Making Turkish Coffee

Making Turkish Coffee is a historical tradition in Turkish Culture. While there are many different Coffee Recipes available online, most are modified from the traditional version.

In this article, I will share a traditional way of making Turkish Coffee.

Tools Needed for Making Turkish Coffee

Turkish Coffee (ground or whole bean)
Turkish Grinder (if you are using whole beans)
Turkish Pot
Turkish Coffee Cup
Water & sugar if you like it sweet
Teaspoon to measure and stir

If you have the required tools in place, you are ready to start making Turkish Coffee.

Steps for Making Turkish Style Coffee

Grind coffee beans:


If you want to make the most delicious Turkish Coffee, you need to grind the beans before the making process. This way, you will have fresh ground coffee and the oil in the beans will not dry due to waiting after grinding process.

To be able to make authentic coffee, the Turkish way, you need Arabica Beans. If you can not find an authentic Turkish Coffee Brand near where you live, you should get a regular pack of Arabica Beans. Using an authentic Turkish Grinder is important. Because Turkish style coffee is ground extra fine, not like other types. Closest fineness to Turkish type of coffee is espresso. Even espresso is not ground as fine as Turkish.

If you are in a hurry, and want to save some time, you need to buy ground coffee and pass this step. But if you are not in a rush, you should start with grinding beans to make the freshest coffee, Turkish way. After you are done with grinding the beans, remove them from the manual grinder and move to step two.



Add ingredients into the coffee pot


Use a Turkish style coffee cup, also called as Fincan in Turkish to measure water first. For one cup of coffee, you need to prepare one cup of regular drinking water into the coffee pot.

After you add the water, add two teaspoons of ground coffee. Two teaspoons weigh around 0.175 ounces or 5 grams. So, measure if you are not sure how much coffee to put.

Adding sugar is optional. Turkish way of coffee is made in three different ways. With sugar (means Sekerli in Turkish), medium sugar (means Orta Sekerli), and without sugar (meaning Sade). You should put around 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar maximum. If you want medium, try with one teaspoon of sugar or less. If you make it without any sugar, it might taste little bitter, but for strong coffee lovers, this might be a great taste. So, choose your preference, and add sugar if you like.



Heat & brew the coffee


Start stirring with your teaspoon on a very low flame stove. Never use high flame, you should heat and stir slowly.

Some recipes will tell you to add sugar or coffee, or both after heating the water. You should ignore this advice. Authentic Turkish style coffee is made by putting water, coffee and sugar simultaneously and by heating at the same time.

While heating and stirring, you shouldn't step away from the process. It can boil very quickly and it might overflow fast. Making Turkish Style Coffee usually takes 5 to 10 minutes, so you should be patient and keep stirring.

Right before it starts boiling, use your teaspoon to take some of the foam at the top of the pot and add them into the cups. This is an important step. Quality Turkish Style Coffee should be served with as much foam on it as possible. So, remember to add some of the foam to the cups before it boils.

After coffee starts boiling, take away the pot from the stove, let it wait for a few seconds and put it on the stove again. You should repeat this process two to three times.

Then, pour it into coffee cups.

While making Turkish Coffee, you do not filter the coffee. These small ground particles will sit at the bottom of the cup. After pouring the coffee from the Turkish Pot into the cups, you will also see some of these ground particles will stay in the coffee pot. This is normal, you shouldn't try to put these into the cup.

Making Turkish Coffee takes 10 to 15 minutes, but it is an enjoyable process and good for improving your patience. I hope you will try this authentic way of making Turkish Style Coffee.

Enjoy your delicious cup of Turkish Coffee - Bon Appetite

Jenn is a coffee lover. Jenn creates content, videos and manages a site about Turkish Coffee.

If you like to learn more about Turkish Coffee, you can visit Jenn's authentic Turkish Coffee Recipe page. Other than the authentic Turkish Coffee Recipe, you can get further information about the equipment used for making Turkish Coffee and read Jenn's Coffee Blog.

Jenn has a goal of making everybody in the world try this delicious coffee at least once.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Turkish Coffee FAQ

Turkish coffee is the oldest way of making coffee. This is a short article answering frequently asked questions about Turkish coffee. You can also post your question as a comment and I'll do my best to answer it.

Questions are in bold.

What kind of coffee must I use for Turkish coffee?

Turkish coffee nowadays is usually made of Latin American blends. Usually the blends contain two kinds of coffee: Arabica and Robusta. Except for the Latin American coffees the blends may also include coffees from Asia or Africa. Some of the best coffees for Turkish blends come from Brazil, Ethiopia and Yemen.

