Brewing vessel

A heated bed of sand that a briki or cezve is pushed down into, so heat reaches the pot through the sand rather than directly from a flame. Traditionally the bed was hot ash and embers — which is what the Greek word χόβολη (hóvoli) actually means — and the sand version now sold as a hovoli machine, gas-fired or electric, reproduces the same behaviour with a medium that is easier to keep at an even temperature. It is a heat source, not a brewer in its own right: the coffee is still made in the pot, and burying the pot deeper or shallower is how the operator controls the rate of heating and the foam.