[Dragaera] Klava recipe

[Calisto via Dragaera]

	I have been a fan of Steven Brust since the early 90’s. I have been a fan of coffee for much longer.  I have experimented with several types of coffee making methods over the years but for some reason I never got around to playing at making Klava.  After joining the mailing list and asking if anyone else had I started to think about it and finally got around to taking out my toys and playing in the kitchen again.
	I did get a good cup of what I will refer to as Klava.  The taste was much like coffee but smooth without any need for massive amounts of sweetener to mask bitterness.  I did add cream and honey afterwards but even “black” the Klava had much less if any bitterness. Nice.
	I used a pair of french presses and a small pot.  You could also use just one press and a small pot but you will have to work quick to clean out the press and get the “filter” ready.  Just have all the components ready ahead of time.  Here is what I did: Boil three cups water.  Add the fresh ground coffee to the first french press and make coffee the normal way letting the coffee steep for 3-4 minutes.  
 	In a second french press build a filter by layers in the following order.  First add one finely chopped vanilla bean, on top of the bean add the membrane from two egg shells (more on that later) then add a small handful (1/4 cup) of wood chips and a pinch of salt.
	  The wood chips I liked best were apple wood but Hickory also worked well.  I am in New England and around here hardware stores sell wood chips for smoking meats almost year round, this is what you want to use because the chips are a small size and the wood itself isn’t treated with chemicals used in making lumber or wood pellets.  
	As soon as the coffee is done steeping in the first press.  Press the plunger and pour all the coffee into the second press and cover with the press lid.  Let the coffee cool in the filter.  Once the coffee has cooled push the plunger as far as it wants to go but don’t force it.  Slowing pour the cool Klava into the pot and use low heat to bring the drink back up to the temperature you want for drinking.  I suggest you try it black first as you should find it needs much less sugar or honey than usual.
	About the egg shells and salt; in the frontier days of the American West coffee was made by boiling water in a coffee pot with coffee grounds.  There was no filter, wire mesh, cheese cloth or anything else used to strain the coffee grounds.  Instead people found that by dropping egg shells into the pot when the water was still cold, it made all the coffee grounds sink and if you poured the coffee a bit slow the grounds never got into the mug.  This, I believe, is the purpose of the egg shells in the “filter”, any of the fine grounds stay behind at the bottom of the filter rather than floating in the coffee which helps reduce the bitterness.  It is the membrane inside the egg shells that does this not the egg shell itself.  I find it better to peel the membrane from inside the shell but if you want to crush the fresh egg shell under the wood chips that works just as well.  Also back when almost everyone in America made coffee in a percolator, people would add salt to the top of the grounds because the coffee was being boiled repeatedly and salt helped mask the bitterness of any burnt flavor.
 	Bear in mind this can make a strong cup of Klava.  The whole point seems to me to be to take out the bitterness of your regular coffee without having to over sweeten the brew.  Feel free to experiment with different types coffee with more or less water as you prefer.  Some people like cinnamon or even ground cardamon in their coffee but you find weirdos wherever you go so, live and let live.
	Hope this is a fun experiment for you if you try it.  Good Luck and happy brewing.

Calisto