Armenian coffee should be on your radar. Here’s how to brew it, according to System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian

It’s often said that coffee is a universal language. It’s true — every country has its unique blend, bean or style, often with a special twist that tastes like home. For Armenia, a picturesque, mountainous nation in the Caucasus, coffee goes far beyond the pot. It’s a rich, steaming phenomenon steeped with history and tradition.

Armenian coffee has been prepared the same for generations; in a long-stemmed pot over a flame. It’s easy to make, affordable and, most importantly, a guaranteed caffeine kick, unlike anything you’ve tasted before.

As two testing writers raised in Armenian households, we know a thing or two about Armenian coffee. It’s a staple in every Armenian home and always reminds us of family, food and a guaranteed good time. That’s why we’re sharing this guide to Armenian coffee, also known as “soorj.” We brewed one too many cups and tested the best beans to get your fixation started.

We also spoke to System Of A Down lead singer and Armenian coffee enthusiast, Serj Tankian. The hard rock icon just opened Kavat Coffee Café, a coffee shop and art gallery in sunny Los Angeles serving delicious treats and beverages. We sat down with him to get to the bottom of how to make a great cup of Armenian coffee and listen to him spill the history of soorj.

Along with Kavat Coffee, we tasted three other Armenian coffee brands: Kaffa, Henry’s House and Edna’s Coffee. While the brewing process remained the same, each blend introduced a new flavor to the traditional drink we know and love. Whether you’ve tried soorj before or craving something new, this roundup has the scoop on everything Armenian coffee.

What is soorj?

If there’s one thing Tankian is an expert on, it’s how to stay energized, and his fuel of choice is a good cup of coffee. He’s what you would call a Renaissance man. Although most recognized as a legendary hard rock lead singer, his accolades are diverse. He’s an award-winning lyricist, founder of an expansive record label, a human rights advocate and a visual artist. He’s done it all from penning a best-selling memoir, “Down With The System,” to dropping an EP of new music, “Foundations,” available for preorder now and set to release September 27 on Gibson Records.

Now, he owns Kavat Coffee Café in Los Angeles, the namesake of which translates to “cup” in the Western Armenian dialect. Before Kavat Coffee Café was a brick-and-mortar, the brand sold “Modern Armenian Coffee” online along with other beans and blends.

For Tankian, coffee is more than a ritual. It’s a passion he associates with his upbringing in an Armenian household, an identity marker crucial to his music and art — especially as the descendent of Armenian genocide survivors. “My grandmother and mom would make coffee while we were kids and you could smell the coffee wafting in the house. It makes it feel like a home,” he says, fondly. “With System Of A Down and my music, awareness about the Armenian genocide was very important to us because all the guys in the band are Armenian and our grandparents were survivors, so in our way, we kind of spread Armenian culture and awareness.”

“Coffee reminds me of peaceful and beautiful times of youth. And when I walk into any room, if I smell coffee, it always makes me feel better,” says Tankian. Many Armenians can attest to this nostalgic and comforting connotation of coffee, family and culture. This was one motivating factor behind his decision to start an Armenian coffee line.

“It has these flavors of who we are and it’s an organic way of spreading our culture, which, to me, is the most important thing anyone can do in this life. The beautiful part of humanity is our differences. Flags, nations, military, all of this stuff, they come and go, borders change — but it’s our diversity that makes us beautiful.”

What makes Armenian coffee so unique is that it’s ground to a powder consistency and brewed in an open pot, called a “jazzve,” over a flame. It’s stirred until the mixture begins to bubble and rise. The result is a bold flavor and rich consistency, packed into a tiny, demitasse cup. “The good thing about Armenian coffee is that it’s not as strong,” Tankian adds. “Especially if it’s not light roast. Generally, it’s medium to dark roast so you can have it later in the afternoon.”

Tankian peeled back the layers behind the origins of this unique blend: “It’s the traditional way of making coffee, just like Greek coffee, Arabic coffee, Turkish coffee, etc.” Tankian’s coffee derives from certified organic Ethiopian beans, which have historical ties with Armenia thanks to similar alphabets and religions. “There’s this incredible bond between Ethiopia and Armenia and so the coffee, I’m sure, came with that bond and that relationship,” he says.

While the communal aspect of coffee culture is not unique to Armenia, in Tankian’s experience, connecting over a cup of soorj is woven into the fabric of Armenian culture. “If you go to Armenia right now, for example, and you walk on the street in Yerevan, people will be having coffee and talking. It’s a place to gather, it’s a place to ruminate, it’s a place to share, it’s a place to laugh and talk and, you know, it’s an occasion,” he says.

The coffee reading tradition, explained

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With Kavat, Tankian is most excited to introduce a timeless tradition to a new audience. “This was another way of spreading our culture and showing people that this small group of people, these Indigenous people from the other part of the world, have this thing (soorj) that you’ve never heard of.” And according to Tankian, it’s good — really good. So good, in fact, that a cup can even predict your fortune.

