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Published: Apr 21, 2019 · Modified: Sep 12, 2021 by Yusuf

How to Make Turkish Coffee

Name: How to Make Turkish Coffee
Prep time: 1 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 11 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 2 Turkish coffee cups water; 4 teaspoons Turkish coffee; 1 cube sugar (see the note below)

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Would you like to learn How to Make Turkish Coffee? It's such a unique drink from its cooking method to how it is served and enjoyed. You will love the coffee smell spreading in your house when making this easy Turkish coffee recipe. We must warn you though: It is addictive!

Turkish coffee served in a grey coffee cup and accompanied by Turkish delights, wild flowers and newspaper on a dark background.

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What is Turkish Coffee?
Good Quality Coffee
How To Store
Ingredients
How to Make
Tips
More About The Culture
FAQs
Other Turkish Drinks
Other Turkish Recipes
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💬 Comments

What is Turkish Coffee?

The first thing we need to clarify is that Turkey doesn't have its own coffee beans. Arabic coffee beans are finely ground and used for coffee making. It’s more of cooking rather than brewing. While the term Turkish coffee refers to the preparation method of coffee, I must tell you that it doesn't look like your regular coffee beans. It is so finely ground that you might think it is cocoa powder when you first see it. That's why we also love it as an ingredient even in baking cookies. Go check out our Turkish coffee cookies and no butter tahini coffee cookies!

The ground coffee is combined with water and sugar (optional) in a special coffee pot called cezve or ibrik. They are the ideal pots to make this authentic coffee. These are small copper pots with a long handle, but stainless steel, ceramic or even glass pots are also common today. They have different sizes. The smallest is for one serving and the largest could be up to 6 servings. It is small and deep with a wide bottom and narrow neck, which helps coffee to produce a good amount of foam. The coffee and water in this pot is simmered over the lowest heat or traditionally on hot sand.

You end up with a thick and frothy coffee which has a strong aroma. It is served in traditional small Turkish coffee cups with a lot of foams on the top. It is significant to be able to have enough foams, which shows how much you know the art of coffee making.

As for the serving, Turkish coffee has its own traditional way. It is always served in small cups aka demitasse cups or kahve fincanı as we say in Turkish. They are like espresso cups. There is always a glass of cold water and a type of sweet treat like Turkish delight or chocolate on the side. It is even fancier in the culture if you serve it with a traditional dessert like hot and crispy kunafe or baklava.

From grinding to cooking and serving this coffee, it’s like a special ceremony. This special drink is a way of socializing for Turkish people. It is mostly enjoyed following a good meal.

Woman with a black sweater holding Turkish coffee in a grey coffee cup, a pistachio Turkish delight on the side.

Good Quality Coffee

Traditionally, buying coffee from local coffee shops is recommended because Arabica beans are freshly ground in a large coffee grinder in these shops. However, there are still some tips to understand whether it is really fresh and good quality.

The first thing that is a sign of good quality is the smell of the coffee. If it has a strong smell that makes you feel in heaven, it is a good one. If you can hardly feel the irresistible smell, it is likely to be stale, which will result in a tasteless coffee when you make it.

Another tip to understand how fresh your ground coffee is to get some in your hand and see whether the pieces stick to one another. Fresh coffee never sticks and it is wonderfully crumbly.

Finally, when you are drinking the coffee, you should be feeling that heavenly aroma. If you feel a watery taste, the coffee is not good quality or it is stale.

If you are asking for a good Turkish coffee brand, we would suggest Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi. They are a world famous coffee brand, so you can find them at online shopping markets.

How To Store

It is important to store ground coffee in the right way so that it keeps its texture and aroma. Tips to keep in mind when storing your coffee:

Store it in a dry and cool place that is away from sunlight.
Keep it in an airtight container or in a glass jar with a tight lid.
Never leave a metal spoon in the container.
Don't keep it in the opened package. Air causes your ground coffee to get stale fast. Transfer it in an airtight container.

How to make Turkish coffee in a copper coffee pot and serving it in traditional small cups

Ingredients

It is a super easy coffee recipe with two or three ingredients. You need:

Water: It is best to use cold water to have the best foams. Never use warm or hot water.
Super fine grind coffee: Buy it fresh from a local store if possible. Otherwise, choose the most famous brand from online shops. Don't try to make this coffee with regular ground coffee.
Sugar: This is optional. It depends on your taste. You can either leave it completely out or add half to 2 cubes of sugar. Please read more about this in the section below.

Turkish coffee served in traditional turkish coffee cups with a glass of water and turkish delights on the side.

How to Make

It is very easy to make this coffee at home with the following steps:

First, measure water with a small coffee cup. Use one small cup of water for one person, two cups for two people and so on. Pour it directly into the small pot cezve.

Second, measure ground coffee: The ratio for a desired consistency is 1:2, which means 1 coffee cup cold water and 2 teaspoons ground coffee. Add the ground coffee in the coffee pot.

