Armenian coffee
Haykakan soorj: fine-ground coffee boiled in a jazzve
Armenian coffee, soorj, is boiled in a small long-handled pot called a jazzve and poured unfiltered into tiny cups. It is offered the moment a guest sits down in any Yerevan home and lingers after meals while the grounds settle; when the cup is empty, it is turned upside down on its saucer so someone can read the patterns left in the grounds. The coffee is powder-fine, often scented with a pinch of cardamom, with a velvety foam (kaymak) on top that is a point of pride for the host. Serve with a glass of water and a little gata or dried fruit. Chef's tip: start with cold water and a low flame; the slower the coffee heats, the thicker and longer-lasting the foam.
- Total time
- 7 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 2
Ingredients
Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Pour ¾ cup cold water into a jazzve (cezve) or the smallest pan you have. Add 2 tbsp Armenian or Turkish coffee, ground powder-fine, 2 tsp sugar and 1 pinch ground cardamom and stir well until the coffee sinks and no dry clumps float.
Step 2: Set over a low heat and do not stir again. After 3–4 minutes a ring of foam forms at the edge and creeps inwards, darkening as it thickens.
4 minStep 3: Watch closely: when the foam rises sharply towards the rim, lift the pot off the heat. A common mistake is letting it boil over or boil hard, which breaks the foam and makes the coffee bitter.
Step 4: Spoon a little foam into each cup, return the pot to the heat until the coffee rises once more, then pour slowly into the cups from a low height so the foam stays on top.
1 minStep 5: Leave for a minute for the grounds to settle before sipping. Stop before the last thick mouthful of grounds.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 15 kcal
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 3 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does armenian coffee take?
- About 7 minutes in total: 2 minutes to prepare and 5 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 2 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Guava delight
A thick, fragrant blend of ripe guava, mango and banana, boosted with a spoonful of guava powder from the health shop. The book calls it a modern-day vitality drink, drawing on guava's long use in traditional Indian medicine. Serve it well chilled; sieve it if you don't like the little guava seeds.
Power pack
A sweet, energising juice of apples, pears and kiwi fruit with a stick of celery, all used unpeeled for extra goodness. It's naturally sweet, so it needs no sugar. Serve well chilled.
Horchata de chufa
Horchata de chufa is the drink of Valencia's summer, sold ice-cold in the city's horchaterías with long, soft fartons pastries for dipping. It is made from chufas, or tiger nuts: small wrinkled tubers grown around the village of Alboraya just north of Valencia, which have their own protected designation of origin. Soaked, ground with water, strained and sweetened, they give a creamy, nutty, naturally dairy-free milk with a hint of cinnamon. Valencians drink it very cold, or half-frozen as 'granizada'. Chef's tip: soak the tiger nuts for a full 24 hours and change the water once; they must be plump and soft enough to blend into a fine pulp, or the horchata will be thin and taste of raw starch.