Should I use a coffee particularly made for Turkish coffee or can I use any blend?

Turkish blends are created in a special way to be optimized for Turkish coffee making. Most people that drink the popular Turkish coffee brands are used to a special characteristic taste. This doesn't mean that you cannot use another coffee blend to make Turkish coffee. For example you can use an espresso blend. The only requirement is that it must be ground very fine like powder. If it isn't ground fine enough there will be no foam on top of the coffee after you make it and the taste will be weak.

So, in other words you can experiment with any blend you want if you grind it fine enough for Turkish coffee. The taste will be different than the usual though.

Is it healthy?

Turkish coffee is as healthy as any regular coffee. Actually according to some some researches a quantity of two small Turkish coffee cups (demitasse cups) can be beneficial for the heart. If you exceed this amount then it may become bad for your health like any other coffee. Bear in mind that Turkish coffee is made almost as quickly as instant coffee but it's far better for your health.

What is this thick thing on top of Turkish coffee? Is it like espresso?

When you make Turkish coffee properly you will notice on top a layer of dark, thick and homogeneous foam. This is also known as kaimaki in Greece. If the coffee doesn't have kaimaki then something is definitely wrong with the coffee making:


small quantity of coffee used
not properly heated
ground coarser than required
very stale coffee


In some Eastern countries it is an insult to serve Turkish coffee without this special foam on top.

Kaimaki foam is looks similar to the espresso crema but it very different in terms of physical properties. The espresso crema is formed not only due to heat but also because of high pressure so it's quite different.

Do I need any special expensive equipment for Turkish coffee?

Making Turkish coffee is very easy and very fast. All you need is a small coffee pot and a heat source. You can use a small stainless steel pot and your electric stove top but it's preferable to use a traditional copper or brass Turkish pot. Regarding the heat source it's better to use low fire to make the coffee. A gas burner or an alcohol burner is my favorite heat source for home use.

What size coffee pot do I need?

This is a question that creates a lot of misunderstandings. Basically it depends on how much coffee you are going to make each time.

First, what you need to know is that you will need a coffee pot that holds approximately double the amount of coffee. This is because coffee must have enough room in the pot to foam up and furthermore because of the so-called "oven effect".

Let me explain...

Traditional Turkish coffee pots have an hourglass shape. This special shape creates an oven-like effect when making Turkish coffee. The oven-effect is highly desirable for better taste. The only requirement for this "oven-effect" is to fill the pot till the point where the pot diameter is smaller. Usually this means a half-full pot.

So, If you want to make two demitasse cups, for you and your friend, you will need a 4 demitasse-cup size coffee pot.

Please note that sizing differs among manufacturers. So instead of looking for a 4-cup size coffee pot look for a coffee pot that holds 4*60ml which equals 240ml. 60ml or approximately 2oz is the size of a demitasse cup.

What about a coffee pot for just one cup?

In this case you will need a coffee pot that holds 2*60ml=120ml coffee.

What about one normal cup?

One normal cup is approximately 250ml so you will need a 500ml pot.

These numbers are not exact. They are just guides to help you. Most of the times buying a bit smaller coffee pot will also be adequate.

Can I grind Turkish coffee with my coffee grinder?

Turkish coffee is ground at the most fine grind setting. Most grinders for home use are incapable of grinding so fine. If you have a blade grinder consider upgrading to a burr grinder. This doesn't mean that every burr grinder can grind Turkish coffee. So if you are in the market in research of a burr grinder make sure it has a Turkish coffee setting. Some burr grinders don't have a Turkish coffee setting but they can be modified very easily to grind fine enough for this coffee. This information can be easily found if you make a couple of searches in a search engine.

Another solution are manual-operated Turkish coffee grinders. These grinders are much cheaper than burr grinders and because of their low speed coffee is ground gently without getting heated. In cheap burr grinders because of the small burr dimensions the rotating speed is higher. This way the friction is bigger and the heat generation is higher. More heat means more coffee taste destruction! So in other words small grinding speeds of manual grinders are better for your palate! The big drawback is that this sort of grinding can remind you of manual labor sometimes...

Is there any special way to serve Turkish coffee? Any special tradition?

If you have guests and you want to impress them with your coffee making mastery and your hospitality you can do some simple things. First use a big traditional looking serving tray and put some glasses of water for your guests. Water is used to clean the mouth before tasting the coffee. Prepare the coffees immediately before serving time so that they keep their kaimaki foam and their temperature. You can pair the coffee with some cookies or muffins.

