Turkish Coffee

World-famous Turkish coffee (Türk kahvesi) is made by pulverizing freshly medium-roasted beans in a mortar and pestle, or grinding them very fine in a cylindrical brass coffee mill (kahve degirmeni).

Put the coffee powder (about one teaspoon per demitasse cup of coffee) into a special pot with a wide bottom, narrower neck, a spout, and a long handle, called a cezve. Add sugar and a Turkish coffee cup (fincan) of cold water for each cup of coffee you're making, then heat the brew to frothing three times. (When the froth reaches the cezve's narrow neck, it's a sign to remove the pot from the heat and let the froth recede.)

After the third froth-up, pour off a bit of the froth into each cup. Bring the liquid still in the cezve to the froth-point once again, then pour it immediately, muddy grounds and all, into the Turkish coffee cups, which are smaller than demi-tasse cups.

Wait at least a minute for the grounds to settle before you pick up the tiny cup and sip. Enjoy the rich, thick flavor, but stop sipping when you taste the grounds coming through. Leave the “mud” in the bottom of the cup.

(Fortune-tellers turn the cup over on the saucer, lift off the cup, and read your future in the sloppy grounds.)

Order Türk kahvesi one of four ways:

Sade - plain, no sugar (fairly bitter)

Az sekerli - with a little sugar (takes off the bitter edge; less than a teaspoon per cup)

Orta sekerli - with medium sugar (sweetish; about a teaspoon of sugar for each cup)

Çok sekerli - with lots of sugar (quite sweet; two teaspoons of sugar or more)

European-style coffee has finally come to Turkey, and it's now possible to get a good cup of French-style or Starbucks-style brew, as well as Italianate espresso and cappuccino.

Occasionally you may encounter the older, disappointing style of non-Turkish coffee. You may want to add milk and make it sütlü kahve (coffee-with-milk).

On the other hand, you may be better off drinking