Turkey · unfiltered
Turkish coffee is ordered by sugar level, sade to çok şekerli, and served with water and foam. How to order it, drink it, and what to do with the grounds
Turkish coffee is on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage, and it is as much a social form as a drink.
Sugar is added during brewing and cannot be added afterwards, so you specify it when you order:
Getting this wrong means starting again.
A small cup, usually with a glass of water alongside — you drink the water first to clear the palate. Often a piece of Turkish delight.
The grounds settle at the bottom. Stop drinking before you reach them; the last centimeter is sludge.
Köpük. A properly made cup has a layer of fine foam on top, and serving one without it is a minor disgrace. It comes from bringing the coffee slowly to the point of rising and spooning the first foam into the cups.
Tasseography — reading the grounds. The cup is inverted onto the saucer, left to cool, and the patterns interpreted. Whether or not anyone believes it, it is part of the ritual.
Greek, Bosnian, Armenian, Serbian and Arabic coffee are all essentially the same preparation with different names, and the naming is politically charged. The method is shared.
A Turkish proverb says that a single cup of coffee is remembered for forty years, and hospitality is the point of the drink. In traditional engagement visits, a prospective bride serves coffee to the groom’s family, sometimes salting his cup to test his character. The cup, a fincan, holds only about 60 to 90 ml (2 to 3 oz), so the coffee is sipped slowly over conversation.
Turkish restaurants and Middle Eastern cafés serve it, and ready-ground coffee, such as Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, is sold in many international groceries and online. The ground coffee is already powder-fine, so you need only a small cezve and a low burner.
The equipment this actually requires — not a shopping list, the shortest route to doing it properly.
39 mm (1.54 in) nitrogen-hardened burr · hand · filter & espresso
The hand grinder others are measured against, and priced accordingly. Grinds better than electric grinders at twice the money, and asks for your arm every single morning.
Best for: One or two exceptional cups a day, travel, and anyone who values the object.
48 mm (1.89 in) burr · hand · external adjustment
A 48 mm (1.89 in) burr set with external adjustment and 240 clicks, at a price where the competition offers 38 mm (1.50 in) and internal dials. The finish is plainer than a Comandante; the grind is not far behind it.
Best for: Espresso at home from a hand grinder, without paying Comandante money.