For dessert after the coffee you can offer traditional Turkish delight or baklava. Your guests will be grateful!

If you have any questions about Turkish coffee please post your comments. Enjoy!

Karolos Tsiligirian is the author of the "Fresh Coffee Encyclopedia" and the founder of FreshCoffeeShop.com

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Top 10 Mistakes Making Turkish Coffee

Turkish coffee is one of the simplest ways to make delicious coffee. This is a guide to help you avoid the most common mistakes when making Turkish coffee.

Using the wrong proportion

One of the most common mistakes is using the wrong proportion of coffee to water. If you use too much water or too much coffee the result will not be drinkable! The most common rule is one demitasse cup of water with one teaspoon of coffee. If you want your coffee strong you can use two teaspoons but don't use more...

Using the wrong grind

In order to make Turkish coffee you must use very fine ground coffee. If you use coarser coffee then you will not be able to extract the delicate coffee flavours. You will also fail to create the special coffee foam on top which is highly prized in many Middle East and Balkan countries. This special foam resembles the espresso crema and it is known as kaimaki in Greece. So, make sure that you use very fine ground coffee.

If you want to grind your own coffee, use a high quality burr grinder (manual or electrical). You can also use a mortar and pestle.

Boiling coffee

You must use a Turkish coffee pot to prepare the coffee. Stir the coffee with the sugar a bit to help them mix with the water.

After you light up the fire and you start heating the coffee in the pot, it is very important to watch carefully as the coffee comes slowly to a boil. It's imperative that you don't let it boil!

If it boils then the coffee will get bitter and flat tasting. In order to make delicious Turkish coffee, you must stop the heating when the coffee mixture comes ALMOST to a boil.

At this special moment, the coffee foam forms a ring on top. This foam ring slowly increases in size, closes the gap on top and then the coffee starts rising. As soon as the foam ring closes the gap on top and starts rising out must stop the heating. If you fail to do this it will boil and the flavour will get destroyed. So, just be careful and take it slow!

Bringing to boil more than 3 times

There are some people who prefer to bring the coffee to almost boil more than once. I find this a loss of time and sometimes it can also lead to a loss of quality. Bringing the coffee to almost boil more than 3 times is an exaggeration!

Adding sugar after the boiling

If you want your coffee medium sweet add one teaspoon of sugar for every teaspoon of coffee. If you want your coffee sweet double the amount of sugar. It is important to put the sugar before the heating, to optimize the flavour. The sugar melts and becomes one with the coffee in your mouth.

Using the wrong size pot

In order to make 2 demitasse cups of coffee use a coffee pot (ibrik or cezve) that holds 3 demitasse cups of coffee. You can also measure the capacity of the pot using water. The extra cup is counted to facilitate the whole stirring and foaming process.

Now, you may ask:

"Why can't I use a 5 cup size coffee pot to make 2 cups of coffee? The bigger the better!"

Unfortunately it's not like that!

You see... if you use a much bigger coffee pot this makes the coffee foam creation rather hard. The shape of the coffee pot (conical) facilitates the creation of a special oven like effect that makes the foaming much easier and more precise.

If you use a very big coffee pot then it will be hard to make a nice foam on top of the Turkish coffee. Just try it and you will see the difference!

Using hot water to make it faster

There are many professionals who start with hot water in order to make Turkish coffee faster. Actually they have big boilers and when a customer asks for a cup of Turkish coffee, they pour hot water from the boiler inside their coffee pot, they put coffee and sugar and they boil the whole thing as fast as possible!

The result as you may guess is the destruction of all the delicate coffee flavour. This is because of basic physics and chemistry... hot water (90 C degrees or higher) interacts with the coffee and then as if this is not enough you boil the coffee some more!!!

So just use cold coffee and don't rush. Your taste buds will thank you!

Pouring fast and sloppily

When the heating is done pour the coffee slowly in order to retain the foam on top. If you do it quickly the foam may break apart.

Not letting the coffee settle a bit after serving

After you serve the coffee, the small coffee grounds float everywhere in the cup. Just let them settle for a couple of minutes (except if you like eating coffee :-) )

Not taking enough time to enjoy!

This is in my opinion the greatest mistake of all. We live in very quickly paced timed, full of stress.

Why should you also be in a hurry when drinking your Turkish coffee? Relax! Take a small sip, lay back and enjoy! Share what you learned with your friends and offer them a cup of coffee too, won't you?

Enjoy!

Karolos Tsiligirian is the author of the "Fresh Coffee Encyclopedia" and the owner of FreshCoffeeShop.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.