Caffe d'Orzo
Caffè d'orzokaf-FEH DOR-tso
A dark, toasty drink that tastes of malt, bread crust and a little bitter chocolate, with no caffeine at all. Every Italian bar will make you one, and at home it brews in a moka pot as long as you do not pack it like coffee.
At a glance
- Barley : water
- 1:8
- Active time
- 2 min
- Total time
- 7 min
- Makes
- 2 small cups
- Serve
- Hot
- Kit
- Moka pot
Ingredients
Note: Soluble instant orzo is what most Italian homes now keep in the cupboard. A heaped teaspoon in 100 ml of hot water or milk is fine for a quick cup. Brewed tastes better.
Method
-
Water to the valve
Fill the base of the moka pot with water up to just below the safety valve. Hot water from the kettle is fine and shortens the brew.
-
Fill the basket loosely
Spoon the barley into the basket so it fills it, then level it with a finger. Do not press it down.
Barley swells more than coffee when it gets wet. Packed tight, it seals the basket and the pot stalls or spits out of the valve.
-
Brew on medium heat
Screw the pot together and put it on a medium flame with the lid open. The barley comes through darker and thicker than coffee. Take it off as soon as it starts to sputter.
4 to 5 minutes -
Serve small or large
In the bar, you order orzo in tazza piccola, an espresso-sized cup, or in tazza grande, a cappuccino cup. Pour accordingly, sweeten if you like, and add hot milk for an orzo macchiato.
Why this works
Barley has no caffeine, so what you are tasting is the roast alone. The same Maillard reactions that brown coffee beans and bread crust happen in the grain, producing the toasty, malty and slightly bitter compounds that make the drink read as coffee-like. Barley is mostly starch rather than the oils and sugars of a coffee seed, so there is less acidity and less aroma, and much more body from dissolved starch and dextrins. That is why orzo is thicker and rounder than coffee, and why it never tastes sour.
The loose fill matters because of that starch. When it meets hot water it gelatinises and swells, much more than ground coffee. A basket packed and tamped the way some people do for coffee becomes a solid plug. Pressure builds under it until the water forces a channel or the safety valve opens. Filling level and loose leaves room for the swelling.
It also brews best a little shorter than coffee. Barley gives up its flavour quickly and the last of the brew, when the pot starts to splutter, is thin and harsh.
Roasted grain drinks became common in Italy during the 1930s, when Mussolini's policy of autarchy cut imports of foreign goods, and again during the Second World War, when coffee simply disappeared. Barley was cheap and grew at home. Unusually, the substitute stayed after the shortage ended. Today it is ordered by people who want something warm at night, by pregnant women, and by children who want to drink what the adults are drinking. Every bar keeps a tin.
Variations
- Orzo macchiato: a small cup with a spoon of milk foam.
- Cappuccino d'orzo: a large cup with steamed milk and foam, made exactly as a cappuccino.
- Orzo e ginseng: half barley, half ginseng coffee, a common bar option that does contain caffeine.
- With a pinch of cinnamon in the basket, which suits the malty flavour.
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Questions
Does caffè d'orzo have caffeine?
No. It is made from roasted barley, which contains no caffeine. Watch for orzo e ginseng mixes, which often contain some coffee.
What does barley coffee taste like?
Toasty and malty, like bread crust or dark toast, with a gentle bitterness and very little acidity. It is thicker than coffee and less aromatic.
Why did my moka pot block with barley?
The basket was packed too tightly. Barley swells when wet, much more than coffee. Fill it loosely, level it with a finger and never press it down.
Is barley coffee gluten free?
No. Barley contains gluten. Anyone avoiding gluten for medical reasons should not drink it.