Have you tried Turkish coffee? Its very name sounds so exotic. You’ve probably heard of it yet haven’t tried it. It isn’t exactly carried in your friendly neighborhood Starbucks or Gloria Jean’s.
Coffee has been part of the rituals of Turkish Society since the time of the Ottoman empire. Women were expected to learn how to make coffee well as the taste of her coffee could help determine whether she would be chosen as a prospective wife. Though most of the rituals are no longer used today, coffee is still very much integrated into the culture of Turkey.
Turkish coffee is not made using the drip coffeemakers we are familiar with. For this you need a Turkish coffee maker which they call an “ibrik “. It may also be called “briki”, “toorka”,”cezve”,”jezve” or “mbiki”. Usually they come in an 8oz or 12oz size.
Next, you need coffee. As always the freshest beans are best; preferably a medium roast. In Turkey, they traditionally use Arabica beans but feel free to try other beans.
The beans are then ground very fine. Don’t worry if you don’t have a
Turkish Coffee Grinder or “kahve degirmeni” at home. You can use the grinder you have. Just set it to grinding as fine as it can for you to almost a powder.
There’s more to making Turkish coffee so read the next post. Here’s a point of interest for you coffee lovers out there: Once Turkish coffee is poured it is not meant to be stirred. So no need to think about spoons.
[tags]coffee,Turkey,turkish coffee,coffeemaker[/tags]
Originally posted on August 6, 2006 @ 10:46 pm