To make Turkish coffee, you need to start with fresh, medium-roasted coffee beans, which may have been either pounded in a mortar or ground with a brass coffee grinder. You'll also need a jezve (or cezve) or ibrik which will make the experience of making coffee that much more fun! Although this type of coffee is commonly known as "Turkish coffee", it is the method used throughout the Middle East; therefore, in a sense, it should be known as the coffee of the Middle East. In Greece they call it Greek coffee; they changed their name following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, even though the coffee is the same; only the name changes.
Ingrediants
The quantities are specified in the steps:
- Coffee beans
- Water (if you prefer, you can substitute with milk)
- Sugar
- Ground or chopped spices (see steps)
- Turkish treats (optional)
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Prepare the Coffee
Step 1. Select the coffee beans
The best coffee beans for making Turkish coffee are mocha, java and Viennese ones. In addition, less oily Arabica beans are also a good choice.
Step 2. Grind the beans very fine
They should be as fine as cocoa powder. You can also use pre-processed coffee powder, but it won't be as fresh, of course.
Step 3. Put about one teaspoon (5g) of ground coffee per 60ml of coffee in the cezve / jezve / ibrik
The cezve is a special saucepan with a wide bottom, a narrower neck, a spout and a long handle.
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Add sugar according to your taste and a Turkish cup (fincan) of cold water for each cup of coffee you are making. If you like spicy flavors, you can also follow the following Arabic version of Turkish coffee adding these ingredients:
- 1/2 teaspoon of chopped cardamom seeds; or
- 1/8 teaspoon of minced cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves.
Make Turkish Coffee Step 4 Step 4. Stir well with a fork or thin whisk if you have one
Make a movement as if you were beating eggs. A fork is better than a spoon for mixing powdered coffee into water.
Make Turkish Coffee Step 5 Step 5. Put the cezve saucepan over low heat
Slowly bring the mixture to a boil. Do not mix. The lower the heat, the better the coffee. Don't lose sight of it; watch it as it warms up.
Make Turkish Coffee Step 6 Step 6. Pay attention to when the froth begins to boil (boiling point) and transfer the froth to the cups with a spoon as it forms
Then, when the froth rises to the edge of the saucepan, remove it from the heat and pour the coffee, including the dusty base, into the Turkish coffee cups. Turkish coffee mugs are smaller than coffee cups. Use regular cups if you don't have Turkish cups.
For a frothy coffee, move the froth into the cups with a teaspoon as it forms. Then put the cezve back on the stove and repeat the process twice before pouring the coffee into the cups
Make Turkish Coffee Step 7 Step 7. Do your best to keep the froth already in the cups when you pour the coffee
Pour it close to the sides, not the center of the cups. This light brown froth is sometimes called "cream" in Western European countries. It looks like a thicker version of milk froth, but does not contain milk.
Do not drink the powder on the bottom. In fact, one should wait for the dust to settle before drinking; you can wait or add a drop of cold water to help it settle
Method 2 of 3: Serve the Turkish Coffee
Make Turkish Coffee Step 8 Step 1. Keep the surface of the cups clean
It is considered rude to serve someone with coffee that has spilled out of the cups or fallen into the saucer. Every coffee should be perfectly presented.
Make Turkish Coffee Step 9 Step 2. Add a Turkish sweet (a kind of sugar-coated gummy candy) to the saucer, to eat after drinking the coffee to sweeten the palate
Method 3 of 3: Drink Turkish Coffee
Make Turkish Coffee Step 10 Step 1. Wait at least a minute for the powder to settle before taking the cup and drinking
Make Turkish Coffee Step 11 Step 2. Enjoy the rich, thick flavor, but stop drinking as soon as you feel you have gotten to the powder
Some believe that the location of the dust at the bottom can reveal a person's future.
Advice
- Grind the coffee just before drinking - it makes a big difference to savor the taste of Turkish coffee.
- Use milk instead of water if you want a rich, creamy drink.
- The amount of sugar is about 1 teaspoon for every 2 teaspoons of coffee powder.
