Turkish coffee

Turkish coffee is a specific way of preparing coffee. It is common throughout Middle East, North Africa and Balkan countries, brought there by the Ottoman Turks. In Greece and Greek parts of Cyprus, Turkish coffee is known as "Greek coffee". To Armenian communities, it should always be referred to as "Armenian Coffee".

The necessary equipment to prepare Turkish coffee consists of a narrow-topped small boiling pot called cezve (in Arabic ibrik), a teaspoon and a heating apparatus. The ingredients are finely ground coffee, cold water and (if desired) sugar. It is served in cups similar in size to Italian espresso or Japanese sake cups.

Beans for Turkish coffee are ground even finer than the grind used in pump-driven espresso makers, therefore, turkish coffee should be powdery. It is the finest grind of coffee used in any style of coffee making.

Traditionally, the pot is made of copper and has a wooden handle. The size of the pot is chosen to be close to the total volume of the cups to be prepared, since using a too large pot results in most of the precious foam sticking to the inside of it. Also, a certain depth of water is necessary for the coffee particles to sink. The teaspoon is used both for stirring and measuring the amount of coffee and sugar. Note that the teaspoons in the United States are much larger than the teaspoons in countries where Turkish coffee is common. The dipping part of the teaspoons in these countries are about 1 cm long and 0.5 cm wide. For heating, an ordinary stove burner is sufficient, but too strong of a heat source is undesirable, as the brewing time needs to be at least five minutes.

After this general description, personal brewing preferences vary. Below is one example.

As with other ways of preparing coffee, the best Turkish coffee is made from freshly roasted beans ground just before brewing. A dark roast is preferable but even a medium roast coffee will yield a strong aroma and flavour. The grinding is done either by pounding or using a mill and the end result is a fine coffee powder. For best coffee, the water needs to be cold. Due to this, if sugar is desired, an easily dissolvable form should be chosen.

The amount of water necessary can be measured using the cups. The coffee and the sugar is usually added to water, rather than being put into the pot first. For each cup between one and two heaped teaspoon of coffee is used. In Turkey, four degrees of sweetness are used. The Turkish terms and approximate amounts are as follows: sade (plain; no sugar), az şekerli (little sugar; half a levelled teaspoon of sugar), orta şekerli (medium sugar; one levelled teaspoon), and çok şekerli (a lot of sugar; one and a half or two levelled teaspoons). The coffee and the desired amount of sugar are stirred until all coffee sinks and the sugar is dissolved. Following this, the spoon is removed and the pot is put on the fire. No stirring is done beyond this point, as it would dissolve the foam. Just as when the coffee begins boiling, the pot is removed from the fire and the coffee is put into the cups.

A well-prepared Turkish coffee has a thick foam at the top, is homogenous, and does not contain noticeable particles in the foam or the liquid. This can be achieved only if cold water and a low heat are used. Starting with warm water or a strong heat does not leave enough time for either the coffee to sink or the foam to form. It is possible to wait an additional twenty seconds past boiling, which makes a homogenous and delicious coffee, but the foam is completely lost. To overcome this, foam can be removed and put into cups earlier and the rest can be left to boil. In this case special attention must be paid to transfer only the foam and not the suspended particles.

All the coffee in the pot is poured into cups, but not all of it is drunk. The thick layer of sludgy grounds at the bottom of the cup is left behind. The cup is then commonly turned over into the saucer to cool, and then the patterns of the coffee grounds can be used for a kind of fortune telling called tasseography, or tasseomancy (kafemandeia in Greek). These terms also refer to the reading of tea leaves.

There are other philosophies of preparing Turkish coffee that vary from the above. One such method involves starting with hot water alone, then adding and dissolving the sugar. The product is in essence a sugar syrup, with a higher boiling point than water. The coffee and cardamom are added, and the mixture is stirred. It is then brought to a boil and just before serving is removed from the heat for a few seconds and returned to it, being brought to a brief boil a second time. This double (and sometimes triple) boiling is an essential part of the process, both ceremonially and—as connoissieurs claim—on the palate.

Turkish coffee is drunk slowly and is usually served with a glass of water though sometimes, especially after dinner, with a mint liquor.

Turkish coffee grounds are sometimes flavoured with cardamom, eliminating the need to have it added during preparation.ja:トルココーヒー