History of Turkish Coffee

Turkish coffee is one of the beverages that can offer you a whole experience rather than just a drink. It's one of the most ancient traditions and a strongly brewed coffee worldwide since Turkey is one of the first to collectively incorporate coffee into its culture.

Turkish coffee was first imported into Turkey around 1540 by Ozdemir Pasha, the Turkish Governor of Yemen. He discovered a new beverage in his area and brought it back to Sultan Suleiman. The Sultan's staff decided to make a special way to prepare the drink by using mortars to finely grind the coffee beans and then brewing it using a special pot called an Ibrik. It was a big hit in the palace and became an integral part of Turkish history and culture.

Turkish Coffee and Culture

Turkish coffee is a collaborative practice that brings together social values, cultural spaces, and religious beliefs in an atmosphere of community. Its role can be traced back to the opening of the first coffeehouses with its noticeable decorations in Istanbul; beyond that, it took forms of cultural practices and customs that can be presented clearly.

Weddings

Turkish coffee is perceived as a symbol of the Turkish lifestyle and cultural practice. One of the most widely-known customs that carried the presence of Turkish coffee is the marriage proposal. Several variations of this tradition exist based on the region. The bride traditionally serves coffee to her potential groom and his parents too, and she can communicate how she feels by how she serves the coffee. If she leaves the groom's coffee bitter, it's a message that she is unhappy with her potential partner.

Another interesting tradition involving Turkish coffee is when it's dosed with a large spoon full of salt and served by the bride to the groom. The custom is seen as a test of the groom's attitude, and if the groom can finish the cup of coffee without displaying displeasure and distaste, he is believed to have a good temperament. The act symbolises the reality of marriage, that it isn't always sweet.

Fortune-Telling 

Another fun tradition of Turkish coffee is fortune-telling; this section is categorised in Tasseography (the divination methods of interpreting patterns of coffee grounds, tea leaves, or wine sediments). The cup must typically be covered with the saucer and turned upside-down for the majority of coffee reading variants. 

Turkish coffee readers frequently interpret the cup as being split horizontally into two halves, with symbols on the bottom being read as messages about the past and symbols on the top as messages about the future.

The tradition symbolises hospitality, friendship, delicacy, and entertainment, chatting over a cup of Turkish coffee and reading about the future afterwards. The well-known Turkish saying, "the memory of a cup of coffee lasts for forty years," reflects all of this. This proverb captures the significance and profundity of coffee in Turkish culture.

Different Variants of Turkish Coffee

Turkish coffee comes in a variety that is often difficult to get outside of the country and is sometimes connected to a particular place. Let's check the most common variations of Turkish coffee.

• Mırra

Mirra coffee is stronger and slightly bitter (the word Mirra is literally derived from the Arabic word for "bitter"). Due to the beans' double roasting and less precise grinding than in regular Turkish coffee, the flavor is bitter.

• Menengiç

Menengiç Turkish coffee is made with entirely different beans, not coffee beans, and it's made out of the beans of a Pistacia terebinthus tree. The coffee features no caffeine and a fruitier flavour than regular coffee; it's made the same way as regular Turkish coffee and features more or less the same consistency.

• Dibek

Dibek Turkish coffee is stone-ground. Turkish coffee is ground by pounding with a hammer in a stone mortar, usually beaten with a stone pestle in a stone mortar. The way its ground changes the flavour makes it a little bit lighter, both in terms of colour and flavour. 

• Flirty Coffee

The coquettish coffee, prepared like classical Turkish coffee, gains its new flavour with the almond added to it. After it is cooked like Turkish coffee, double-roasted almonds and ground almonds are joined to the mixture. 

Benefits of Turkish Coffee

Health reasons are another reason to try Turkish coffee besides the delightful taste. Turkish coffee is known to keep the skin healthy and fight cancer if consumed regularly. Besides providing mental alertness and energy, coffee has many other health benefits.

Since it's unfiltered, Turkish coffee may contain higher beneficial compounds than traditionally brewed coffee. Coffee beans contain beneficial compounds like chlorogenic acids, and polyphenol antioxidants that provide health benefits.

The highly concentrated dose of caffeine boosts athletic and mental performance, helps digestion, keeps your gut healthy, reduces cholesterol, decreases breast and pancreas cancer risk, Makes breathing easier, prevents high tension, and is effective in treating depression and headaches. Don't be afraid to include Turkish coffee in your life due to the many wonders that can serve you.

Preparation of Turkish Coffee

There's a joke about making Turkish coffee in Turkey. If you go to someone's home, you will not be asked if you want Turkish coffee but how you want it to be prepared. And that implies the amount of sugar you want added to it.

Making original and authentic Turkish coffee is easier than you might think. It can be made skillfully with high standards, even at your home outside Turkey, if all measurements are being respected correctly. But before you get started, here are the essential ingredients you need to have

• Water
• Coffee beans
• Grinders
• Pot or Ibrik 

Now that you have the ingredients in your hands, follow the steps below:

• Pour the desired amount of cold water into a Turkish coffee pot, or if you want o make it more ethnic, you can get a Turkish coffee pot called Ibrik.
• Slowly heat water on medium-high heat. Do not let the water boil (212°F or 100°C at standard pressure). The water should heat up to around 158°F or 70°C to build a thick foam. 
• In the meantime, finely grind your coffee beans using a Turkish coffee grinder. Try to take your time while doing this process.
• Add 1-2 heaping tablespoons of Turkish ground coffee per 3oz cup. A general rule is to use one and a half cups of water for each coffee cup. Do not stir, and let the coffee grounds floating on top. Stirring at this stage may clump the coffee grounds.
• Add your desired amount of sugar. After the coffee grounds sink into the bottom and the added sugar is dissolved, stir it several times to create the foam. Turn the heat down to low.
• When the "bubble ring" forms on the surface and the brew gets hotter, remove it from the heat or lower the heat.

• Pour coffee into the cup to pour the foam first, then slowly for the rest. If preparing multiple cups, try to pour the same foam for each cup. You may use a spoon to divide the foam into equal amounts.

And there you have an excellent thick Turkish coffee straight from your kitchen. Turkish coffee is more fun than most probably imagine, with various ingredients and flavours making it more enjoyable. You can get your coffee beans and all you need online to create this experience in your home. At Master Cafe, we offer different types of traditional Turkish food and Turkish coffee. 

Would you like to try it at home? Click here to have the Turkish Coffee set!

Happy Turkish Coffee Time :)

You can read our previous article from https://www.artmasterclass.com.au/blogs/news/the-latest-art-trends.