Passionate about: coffee
The daily grind
For one man who is daily surrounded by the aroma of coffee, his passion for the bean started at the age of seven
They started out as ‘Magic Berries’ after an Ethiopian goatherd noticed his goats becoming unusually frisky after nibbling on certain bushes.
Needless to say, the goatherd also sampled the seeds and was so impressed by his resultant ‘friskiness’ he took them to a local monastery. The resident Abbot however believed this produce to be the creation of the devil and chucked them on the fire.
This was coffee’s ‘Eureka’ moment. As the flames roasted the ‘devil’s work’ they released a wonderful aroma and the monks were off and running as the first coffee growers.
Any coffeeholic will be thrilled to know there is now a professional coffee and tea retailer in Cyprus in the form of Loumides – a well-known Greek franchise chain.Things have moved on since the monks’ days and we now expect as much reverence towards a coffee’s country of origin and soil conditions as we do with wine.
Coffee beans include many sub varieties and variations depending on where they are grown. There are also different skills needed in the picking, de-fruiting, drying, sorting, ageing, roasting and packing.
There are even regular cupping (or tasting) sessions so you can try out different roasting styles in the same way an oenologist tastes and rates wine.
Enter the newly opened shop in Paphos and you are guaranteed to come away with the makings for ‘proper coffee’, proper coffee for those who actually enjoy flavour. Coffee drinkers should also note that one cup of good ground coffee contains the same amount of antioxidants as eating three oranges.
The Loumides shop in Paphos is small but for coffee and tea lovers it’s perfectly formed, offering as it does a huge selection of the best coffee from around the world. Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, India, Latin America, the Caribbean, Indonesia and New Guinea are all countries that produce their very own distinctive blends.
The shop is run by 32-year-old Emilios Georkian, a native of Georgia, whose passion for coffee started at an early age, “I had my first small cup of coffee at seven. My mother loved coffee and would dry roast her beans in the frying pan, and she always tried to get quality beans when we could afford them, and it’s from her influence I started my love affair with coffee”.
The tea side is also well taken care of with many of the exotic and also more recognisable blends on sale, I particularly liked the Gunpowder brew which knocks your socks off after only one cuppa.
Emilios is keen to help customers out, perhaps suggesting they try a new taste experience such as the quite delicious Arabian Mocha or a rich Kenyan blend – one of his best sellers is also the most expensive at £12.75 per kilo. Also on sale are a range of branded therapeutic teas, along with a diabetic range, then there’s accompanying goodies such as raw cane sugar and coffee sugar sticks.
There’s a sleek Italian espresso machine in constant service making genuine wake up and smell the coffee for customers to sample. After a cup of this delicious gratis Italian brew, the ‘frisky’ goatherd syndrome did indeed kick in.
Loumides
Nikolaou Nikolaidi 56, Paphos. Tel: 99 490457 or 26 960227
If you have a passion or an interesting or unusual hobby please let us know. Contact: Tel: 22 818585, PO Box 21144, 1502 Nicosia, [email protected]
