See Detailed Photographic Instructions For Preparing Turkish Coffee.
My mother is responsible for my coffee obsession.
She considered drinking Turkish coffee with loved ones a necessary daily ritual. It was an opportunity to show appreciation to her friends and loved ones.
She spent most of her life working, but on the days she was able to stay at home, she hosted morning coffee for her friends. She would insist that I prepare two trays, one with Turkish coffee cups and the other with water glasses, before they arrived. In our house, the coffee is never served without a sweet treat. Even though serving Turkish delights with chocolate isn't traditional, my mom always did it.
It was my responsibility to prepare and serve coffee whenever she had guests over. Upon greeting them, I would inquire as to their preferred method of consuming coffee before rushing off to the kitchen to prepare it. Each time I emerged from the kitchen carrying the tray, it was a source of great pride for my mom.
Now that I've had some time to reflect on it, I can see how crucial it was to her that I grasp the significance of the underlying tradition. It was a great blessing that I was initiated into the family coffee ritual at a young age.
If you go to someone's house in Turkey, the first question you'll be asked is not whether or not you want Turkish coffee, but rather how you'd like your coffee prepared. Your host wants to know how much sugar you'd like in your coffee, so he or she asks "how." It's possible to respond "sade" for "no sugar," "az seker" for "very little sugar," "orta" for "with 1-2 teaspoons of sugar," and "sekerli" for "with 3-4 teaspoons of sugar."
Once the order has been placed, the coffee maker is responsible for adjusting the sweetness level to suit each customer's taste. Typically, that's the house's youngest girl. Given that I am the only daughter in my family, I have brewed many cups of coffee in my time. As a result, I feel confident enough to impart my wisdom upon you.
The Necessary Ingredients
What You'll Need
- Chilled, purified water
- Turkish coffee is distinguished from regular coffee by its finer grind. Today, you can find freshly ground za'atar in the bulk section of most Middle Eastern and Mediterranean grocery stores. The Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi brand is my go-to (affiliate link).
- My family has used a cezve (a traditional Turkish pot with a wide, flat base) for years; ours looks a lot like this Copper Turkish Coffee Pot (affiliate link).
- An affiliate link to a set of Turkish coffee cups.
- Sucrose crystals
Preparing the Perfect Cup of Turkish Coffee
Making As long as you follow a few simple guidelines, making Turkish coffee is straightforward and simple.
In brief, this is how it works:
- Use only ice-cold, filtered water. Use the cup you intend to use for the coffee as a measuring tool.
For me, a "cup" of Turkish coffee requires 1.5 cups of water. Keep in mind that the "cup" measurement is not a standard teaspoon, but rather the coffee cup you intend to use to serve the coffee.
- Add one heaping tablespoon of ground coffee and one tablespoon of sugar to a cup of hot water. If you want to sweeten your beverage, add the sugar right at the start and stir it in. But if there are guests who can't stand sugar, make their cup first. Once the coffee pot has been returned to the stove, additional sugar can be added to accommodate the tastes of the remaining guests.
Prepare Turkish Coffee Step by Step
Over medium heat, bring the liquid to a boil while stirring constantly. So keep an eye on it for the next three to four minutes. There will be a dark foam on top of the coffee as it warms.
Serving Turkish coffee with foam on top is both traditional and highly valued. Put a dollop of foam into each coffee cup with a teaspoon when the mixture is almost at a boil. Please place the coffee pot back on the stove.
Half of the coffee should be poured over the foam into the cups as the coffee boils. Put the pot back on the stove for another 10 to 15 seconds of boiling, then fill the cups all the way to the top.
Giving Service:
To serve:
- To maximize the flavor of the coffee, we recommend drinking a glass of cold (or room temperature) water before drinking Turkish coffee. Most people also like to have something sweet like Turkish delights, chocolate, candy, etc. to go along with their water.
- Serve your oldest guest first. It is impolite not to respect someone by acknowledging their age.
- It is not common practice to consume more than one cup of espresso per day due to its density compared to filtered coffee. In spite of the fact that I have read on various websites that some people like to add milk or cream to their coffee, I can say with absolute certainty that I have never once witnessed this practice in Turkey, where the coffee culture is so deeply ingrained in the national psyche that it would never occur to anyone
Even now, nearly eight years after her death, whenever I close my eyes and think of my mom, I picture her holding a Turkish coffee cup and sharing stories about her day. Even though I'd like to keep up with the family tradition whenever possible, I realize it won't be the same without her.
