot, along with Bravo and Venizelos: a medium roast, milder than most Turkish brands.

Whatever the name on the bag, three things decide the cup in a briki:

A powder-fine grind. Coarser coffee gives a thin cup and a weak kaimaki.

Freshness. Ground coffee goes stale faster than whole beans, and powder is as ground as coffee gets. The closer the coffee is to its roast, the fuller the kaimaki.

The bean. Specialty-grade arabica gives a sweeter, cleaner cup than commodity coffee, and in an unfiltered cup there is nowhere for a lesser bean to hide. More on that in our Turkish coffee brand comparison.

Lezzet Traditional starts with two specialty-grade arabicas, and a licensed Q Grader scored the coffee 84. The rich one is low in acidity, with notes of dark chocolate and nut, and we roast it dark for depth. The bright one we roast lighter to keep its lift, which puts the blend between the lighter Greek roasts and the darker Turkish ones. Each is roasted on its own, then blended, fresh-roasted in the USA in small batches and ground powder-fine. Brew it metrios and the kaimaki comes up thick and cocoa-colored.

If you do not own a briki yet, the Turkish Coffee Kit pairs a 12 oz pot with all three flavors: Traditional, Cardamom and Cinnamon.

Is Greek Coffee the Same as a Frappé?

No, and the names cause a lot of confusion. A Greek frappé is an iced drink made from instant coffee: instant coffee, a little water and sugar are shaken hard until they turn into a thick foam, then poured over ice and topped with cold water and, if you like, milk. It was invented by accident at the Thessaloniki International Fair in 1957, when a coffee company representative could not find hot water for his instant coffee and shook it cold instead.

Greek coffee is ground coffee brewed hot in a briki and served in a small cup. The two share a country, the same sweetness orders and a love of foam, and nothing else.

Greek Coffee FAQ