How does it work? Thick ground remnants sink to the bottom of a cup when it’s nearly finished. Too bitter and gritty to drink, most would discard the coffee grounds. But, in Armenian culture, these leftovers are clues to someone’s fortune in the time-old practice of coffee cup readings.

An expert coffee reader, usually a wise matriarch, will instruct you to flip your cup onto a saucer and leave it to dry for a few minutes until the muddy remnants leave intricate patterns behind. “It’s extrapolating and translating visual images from a cup of coffee left over by the sediments of the actual bean,” Tankian explains. “It’s kind of like reading modern art. It’s a way of fortune telling and it’s the universe conspiring in the way that the universe generally does, which is more intuitively and through the arts in telling a story.” This “reading” is a skill passed down through generations, one cup of soorj at a time.

Tankian grew up listening to these readings from his grandmother and mother. “I would always know it was happening because I would hear ‘there’s news coming’ and I’d be like ‘oh, someone’s reading a cup.’ And sometimes those stories would scarily come true.”

How to make soorj, step by step

“Each family has a different way of doing things,” says Tankian, but the basics remain the same. To brew, you’re going to need a jazzve, or cauldron as Tankian refers to it, Armenian coffee, a spoon to scoop and stir and heat to get the mixture to boil. “You’re going to be using the cauldron on a fire. You could also use the electric stove or a portable stove.”

Tankian can testify to brewing Armenian coffee on the go using portable appliances. He’s brewed it everywhere from backstage venues to tours with fellow coffee-loving bandmates. “It’s actually easier to make Armenian coffee on the road than it is to make an espresso because with an espresso you need a machine.” He even showed us an electric jazzve available at Kavat Coffee that operates like an electric tea kettle.

“We do have a step-by-step process and it’s actually on the packaging of our coffee,” says Tankian. “Naturally, we realize that most people are not going to know how to do it.” According to Kavat’s instructions:

As Tankian says, each family has a different method of brewing soorj. For instance, his mother added a bit of sugar to the coffee, while others prefer it bitter and black. Some families measure water with the Armenian coffee cup itself, adding one scoop of coffee grounds per demi cup of water. These small cups are comparable to espresso cups, meant for savoring soorj. The flavor of the final product is undeniably strong, meaning you only need a petite portion to feel the caffeine kick.

Attention to detail will be your guiding force when making Armenian coffee. While stirring the mixture, the coffee will bubble and rise as if it’s about to boil over. This is when you’ll want to remove it from the heat swiftly. It’s a delicate and fickle process; there’s a fine line between burning the batch and making a perfect, steaming cup. You’ll need the same instinct that kicks in when boiling pasta, ensuring the water doesn’t boil over in a flash second.

Stir the coffee with intention and let it boil, but once the bubbles build, it’s time to take the jazzve off the heat. Most jazzves are conveniently designed with a spout to pour coffee directly into the traditional cups.

What not to do when making soorj

According to Kavat’s instructions, patience is essential to brewing a good cup. “Do not forget to keep an eye on the pot! It will boil over and spill easily,” the instructions dictate.

We can, unfortunately, attest to this. A split second away from an unwatched jazzve can quickly turn disastrous. If not tended to, coffee will bubble up and erupt onto your counter space like a volcano science experiment. Don’t worry, no writers were harmed in the taste testing of these beans, although the occasional spill did happen.

So, while you might want to walk away to wash your hands or check your phone while making Armenian coffee, stay alert and prepared to whisk the pot off the heat.

Lastly, we beg you, don’t add milk to your Armenian coffee. All you need is a bit of sugar to enjoy this unique flavor.

What you need to make Armenian coffee

The beautiful thing about Armenian coffee is that it doesn’t require complex machinery, an extensive background in coffee, or even expensive gadgets and gizmos. It all boils down to three tools: an Armenian coffee pot, coffee grounds and some form of heat.

In an ideal world, Armenian coffee should be brewed over a stovetop. However, we made coffee using an electric kettle in the CNN New York office. We discovered it worked just as well, though we did have to keep the lid open while it boiled to have eyes on the bubbling mixture.

Here’s everything you’ll need to get started:

Armenian coffees we tried

We sourced our favorite Armenian coffees from all corners of the Internet, including picks from Amazon to smaller, independent brands. Throughout our taste testing, we drank at least 20 cups, forced brave and willing colleagues to try a spoonful and survived one too many caffeine rushes.

We made the soorj at home and the office, using both a traditional jazzve and an electric tea kettle, which, to our surprise, worked pretty well. After drinking excessive amounts of caffeine and accidentally burning a batch in our office kitchen, we nailed the Armenian coffee process and successfully tried six different blends of Armenian coffee.

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