Coffees around the world

Before I was a coffee junkie, I had never imagined that there would be an abundant ways of expressing the love of coffee with addictions such as adding cheese, egg, lemons or coal to my delicious cup of Joe. The most adventurous thing for me, was to try a new coffee that magically appeared on the shelves of my nearest grocery store. Gradually, I moved on to the exotic world of beans from Africa, Italy, Colombia and many more that were available to me through the higher end of coffee shops. Little did I know, that soon I would be traveling my way through certain parts of the world through a small cup. Here I have found a few very interesting ways of spicing up the way I wake up. (There are MANY more recipes out there but here are a few that I've immensely enjoyed).

1. Kaffeost (Finland)

This is a highly unusual way of preparing coffee in America but it is a typical and normal way of drinking it in northern Sweden and Finland and among the Sami people of Lapland. This requires some cheese called leipäjuusto , also called “bread cheese” or Finnish squeaky cheese.

To make:

1. Place the milk and cream in a large pot and warm them to 37 C (99 F). Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the rennet.
2. Let the mixture sit for an hour while curds form, then reheat it to 37 C (99 F) while gently moving the small curds to the center of the pot. Then bring the whole mixture to just under a boil.
3. Line the strainer with the cheesecloth, and place a vessel underneath to catch the water that strains through. Pour the curds into the cheesecloth, fold the cloth around them and push hard to extract as much water as you can.
4. With the curds still wrapped in the strainer, put a heavy weight on top and let them sit and continue to drain for another few hours until you have solid cheese.
5. Place the cheese in an oven-proof dish and bake at 177 C (350 F) until golden brown.
6. To make kaffeost, simply slice your cheese into cubes and add them to a mug. Pour your favorite coffee on top and enjoy. The true delicacy is the coffee-soaked cheese cubes, not the cheese-infused coffee liquid. (Recipe inspired by Home Grounds)
   

2. Ca Phe Trung (Vietnam)

In my many years working at a chiropractic office owned by my former Vietnamese boss, he had never mentioned that such a thing as ca phe trung existed. I had to find out on my own many years later. I kind of felt left out, I thought we were really good friends. I'm just kidding, we were good friends but he and my Vietnamese co-workers failed me in this part. This originates from Hanoi, Vietnam and is typically made of egg yolks, sugar, condensed milk and coffee of course. Surprisingly, the taste of egg in the cafe is very mild and not eggy at all.

To make:

1. Heavily beat only the egg yolk (save the white part for another equally tasty recipe), sugar, and condensed milk.
2. Pour it on an approximately equal amount of Vietnamese coffee made with a traditional coffee phin filter from you local Asian market of through Amazon.
3. Enjoy!

3. Cafe de Olla (Mexico)

Being as I am Mexican, I am partially biased to this version because I feel a bit obligated to call it my favorite (even though I don't drink it often). It translates to "Coffee in a Pot" because it is essential to use a traditional earthen clay pot. The beans that I would use would be from Nescafe.

To make:

1. If you are working with a cone of piloncillo, you will need to grind it to powder in the molcajete before continuing
2. Pour 1 1/2 liters of water in the earthenware pot
3. Place the pot on an open fire until the water begins to boil
4. Add the 2 sticks of cinnamon and the piloncillo
5. Stir often with wood spoon until the piloncillo has disolved (about 5 minutes)
6. If the pot begins to boil again before the piloncillo has disolved, simply move the pot to the side until the boiling subsides
7. Once the piloncillo has disolved add 6 tablespoons of ground coffee to the pot and bring it to a boil once again
8. When the water boils move the pot away from the direct fire to a lower heat
9. Let coffee continue to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
10. Pour the mixture through the cloth to strain and serve hot
11. Makes about 6 cups of coffee or 3 cups if you are using a regular coffee cup

(recipe from Cuernava)

4. Espresso Romano (Italy)

This one sounds refreshing as we well as very tasty. "When life gives you lemons", add it to coffee.

To make:

1. Pre-warm an espresso cup and add a double shot of espresso
2. Smear the lemmon pn the edge of the cip and place the a small slice of lemon zest on the edge of the cup (find recipe here)
   

5. Irish coffee cocktail (Ireland)

An all time dream and a major bucket list is to one day live in a quaint cottage house in the land of Eire. For now, I will enjoy it's tasty alcoholic mug in the good ol' USA. The origin of this one is that it was made by a chef in County Limerick in the 1940's. This one seems to be simple and not hard to mess up. If the messing up does occur, then the headache the next day will be worth it.

To make:

1. Place the sugar in a glass cup
2. Add the coffee and the Irish whiskey, then stir
   
3. Whip heavy cream and lightly add it to the top of the glass (do not stir) Enjoy! 

(recipe here)