Then, mix coffee and water: Using a teaspoon, mix your finely ground coffee with cold water in a Turkish Coffee pot, gently until well combined. If you want your coffee sweet, add sugar along with coffee and water. You always need to ask your guests how sweet they like their coffee. Possible options are as follows:

Unsweetened (no sugar added) - Sade
With little sugar (add ½ cube sugar) - Az şekerli
A bit sweeter (add 1 cube sugar) - Orta şekerli
Super sweet (add 2 cubes sugar) - Şekerli

The measurement here is for one coffee cup. If you are making coffee for more than one person and everyone has different sugar likings, make their coffee separately.

Next, place the coffee pot on low heat and let it cook for a while, stirring gently two or three times. When it is right about to boil and foams rise, remove it from the heat. Using a teaspoon, share the foams into each Turkish coffee cup. Put the pot back over medium heat. Let it rise and remove when it starts to boil. Share the coffee into the cups.

Turkish coffee in traditional cups served on a traditional copper tray with a small glass of water on the side.

Tips

There are some tips for making your coffee both with enough foams on the top and with the desired consistency:

Use fresh ground coffee. If your coffee is not fresh and sits in your pantry for months, it doesn’t foam. To keep your coffee fresh after you open the package, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Use cold filtered water. Never try to make it with warm or hot water.
Mix the coffee, water and sugar (if you are using any) in the pot gently until combined. Don’t mix it fast. Always treat your coffee kindly.
Cook your coffee on the lowest heat, stirring two or three times until it starts to rise. Never let it boil. Remove it right before it boils and share the foams into the cups, using a teaspoon.
After transferring the foams to the cups and reheating the coffee, pour it slowly into the cups so that the bubbles remain safe.

Woman serving Turkish coffee with Turkish delights and a small glass of water on the side on a copper tray.

More About The Culture

Coffee has a significant role in the culture of the Middle East. There were coffee houses in Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire. People (mostly men) would meet in these houses to socialize. These coffeehouses helped this drink to become popular. You can still see coffee houses all around Turkey today and they serve as the meeting place of old men. Thankfully, they are not the only places where you can drink coffee. All cafés in the country serve Turkish coffee in their own style. They may even have different types of coffee such as medium roast or lighter roasts, mastic flavored coffee and cardamom flavored coffee aka Ottoman coffee.

Turkish coffee culture has a role even in the marriage customs. A young man's parents visit a young woman's parents to get permission for the marriage of the young couple. During the visit, they expect to be served coffee made by the young woman. And she is supposed to make coffee with as much foam as she can.

Unlike Turkish Tea, Turkish coffee is considered as a way of spoiling yourself or your guests. So we offer coffee whenever we have special guests. We serve it hot in small cups with a glass of water on the side.

The ceremony doesn’t end even after you finish your coffee. Although it’s not like a rule, most Turkish people love the tradition of coffee reading. When they finish drinking the coffee, they read the shapes formed by coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup. How? They place the saucer on top of the cup, make their wish and turn it upside down. It is left to cool.

Sometimes a golden ring is placed on the top to make it cool faster. It is ready when the cup is cool enough. Whoever is talented in coffee reading gets the cup carefully and interprets the symbols in the cup. While most people do this just for fun, there are people who are known as the master of fortune telling. I’ve never tried to read it because the only things I see in the cups are no more than animal shapes. Lol!

FAQs

How can I make Turkish coffee without an ibrik or cezve?

Don’t worry if you don’t have a traditional cezve or ibrik. A small saucepan works fine as well. The smaller, the better. If you are using a large saucepan and making the coffee for two, you won't have enough foams. On the other hand, if you make it with 6-7 coffee cups of water and enough coffee for this serving, you will manage to get the foams.
If you are after an easier and quicker way, you can definitely look for electrical Turkish coffee makers in the form of a pot online. There are several brands and types with a wide range of prices. Arzum or Fakir are the most popular brands that are used in Turkey.

Can I make it with milk?

Traditionally, Turkish coffee is known for its strong aroma, so it’s never made with milk. However, I remember mom would make it with milk for me when I was a kid just like several moms do for kids. So use milk only to give it a mild taste, but don’t expect it to be frothy then.

Why is it served with water?

That is because you need to prepare your palate for the coffee. Traditionally you drink water first and then coffee to feel the maximum aroma of it. You can put a thin slice of apple or rose petal into your water to give it a subtle aroma.

Is Turkish coffee stronger than espresso?

Both of them are strong but Turkish coffee is more condensed and this might cause it to taste more bitter.

Do you drink the mud-like layer of coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup?

No, we don’t drink that sludge. We use that layer for coffee reading aka fortune telling.

Woman holding Turkish coffee in a grey coffee cup accompanied by purple flowers, newspaper and Turkish delights on a dark background.

Other Turkish Drinks

Other Turkish Recipes

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