Greek Coffee, the Délices Way: How We Brew It (and How to Brew It at Home)

A guide to Greek coffee — light, medium, dark and cardamom — and how Délices has ground and brewed it in Alexandria since 1922. Plus tips for the perfect cup at home.

Greek coffee is less a recipe than a ritual. At Délices we have ground and brewed it the same way for a hundred years, and the method has barely changed — because it didn't need to.

What makes Greek coffee different

Greek coffee is brewed from very finely ground beans simmered slowly in a small long-handled pot — a briki — until a rich foam (the kaïmaki) rises to the top. It is served unfiltered, grounds and all, in a small cup, and sipped slowly. The grind is the secret: too coarse and you lose the foam; too fine and it turns bitter.

Light, medium, dark — and cardamom

Our Greek coffee comes in light, medium and dark roasts, plus a medium cardamom blend that fills the room with the scent of a Levantine morning. Medium is the everyday favourite — balanced and endlessly drinkable. Dark is for those who like the cup to answer back. The cardamom is for slow afternoons.

Brewing it at home

Use one heaped teaspoon of finely ground Délices coffee per small cup, and cold water measured by the cup itself. Add sugar now if you take it — Greek coffee is sweetened during brewing, not after. Heat gently and never let it boil over; pull it off the heat the moment the foam climbs. Pour slowly so the kaïmaki survives. Let it settle a minute before the first sip, and never drink the last.

Beyond the briki

We also roast a single-origin Guatemalan bean, ground for espresso or French press, for those mornings that call for something else. Both — like our jams and sauces — are available for home delivery and for wholesale, by the case, to hotels and cafés who want a name their guests already know.