Turkish coffee

Make your own Turkish Coffee!

Turkish coffee, compared to regular coffee, is short-roasted and very finely ground. The coffee is put into a cezve along with the same amount of sugar. Water is added to this and the whole thing is slowly brought to a boil. After the coffee has boiled for a while, it is poured, coffee grounds and all, into an espresso cup.

As Turkish coffee is quite strong, it is usually served with a glass of water. The idea is not to drink all of the coffee so that the coffee grounds remain in the cup

Requirements

• A Cevze
• Coffee grinder
• Turkish coffee (finely ground coffee)
• Small espresso cups

Make the most delicious Turkish Coffee yourself with the instructions below:

Step 1 - the grind: To make Turkish coffee, you need beans that have been very finely ground. You can do this with a Turkish coffee grinder, also known as the 'king of coffee grinders'. This is an elongated and heavy grinder made of bronze and copper. Under the screw-off cap, you place the coffee beans. But beware, the grind is crucial: because if the coffee is not ground fine enough, a layer of thick, dark foam will not form. Many espresso grinders and machines cannot grind beans finely enough for a Turkish cup of coffee. As a solution, you can buy ground coffee at the coffee shop.

Step 2 - Cezve: Pour about 50 ml of water per cup into the cezve. This is a special jug made of brass or copper with a long handle. Add sugar for extra flavour (Turks like to drink coffee sweet) and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Step 3 - heating: Heat the mixture and remove the cezve from the heat. Add a teaspoon of coffee, plus an extra teaspoon per person. Then put the coffee back on the heat and bring to the boil twice. In between, remove the coffee from the heat, remove the foam that has formed and stir well.

Step 4- settle: Before serving, add another teaspoon of cold water so that the coffee powder sinks easily to the bottom.

Step 5- serving: Pour the unfiltered coffee into small coffee cups, and enjoy!

TIP 1: Never stir while boiling. This will actually ruin the foam layer.

TIP 2: Keep watching! Because if the coffee boils over, your cup is also an instant failure! The coffee will then taste very bitter!

TIP 3: Flavouring. In many parts of the world, Turkish coffee is flavoured with spices such as cardamom and cinnamon. Are you also curious how this tastes? Then add these finely ground spices to your coffee.

10 Turkish Coffee facts

1. Discovered in Ethiopia: The drink is actually not Turkish. It was first discovered in the region of Kaffa, Ethiopia and then spilled over to Yemen in the ^15th century. And from Yemen, coffee reached Istanbul and then it was spread to the rest of Europe. So you could say that Europeans adopted coffee from the Ottomans.
2. Ground coffee beans: To make Turkish coffee, you need very finely ground beans, cold water and possibly some sugar. You also need a special coffee pot a 'cezve' is also called. A cezve is a small pot with a long handle, usually made of copper or brass, specially designed to brew Turkish coffee. The coffee is boiled slowly to create a thick layer of foam. This method dates back to the Ottoman period, making the coffee typically Turkish.
3. Foam is quality: Foam really makes the difference: in the Turkish community, coffee without foam is not really appreciated. If there is foam on your coffee, it means it is of good quality. You may hear someone asking for a nice, thick layer of foam when they order a cup of Turkish coffee. The most important thing then is to boil the coffee slowly and gradually to create a nice layer.
4. Glass of water: A glass of water is always served with coffee and there are several reasons for this. In fact, Turks like to spoil their guests all too well. They observe what the guests drink first, this is a polite way of finding out whether they are hungry or not. If the guest drinks the water first and only then goes for the coffee, it means he is hungry and the host goes to prepare the food. Secondly, it is drunk before the coffee so you taste it properly and after so the aftertaste does not linger. During the Ottoman era, it was also a means of finding out whether the coffee offered to the sultan was poisoned or not. The food served to the sultan was also tested by the 'çeşnicibaşı', a servant who previewed all his meals, to check whether it was safe for consumption. But since Turkish coffee is only made for one person, the sultan had to test it himself, by pouring a little water into the cup. If the coffee bubbled as soon as it came into contact with the water, it was poisoned.
5. Coffee grounds: It is very popular to have your future predicted after drinking Turkish coffee, by reading the coffee grounds. Turn your cup over smoothly on your saucer, obviously after the coffee has been drunk. If the bottom is cold, it should be inverted back into its original position. But not before first turning it around three times counterclockwise, then predicting your future can begin. It is the only coffee served with the coffee grounds in the cup. The coffee grounds left in the small cups of Turkish coffee are mainly used to predict the future. When you have emptied your cup, you can put the saucer on top. Next, you make a wish and then turn the cup over so that the layer of coffee grounds forms patterns on the saucer. The soothsayer then lets the cup cool and then interprets the patterns. Today, there are mobile phone applications in Turkey, where you can send a picture of your coffee grounds and it is then interpreted by a real fortune teller.
6. Salt in the coffee: Coffee plays a very important role in folkloric custom when a boy comes to ask for the hand of someone's daughter. The bride then makes coffee while her father and the groom-to-be talk to each other. But instead of sugar, she then puts salt in the groom's coffee, this way testing his reaction. If the groom gets angry, he is probably not a good husband. If he does empty the cup without showing anything, he will apparently be a good partner. But these traditions are constantly changing. In fact, it used to be that if the girl did not want to marry the man, she put too much salt in his coffee. That meant she turned down the offer. But over the years, the number of married-off couples has greatly decreased and hence this tradition is also changing.
7. ''lokum'' Turkish fruit: Serving your cup of coffee with Turkish fruit ''lokum'' is yet another way of determining whether the guest is satisfied. When guests are satisfied with their hosts, they eat the fruit. Unfortunately, this tradition no longer exists now, but even so, Turkish coffee is still served with a little extra, such as chocolate.
8. It is healthy: It is a top antioxidant: Turkish coffee has many benefits for your health. It is said to control cholesterol levels in your blood and reduces the risk of cancer, while also serving as a painkiller for headaches.
9. Turkish coffee is intangible heritage: The centuries-old drink is protected by UNESCO: thus, due to its unique brewing and cooking method, traditional Turkish coffee was added to UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013.
10. Sand: In the Netherlands where we are mostly familiar with electric coffee makers and brewing methods such as the AeroPress and perculators, things are very different in the Middle East. Here, coffee is sometimes brewed in small pots in the sand!During sand-brewing, sand is used in a hot wok, which brews the coffee. (As you can see in the picture below) Why, you may wonder? Because the sand ensures a more even heating of the coffee, which incidentally also benefits the flavour