be healthy-page: How to Make and Serve Turkish Coffee

When people hear I grew up in Turkey, they often ask about Turkish coffee. It's either

because they love it and want to learn how to make it or are concerned that enjoying a thick, espresso-like drink will make it difficult to sleep if they mistakenly take a sip before bedtime.

Either way, it's always a fun conversation starter.

Turkey is known as the heart of the world where ancient traditions of diverse people blend with the modern, and learning to correctly prepare coffee in the Turkish style will bring a bit of this classic custom into your own home.

But before I tell you about how to make Turkish coffee, I think it's important to start by explaining the tradition behind it: In my opinion, learning to make Turkish coffee starts from understanding its terminology and customs.

In Turkey, when you are visiting someone's home, the first question isn’t if you want to drink Turkish coffee, but rather how you would like it be prepared. More specifically, your host is asking for your sweetness preference. To answer the question, you may say “sade” to indicate no sugar, “az seker” for very little sugar, “orta” for 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar, or “sekerli” for 3 to 4 teaspoons of sugar. Once your request is made, the person preparing the coffee has the responsibility to remember and make each cup accordingly.

Turkish coffee is always served with water: A sip of water will allow the person to clear his or her palate before drinking coffee, making for the best enjoyment. Additionally, most people serve the coffee with a small, sweet treat like Turkish delights, chocolate, or candy.

When serving coffee, it's important to start with the eldest guest in the room as a sign of respect, and it's considered discourteous not to do so. Last but not least, since Turkish coffee is much denser than filtered coffee, it's not customary to drink more than one cup.

Turkish Coffee

Makes 2 turkish coffee cups

3cups (Turkish coffee cup-sized cups) of cold filtered water
2 1/2tablespoons ground Turkish coffee
Sugar, as desired

Place the sugar (if desired), water, and Turkish coffee in metal Turkish coffee pot (cezve). (If one or more of the guests prefers no sugar, however, prepare and pour that cup first. After returning the coffee pot to the heat, then begin the sugar additions to suit the remaining guests.)
Using a small spoon, stir briefly until just combined and place pot on stovetop.
Slowly bring coffee mixture to a boil over medium heat. This will take 3 to 4 minutes, so keep a close watch.
As the coffee warms, you will see a dark foam building up. When the mixture is close to coming to a boil, use teaspoon to transfer some of the foam into each of your two Turkish coffee cups. Return coffee pot to stovetop.
As the coffee comes to a boil, pour half of the coffee into the cups, over the foam.
Return coffee pot to stovetop and boil the remaining coffee for an additional 15 to 20 seconds and pour the rest into the coffee cups to the rim.
Turkish coffee is always served with water: A sip of water will allow the person to clear his or her palate before drinking coffee, making for the best enjoyment. Additionally, most people serve the coffee with a small, sweet treat like Turkish delights, chocolate, or candy.
When serving coffee, it's important to start with the eldest guest in the room as a sign of respect, and it's considered discourteous not to do so. Since Turkish coffee is much denser than filtered coffee, it's not customary to drink more than one cup.