Walk along almost any street in the Balkans and you’ll find cafés and bars full of people drinking coffee. Whereas the majority of the population in the rest of Eastern Europe consider consuming alcohol the height of sophistication, in this part of the world coffee is number one. If you want to invite a Macedonian to your place, or to meet them anywhere for that matter, the correct form is to invite them for coffee. Whether or not coffee is drunk is irrelevant, it’s just the way things are done. The coffee in question is usually excellent. To date, Macedonia has been spared the indignity of an influx of Starbucks wannabes, with most coffee bars being either simple cafés where strong black Turkish coffee is served (be sure to warn them when you order if you’d rather not have sugar in your Turkish coffee), or pleasant bars complete with a good coffee machine. The so-called nescoffee is a hugely popular drink. Not to everyone’s taste, a nescoffee is essentially a large mug or glass of instant coffee disguised as a cappuccino and topped with any number of glamorous garnishes from chocolate to fruit syrup.
