coffee -

Sweet Lviv and the best coffee on sand!

Gosia — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 22:31:10 +0000

During organizing a trip to Lviv, it didn’t run through my mind that it’s the land of milk and coffee. We used to connect Ukraine mainly with cheap alcohol, cigarettes and halva made of sunflower seeds. By the way, it wasn’t only our image. We saw it on our way back to Poland. When we heard one big noise of bottles at the bus station, we knew that this journey would be very hard. In a fact, the reality turned out to be worse. During more than 6-hour customs inspection which was ended in pushing the bus (battery had gone flat) I was thinking why in the depths of 54 bags were no coffee? Then, crossing the border would have been much pleasant and it could have changed the life of many coffee – lovers in Poland. Few people know that this wonderful drink, which sustains our body functions especially on Monday mornings, we owe to Ukraine or more precisely Jerzy Kulczycki. He became famous not only in view of his heroic defense of Vienna against Turks but also he miraculously transfigured his prize – useless brown grains into coffee. One of the first cafes in Europe was opened in Lviv, and this city was called “the coffee capital of Poland” for many years. Because coffee is the quintessence of Lviv. Wonderful aroma of this strong and mild brew fills little cafes situated in the old city. The amount of cafes in Lviv is enormous but there’s one place which deserves more attention. It revolutionized the way we used to perceive the process of brewing coffee. It’s a small, inconspicuous Armenian cafe called Virmenka. It’s decorated in the cosy old – fashioned style but the service seems to be irritated at the sight of customers, but that’s not the point. The amazing smell of coffee prepared here in a Turkish way, can hypnotize everyone. To brew it you need a special pot called cezve. What’s interesting finely grated coffee grains (almost for a dust) are mixed with cold water. This mixture is poured only to the half of the cezve. Then it’s placed in the special vessel filled with sand and placed on embers. It helps to keep an ideal temperature for brewing. Preparing coffee in this way requires a lot of agility because during warming up the mixture starts frothing (froth is necessary to keep an inimitable aroma). If it’s brewed too long it becomes bitter. The effect is thick, essential coffee with unique intensive but also a mild taste. It was similar to coffee in Vietnam but without chocolate tang. What’s more coffee in Viermanka is very cheap. It costs 15 – 25 UAH (aroun 1 $ or €). You don’t belive it? Just take a look at the menu: Another interesting place is Lviv Coffee Mining Manufacture, located in the Old Town Square, more precisely in the basement of Lubomirski Palace. It’s the biggest café in Lviv, and in our opinion the most crowded. At the entrance everyone receives helmet and a torch which are necessary to explore the mine where coffee is excavated. During sightseeing some people seemed to believe in the underground coffee origin but the rest was really amused. After delicious coffee it’s time for chocolate. Lviv has been famous for perfect chocolate since 19th century. Ukraine chocolate products were highly valued in Europe. Delicious chocolate you can find in Chocolate Manufacture (Serbska 3 st.) The trip starts just in front of the Manufacture in the exterior display. There you can see how chocolate is made. Inside a lot of confectionary masterpieces such as pralines, huge chocolate blocks and chocolate balls, bears or even high – heels are located in the 5 – floor building. On the last floor there’s a bar where you can sip delectable hot chocolate. A trip to Lviv can’t go without tasting a traditional strudel. The best are in the café called Lvivski Plyatski (Rynok 13 st.). They’re served hot in various combinations with cherries, poppy-seed, apples, chicken with mushrooms and salmon with spinach (cost 30-40 UAH aroun 1,5 $/€). And this taste…. indescribable, you must go there and taste it. Lvivski Plyatski is also a very cozy place. Accesories such as rolling pins, grinders and, shelves with preserves and lamps made of graters, decorate claret walls. Who would have thought that Lviv is a paradise for coffee and chocolate– lovers? Only one day trip was enough for us to fell in love in it. The atmosphere of old buildings, narrow lanes, trams which run at the 5 km/h in view of contorted rails, homelike cafes with delightful coffee aroma, taste of chocolate or strudels can’t be described even in the best tourist guide or blog J Let’s find it out by yourselves! ” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]

Artykuł Sweet Lviv and the best coffee on sand! pochodzi z serwisu .

Recipe – How to prepare Vietnamese coffee?

Gosia — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 20:07:11 +0000

To prepare Vietnamese coffee, you need special coffee maker called Phin, but you can also use coffee filter. Phin is a very simple device. It consists of a jug where coffee is placed, lower land upper lid. We also need Vietnamese coffee and sweet condensed milk. Fill the cup with small amount of milk. Warm the phin up in hot water. Then add 4 teaspoonfuls of coffee. Coffee should be very strong so this amount is for one cup. Next screw the lower lid. Pour boiling water but only to the lower lid. When coffee soaks, add the rest water and put upper lid on it. Coffee percolates form 3 to 5 minutes. After this, we can drink this delicious beverage. Check out more about Vietnam here!

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Vietnam – paradise for coffee connoisseurs

Gosia — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 06:49:40 +0000

Coffee is mainly associated with countries like Brazil Or Columbia but in fact Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world. Being a hopeless case of coffee drinker I could write about Vietnamese coffee endlessly. It’s a very thick and aromatic beverage with inimitable taste which combines a little coffee bitter taste and the sweetness of caramel and chocolate. But it’s not the end… The process of roasting is unique. Sweet, chocolate taste is the result of adding butter or vegetable oil. Beans roasted in this way have a little bit greasy, glistening texture with intensive brown color. Taste can be intensified by adding sugar, vanilla or cocoa. Beans are roasted slower in a lower temperature which prevents fast oxidation and burning beans which happens during traditional way of roasting. Grinded beans are bigger than in well known brands. Vietnamese coffee aroma also results from the different way of infusion. In Vietnam you don’t need expensive appliances to make it. Vietnamese use very simple device called Phin. Process of infusion is like a ritual and what’s the most interesting, it’s prepared right in front of customer’s eyes. To prepare this beverage they use sometimes sweet, condensed milk. Traditional milk is rarely available there in view of the hot climate and the lack of fridges in Vietnamese houses. Coffee there can be served in a lot of ways: Ca Phe Den Da – black iced, Ca Phe Sua Da – black iced with condensed milk. Another interesting option is something similar to cappuccino called Ca phe trung. It’s served with a raw egg yolk. Before visiting Vietnam I wouldn’t have thought that I could taste raw egg yolk, especially in the place where sanitary conditions sometimes leave a lot to be desired. Eventually, my curiosity prevailed rationality. My stomach endured this test in contrast to my palate. This coffee was too sweet even for a sweets lover like me. In Vietnam you can buy the most expensive and reportedly the best coffee called Ca Phe Chon or Kopi Luwak. Its uniqueness is connected with special production process. Beans are eaten by civets – animals resembling weasels. Picky civets choose only the best beans. Partially digested beans are rinsed form their feces and dried. In view of their limited capability, Ca Phe Chon is very rarely available. Coffee produced in this way is very mild and aromatic. It costs even 50$ per cup! Don’t be misled by labels in the supermarkets, where you can buy it very cheap. In fact it isn’t “produced” by civets but synthetic enzymes. The most popular producer is Trung Nguyen Coffee Company Ltd. Coffee made by this company is available on the Internet. Pay attention to the numbers on the package. The higher the number the better the coffee. ” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]

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