Curdled!

There is a filter coffee maker in my room, so I bought some filter papers, some coffee, and a bottle of milk.  I usually make Nescafe with Nounou (Greek evaporated milk) but I wanted something less creamy to go with "real" coffee.

The coffee was vacuum packed.  I've bought vacuum packed coffee in Greece before, and found the pack contained coffee beans, not ground coffee. If I had looked carefully at the label I would have worked out that the pack contained beans - but it was a matter of assuming that the pack contained what I wanted it to contain.  This time the pack contained ground coffee, and most delicious it smelt too.  Mmmmmmmmmmm!  I was looking forward to my coffee.

I made the coffee, added the milk, and let the coffee cool a little.  Odd, I remember stirring the coffee, but the coffee looks black.  I stirred the coffee again - and saw a curdled mess in the mug.  I got the milk out the fridge.  I looked at the expiry date on the milk - 18.08.11, so that was OK.   I don't usually buy bottled milk in Greece, but a friend has bought it and had no problems.  I thought of the mini packs of butter I once bought in Greece - if I remember correctly, to put on the delicious curranted bread that the local baker made - that butter was "off". 

I smelt the milk - it smelt, not "off", but sour.  Hey, but was it milk that I had bought?  I know that milk is "yala".  This bottle was in the shop fridge, amongst what looked like bottles of milk, but was smaller than the other bottles that looked as if they contained milk.  The smell from the bottle reminded me of sour cream, not milk that has gone "off".  I looked at the label - something I had not done in the shop - as I knew what I wanted the bottle to contain - milk!  The label read "Ariani".  The sensible thing to have done would have been to look more closely at the label, but being the internet age I looked on the internet and found the bottle of Ariani
http://www.fage.gr/product-details.asp?id=128&lang=EN 
"Ariani is a light and refreshing milk product with yogurt yeast and low fat!"

I looked more closely at my bottle - "Yoghurt Drink Ingredients - Concentrated skimmed cow's milk, skimmed cow's milk and milk cream (99%), yoghurt culture, salt (0.03%).  Total solids 10%."

Probably a perfectly nice product, and I'm now glad I did not pour it down the sink.  Just not suitable for adding to hot coffee!  Which reminds me, I have still not drunk any of the delicious smelling coffee - I poured the curdled milky coffee mess down the sink.

As I was writing this, the word "Ayran" was going through my mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayran

"Ayran or laban is a cold beverage of yogurt mixed with cold water and sometimes salt; it is popular in many Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Southern European countries".

In future I will try to look at labels more closely before I buy!

15/07/2011 Update

What did I do with the Ariani?  I find yoghurt, and Ariani, a little too tart for my taste.  I do like yoghurt with a little honey added.  I mixed a little honey into some Ariani, and froze it.  And made some delicious ice cream!