How to Prepare Turkish Coffee?

Turkish Coffee Preparation

In Turkey, when you go to somebody’s house, the first question isn’t if you want to drink Turkish coffee, but rather how you would like to have your Turkish coffee prepared. By how, your host is asking about the amount of sugar you would like to have in your coffee. To answer the question, you may say “sade” which means no sugar; az seker which means very little sugar; “orta”  which means with 1-2 teaspoons of sugar; or “sekerli”  which means with 3-4 teaspoon sugar.

Once you place your request, it is the responsibility of the person making the coffee to prepare it according to everyone’s individual sugar preferences. Usually that person is the youngest girl of the house. As you can imagine, as the only daughter of our household, I’ve made more than my fair share of Turkish coffee in my lifetime. Therefore, I feel qualified enough to share my knowledge with you.

Making Turkish coffee is easy and requires no special skills, so long as you know a couple of tricks.

Here is what you need to know in a nutshell:

To make Turkish coffee:

  • You will need filtered water, Turkish coffee, cezve (a special wide bottom pot, usually made of copper), Turkish coffee cups, and sugar.
  • Always use cold, filtered water. To measure the amount of water for each cup, use the coffee cup you are going to use. My rule of thumb is 1 ½ cup of water per coffee cup. Once again, the “cup” measurement is the coffee cup that you are going to serve the coffee in, rather than a standard measuring cup.
  • Turkish coffee is much more finely ground than regular coffee. I have never ground it myself and I wouldn’t recommend you do that either. Nowadays, you can find Turkish Coffee in most Middle Eastern or Mediterranean supermarkets.
  • For each cup of coffee, I use a heaping tablespoon of ground coffee.  As I mentioned above, if your guests prefer their coffee with sugar, add the sugar in the very beginning, stirring the mixture until combined. 
  • Slowly bring it to a boil over medium heat. This will take about 3-4 minutes, so keep a close eye on it. As the coffee warms, you will see a dark foam building up. This dark foam is very important. It is customary and important to serve Turkish coffee with foam on top. Closer to it coming to a boil, using a teaspoon, transfer some of the foam into each of your Turkish coffee cups. Return coffee pot to stovetop. As 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 15-20 seconds and pour the rest into the coffee cups, filling them to the rim.

To serve the Turkish coffee:

  • Turkish coffee is always served with water, because a sip of water will allow the person to clear his/her palate before drinking coffee for the best enjoyment. In addition to water, most people like to serve it with a small sweet treat like Turkish delights, chocolate, candy, etc.
  • When it comes to serving Turkish coffee, it is important to start with the eldest guest in the room. It is a sign of respect to acknowledge their age and considered disrespectful not to do so.
  • Since Turkish coffee is much denser than filtered coffee, it is not customary to drink more than one cup. I have read on some websites that some people add milk or cream to their Turkish Coffee, but to be honest, I have never seen anyone in Turkey add milk or cream to their Turkish coffee.

Method 2: How to make Turkish coffee

  1. You will need filtered water, Turkish coffee, cezve (a special wide-bottomed pot, usually made of copper), Turkish coffee cups, and sugar. Turkish coffee is much more finely ground than regular coffee. Even though you can grind it yourself, nowadays you can find it in most Middle Eastern or Mediterranean supermarkets.
  2. Always use cold, filtered water. To measure the amount of water for each cup, use the coffee cup you are going to use. My rule of thumb is 1½ “cup” of water per coffee cup. Once again, the “cup” measurement is the coffee cup that you are going to serve the coffee in, rather than a standard measuring cup.
  3. For each cup of coffee, use a heaping tablespoon of ground coffee. If preparing a cup with sugar, add it in the very beginning, stirring the mixture until combined. However, if one or more of the guests prefers no sugar, prepare and pour that cup first. After returning the coffee pot to the stove, add in more sugar to suit the preferences of the remaining guests.
  4. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. This will take 3-4 minutes, so keep a close eye on it. As the coffee warms, dark foam will build. It is customary and important to serve Turkish coffee with foam on top. When the mixture is close to a boil, use a teaspoon to transfer some of the foam into each Turkish coffee cup. Return the coffee pot to the stovetop. As 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 10-15 seconds and fill the cups to the rim.

Ingredients

  • Turkish Coffee (ground)
  • Sugar – as requested
  • Water

Tools

  • Turkish coffee pot
  • Tablespoon
  • Coffee cup

Instructions

  1. Place the sugar (if desired), water, and Turkish coffee in metal Turkish coffee pot (Cezve).
  2. Using a small spoon, stir briefly until just combined and place pot on stovetop.
  3. Slowly bring coffee mixture to a boil over medium heat. This will take 3-4 minutes, so keep a close watch.
  4. As the coffee warms, you will see a dark foam building up. Closer to it coming to a boil, using a teaspoon, transfer some of the foam into each of your two Turkish coffee cups. Return coffee pot to stovetop.
  5. As coffee comes to a boil, pour half of the coffee into the cups, over the foam.
  6. Return coffee pot to stovetop and boil the remaining coffee for an additional 15-20 seconds and pour the rest in to the coffee cups to the rim.
  7. Serve with water and Turkish delight.

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