Monday, October 04, 2010

I Got It

The coffeemaker that is.  I wandered around Jerusalem looking for a coffeemaker.  It had never occurred to me that they aren't sold in the "chareidi" neighborhoods of Shmuel Hanavi and Geula.  I guess most coffee-drinker people there drink instant of "easy botz."  Nu, what's "botz?"  The English translation is "mud."  Turkish coffee, which I put in a percolator or electric drip coffeemaker, is placed in a mug with boiling water.  Yes, it tastes worse than it sounds, at least to me.  Or you boil it up with water and sugar.  It doesn't matter how long you make it sit before pouring, you'll still get some botz.

I finally found one simple electric drip coffeemaker, like the two I had learned to love, for ns200 on Jaffa Road, Jerusalem's main street, in a little dinky shop.  A large "discount" store had the same one for ns250.  So, go to Denis 50 Jaffa Street if you're looking for an electric appliance of any size.

It's an ufesa.  No, I can't make my first batch tomorrow.  I must get the "pot" tovelled* first.  But at least it's in the house.  Just looking at it and I can smell the aroma...

*tovelled- TEVILAT KAILIM – IMMERSION OF VESSELS, Immersion in a mikvah is required only for utensils that were manufactured or ever owned by a non-Jew. Even those that were previously used without having been immersed still require immersion, after thorough cleaning, and koshering if necessary. complete article

4 comments:

David Tzohar said...

IMHO and I am somewhat of a coffee maven,the very best coffee is that made by pouring boiling water through a paper filter placed in a simple plastic cone in which the ground coffee is placed. In all other methods,(drip,percolator etc,)the coffee is in the hot water too long, releasing bitter acids.With the filter you get the full flavor ,and of course the botz is filtered out. It takes almost as little time as preparing instant coffee (a little more if you freshly grind the coffee beans as I do). You could have saved yourself 200 shekels!

Batya said...

Ahh David, too bad you don't read my blog more frequently.

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
The trick to making Turkish coffee traditionally and serving it without the botz it to make it in large quantities - very large quantities. I have deduced that by the fact that the only time I have been served Turkish coffee without botz is at the dessert course at weddings. It could be that a few of the guests receive botz while most don't. (Or perhaps the staff finishes the last of the finjan and gets all the botz.)
I finally broke down and bought Elite/Hag (caffeine free) Turkish coffee even though it didn't have mehadrin certification. The instant Elite/Hag has mehadrin certification - why doesn't the REAL coffee?
Enjoy your coffee machine!

Batya said...

Hadassa, that makes sense.
Thanks, I've been told by people who understand the kashrut of coffee that regular coffees, unflavored generally don't need supervision. It may be that today with all the fancy flavorings, kashut is more complicated.