Well, this past weekend was interesting. I went to the Central PA Greek Festival on Saturday.For those who don’t know, this is a huge Greek cultural festival that happens every 3rd weekend in May (and has done so for a very long time!) I personally love this thing. Not only is it a great chance to experience a slice of the culture that basically began the course of Western civilization; it’s also an excuse to indulge in the culinary aesthetic of Greece. The lines for the gyros alone were backed up pretty much from the tent to the entrance point for the festival.

So what does this have to do with coffee? Well, half of the reason I go every year is to stock up on Greek coffee. It’s truly beautiful. It’s also tongue-numbingly strong. The coffee is made by cooking a mixture of the powdered beans and water over an open flame and bringing it to a rolling boil. They do this while you’re watching so you can see for yourself how it’s done, and bags of your own ground beans are available at one of the counters. The coffee is so thick by the end that only the top two-thirds of your cup is a liquid; the rest is sediment from the cooking process. That’s the only thing I’m not a fan of by the way; by the end of your portion, you’re drinking some think ground beans. Gives you quite the buzz though. If you are intolerant of caffeine and/or have a very delicate stomach, this is not the brew for you! A friend commented about how fast I was walking around, that I looked like a “man on a mission.” I thought I was taking it easy. That gives you an idea of the potency of each cup; the fact that it’s in a little paper shot-glass should give you a hint too. Seriously though, I’d recommend this festival for the coffee alone. I do, however, hope you’ll stay for the dancing kids. You owe it to yourself.

So very, very hot…so very, very awesome.