Make coffee at work

We now make coffee ourselves and save loads of money. Yes, there is always a cafeteria nearby and many offices are now equipped with coffee makers but you can also make coffee yourself. I always liked having cafeterias near my workplace but looking back this was expensive entertainment especially when inviting visitors or colleagues. The main reason we did that was the experience, buzz around us and chat that I could have with my work colleagues only during the break.

That's all fine but it was expensive and I found a solution that almost recreates the cafeteria-style experience right in the office. To make coffee yourself, Turkish coffee that is, adds to the atmosphere particularly if you have visitors, let alone the smell of the fresh brew. I agree, you can use coffee makers and yes you can go to the local cafeteria but all this costs far more than to simply make coffee yourself. On the other hand you can impress visitors with your Turkish coffee making skills and break the ice without even thinking very hard what to say. Isn't that wonderful? You start your business meeting with a chat around how to make coffee and you can do that easily even with total strangers! So what do you need to make Turkish coffee at work yourself? First of all let's take a look at the equipment and ingredients:

ibrik (a pot where you make coffee; stainless steel or tinned copper are best)
kettle (for brewing water if you haven't got a mini tabletop stove; you can get safe single-hob convection variants these days)
teaspoon
coffee (Barcaffe rocks and will be available here soon)
sugar (not for me, but you may have sweet teeth)

Method - how to make Turkish coffee at work (step by step):

Makes: 2 cups

	STEP 1: Take an ibrik and heat it up by pouring in some boiling water from the kettle and then emptying it back into the kettle (this ibrik on the picture is made out of stainless steel). Ibrik should be made of tinned cooper, brass or stainless steel. Iron and aluminium should be avoided because coffee liquid reacts chemically with them affecting the taste of coffee. The size of ibrik depends on how many people you want to serve.
	STEP 2: Take a heap teaspoon (if you make coffee for two) of pulverized coffee (Barcaffe is our favorite finely ground coffee) and put it in to the ibrik. Turkish coffee must be made using finely ground coffee. The coarsely ground coffee won't seal the water properly and the will not settle down as expected from finely ground coffee.
	STEP 3: You can add sugar at this stage but Turkish coffee is best without it. Make sure that coffee pot is heated before adding any coffee and sugar.
	STEP 4: Quickly pour in boiling water and stir immediately to form crèma, the lovely golden foam (you may drop in a seed of cardamom at this point). Leave the hot coffee for about 20 seconds to let the grounds settle. My husband normally leaves kettle on for 2-3 more seconds while the water is boiling to make sure the temperature does not drop considerably when poured into ibrik. Crèma forms properly only if the temperature is just below 100C.
	STEP 5: Pour hot coffee into a warmed up demitasse cups and simply enjoy. As a general guide, the harder the water the thicker the crèma. Demitasse cup is a small cup (60-90ml) with a matching saucer used to serve Turkish coffee.

How to serve coffee at work:

Here are some of the most important aspects of serving coffee at work:

I am aware that for many using cardboard or plastic cups is the easiest solution (you don't need to wash them afterwards). But wax from the cardboard could melt into the coffee and seriously affect the taste. It is really difficult to hold plastic mugs in the hand (you could burn yourself) and they look awfully cheap. Plastic and cardboard mugs also don't hold heat very long. Beautiful earthenware or glass cups or mugs are by far the best choice. Why?
Coffee stays warm much longer, they don't look cheap and have much better stability. Cardboard and plastic mugs could be tipped over, destroying your important documents but that can happen anyway :)
If you use glass cups heat them first before you pour in the brewed coffee (pour hot water in a cup and allow to stand for 3-4 minutes).
If you make coffee for your important visitors you should ask them first how they prefer coffee: sweetened or without sugar. Some people prefer their coffee with added cream or milk. You should ask about this too. Creams is the choice when you haven't got a fridge with milk nearby.
Buy long life milk pots or sticks. You should buy milk pots and sticks in larger quantities. You can get 100 milk pots (100 x 12ml) for about £3.59 (€4.20), or 200 long life milk sticks for about £5.69 (€6.60). A typical shell life for milk is approx. 6-12 weeks.
You will probably need a few sachets of sugar too. 1000 sachets cost approx. £6 (€7). Wooden coffee stirrers are also needed, you can get 1000 stirrers for approx. £3 (€3.50).
But at the end if you calculate all the costs together (milk, sugar, stirrers) the yearly stock would probably cost around £13 (€15). That's about 5 cups of coffee from a cafeteria so it is way cheaper and more personal to make coffee yourself!
A glass of water should be always served alongside coffee (coffee is a mild diuretic and lost water should be replaced). To go even further you can enrich the coffee experience and add a cardamom seed into a coffee cup or serve some bitter chocolate or chocolate cookies.
And the most important thing, drink your coffee hot or as soon as it's made. Never re-heat it and never re-use coffee grounds to make another coffee.
If you think that there is too much work to use demitasse cups, you can still use coffee mugs but be ware quantities are different and you may need to get used to this difference when brewing coffee.

Storing coffee is also very important:

There is no method that could preserve coffee from slowly losing its flavor and aroma. The best solution for office is to buy small amounts of ground coffee and use them as soon as possible. Little bag of coffee will last approx. one week (it depends on the amount of coffee you drink). Seal the coffee bag after use and store it in an airtight container.

Useful tips:

Coffee is very temperature sensitive so make coffee and drink it fresh. Once brewed, its taste starts to deteriorate rapidly. In 20 minutes it will taste bitter, but in 1 hour it will lose its aroma. Never drink cold or even worse re-heated coffee.
If you want to store your brewed coffee to consume it later pour it into a high quality hot cafetiere mug or travel mug. Don't buy cheap versions because plastic or other composite materials will give coffee odd aftertaste. It is worth spending more money and buy glass lined thermos. On the other hand cleaning will be much easier (use baking soda and water solution).
Coffee mugs and cups should be spotlessly clean so if you find coffee stains on your coffee mug after washing wash them again with baking soda and water solution.

Good to know:

There are two main sorts of coffee beans: Arabica and Robusta.
Arabica contains half the caffeine level of Robusta. It grows manly in Central America, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Brazil and Colombia.
Robusta contains more caffeine than Arabica and makes up to 25 percent of the world's coffee production. It is well suited to the espresso method as it helps to develop the "crèma" on top of espresso coffee. Robusta grows in parts of Brazil, West and Central Africa, and South East Asia. Robusta is used mainly in coffee blends.
Hard water makes much thicker crèma.
If you make Turkish coffee yourself you will ideally have 2-3 ibriks of different sizes so you can cater for various numbers of visitors.

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