Several of you have written to me, wondering if you can get Starbucks coffee to work if you ask the barista to grind it like Turkish coffee. True, I haven't given this a try before, but I highly doubt it would work. My best recommendation is Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi (affiliate link), which is what I personally use and can attest to being accurate. For my beloved Turkish coffee, I always use (and grew up with) this particular blend.
Where can I buy a cezve or ibrik, and do I need it to make Turkish coffee?
It truly is a case-by-case basis. It is customary to prepare Turkish coffee in a cezve, and doing so will result in a thick layer of foam (on which more will be elaborated below), so I think you should get one. However, if you are not concerned with either of those two factors, you can easily prepare our coffee in a tiny saucepan.
I've used a pot very similar to this Copper Turkish Coffee Pot (affiliate link) for many years.
How do you achieve the dense cap of foam?
As this is a contentious issue, you may get varying opinions if you poll a wide range of people. My mother taught me the following procedures:
- Once you've combined the water, coffee, and sugar (if using), give the mixture a quick stir but be careful not to overmix. Boiling in such a small pot (cezve) ensures that the ingredients will combine evenly. While it may be tempting, please do not combine them.
- The dense foamy part should already be in the cup after the first pour, at which point you can stir it.
- Carefully pour your second glass so as not to disturb the foam.
There are two possible responses to this situation. In the first place, you can cook them in various vessels, though this requires more than one cezve.
Second, you can brew it without sugar at first, fill each cup halfway, and then add sugar halfway through the second brew.
Supposing I am serving Turkish coffee to two guests in my home, here's an example: Prepare the sade (without sugar) for the first person, followed by the orta (1-2 teaspoons sugar) for the next. Here are the simultaneous methods I would use to cook them in a single vessel (cezve):
- Prepare 2 cups of coffee with water and no sugar at the outset.
- First, split your first cup of coffee between two cups.
- Turn the heat up high on the second serving and add sugar sparingly to the first.
- Then, after the first serving has been topped off, add the sugar to the pot, stir, and bring to a boil. With such a small serving size, the sweetness of Turkish coffee is amplified by the coffee's thick consistency.
I was wondering where you got the blue cups used in the pictures.
These cups were borrowed from a friend. The pair was a wedding present from her husband. In the past, he bought them from Pasabahce. Since this has been asked several times, I will attempt to answer it here: I do not know if they are still selling them.
What stores carry Turkish coffee mugs?
There is a wide selection of Turkish coffee cups available in Turkey and neighboring countries. If that isn't an option, though, they're very accessible online. In addition, espresso glasses can be used. While they are a bit bulkier, they would serve their purpose.
For the convenience of preparing either variety of coffee, we offer this set (affiliate link).
When it comes to telling your future, what exactly is a Turkish coffee reading? Have faith, would you
After drinking your coffee, you should flip the cup over and let it cool so that the next person can "read your cup." It's a fun custom where someone (with the ability to make stuff up) examines the coffee grounds left behind in your cup and tries to divine your future from the patterns they see. It could be fun if you believe in that sort of thing.
My mother belonged to that group of people who, for no apparent reason, read the contents of other people's cups. I used to believe in psychic readings when I was a teenager and had a new boy crush every week, but now I don't even bother. In order to find out if "my new found love" would ask me out soon, I remember drinking a lot of Turkish coffee and begging her to read my cup. 🙂
- To make Turkish coffee, fill a traditional metal Turkish coffee pot (Cezve) with water, sugar (if using), and coffee.
- Place pot on stove and give it a quick stir with a wooden spoon until everything is combined.
- The coffee mixture should be brought to a boil over medium heat. There should be close monitoring during these 3–4 minutes.
- A thick layer of dense black foam will form on top of the coffee as it warms. As it nears a boil, divide the foam between your two Turkish coffee cups using a teaspoon. Place the coffee pot back on the stove.
- Half of the coffee should be poured over the foam into the cups as the coffee boils.
- Pour the remaining coffee into the cups up to the rim, then return the coffee pot to the stove for another 15 to 20 seconds of boiling.
- Be sure to include some Turkish delight and water.
- Get the kettle going and make enough coffee for two servings (without sugar) to steep.
- Split your first cup of coffee in half and pour it into two cups.
- Prepare the second serving at a rolling boil, and add no sugar to the first cup.
- Before topping off the second serving, add sugar to the pot, stir, and bring to a boil. Turkish coffee has just the right amount of sugar because it's thick and served in a small cup.
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