Attempt to make Turkish coffee in tiny sauce pot ends in failure

The Omanis and various other arabs do much the same thing in a differently shaped pot:

As do the Ethiopians and Eritreans in another shape of pot:

which is probably where and why everyone else got the general idea from.

8 Likes

I’m always inherently skeptical of these sorts of “cross-language confusion” etymologies since they are too cute by half and also too recurrent in other terms (see “kangaroo”, “Nome, Alaska”, others) – exactly the sort of qualities we see in false armchair etymologies all the time. Seems like it would be hard to prove etymologically, unfortunately (but possibly easy to disprove with appropriate evidence…).

5 Likes

The traditional recipe for baking (yes, baking) coffee in cezve is probably relevant. Note that my information comes via Bosnia, but also note that coffee on Baščaršija in Sarajevo is every bit as good as any I’ve tried in Turkey.

To make traditional Bosnian coffee, start with beans that are fairly lightly roasted. Grind them fine in a brass hand-grinder, then dry roast a spoonfull in the tiny one-serving đezva (Bosnian version of the word cezve). Meanwhile, heat water separately in a kettle. When your grounds are roasted to the proper color, pour boiling water into the đezva. Serve with rahatluk and a glass of water.

A few caveats if you’re tempted to try it. First, freshly ground coffee hasn’t degassed yet, so expect a lot of foam. The foam contains some grounds, so it’s not really the equivalent of espresso crema. On the other hand, the beans must be ground extremely fine, so you won’t get back specks between your teeth.

Second: the grounds being practically dust, they are an extremely efficient heat insulator. Apply heat carefully and shake often, or you’ll burn the bottom layer to carbon. Trust me on this.

Third, pour water in the thinnest of streams. You are pouring boiling water into insulating superheated dust. Do it too quickly and the contents of your cezve will end up on your kitchen ceiling. Trust me on this too.

Finally, the brass grinder isn’t mandatory. It isn’t even very practical. But it looks nice.

So, my take on the traditional form: you need a wide bottom for roasting the grinds, a material-copper-that dissipates heat quickly during the pour, and a shape that keeps the coffee contained in those critical few seconds. And, of course, the hand-beaten copper looks good when serving.

Of course, I could be completely wrong.

20 Likes

That is the most dangerous, explodey way of making coffee I’ve ever heard of. I love it.

12 Likes

Welcome to BBS, friend!

8 Likes

expect no less than this from balkans, eastern mediterranean or caucaus :smiley:

6 Likes

Best ‘splainer! Saved us video of the tiny pot goin’ sidewise.

5 Likes

And the Yemenites got it from Ethiopia where it originates.

6 Likes

The English interpretation of ‘ibrik’ may be via the Greek word for a similar vessel, the Briki. I leave it to the respective Greeks and Turks on here to (hopefully not) go to war over which is better.

image

5 Likes

We had a Turkish guy on our team at work and he would make us all Turkish coffee sometimes. It was amazing. Talk about strong though, a few sips was like 5 cups of the weak drip coffee I’m used to! :grin:

6 Likes

I havent had Turkish coffee but i have had Turkish tea and it was pretty amazing :slight_smile:

4 Likes

The word for breakfast literally means “under coffee” because first you eat that and then you drink coffee so coffee goes over it. The timing is so because the coffee is too strong to drink to an empty stomach, and also too strong to drink in the evening (or else you get insomnia) :grin:

11 Likes

Well, there is the story of Nissan hiring German consultants to come up with branding for their vehicles in North America. The extremely tight deadlines surprised the Germans, who exhorted in frustration:
“Dat Soon?”

That’s got to be true.

Edit: added quote

4 Likes

I used to buy Mehmet Efendi, pretty much the standard Turkish coffee brand, but the Turkish market near me closed and so I started using Bustelo (pretty much the standard Cuban coffee brand) in my cezve-- it’s a lot easier to clean than the stovetop mini percolator you’re supposed to use for Cuban style coffee.

2 Likes

Originally the Ethiopians. The the founder of the Shadhilliya Sufi order brought it to Yemen. From there it spread throughout the Muslim world. It only reached Europe centuries later.

So not “The Greeks” and not “The Turks”. T

3 Likes

Sorry for the confusion, I am talking about this particular style of preparation of coffee, which is usually referred to as Turkish Coffee, but any Greek worth their salt will insist you call Greek Coffee or words might have to be had.

3 Likes

Fun story about coffee in Turkey.
Sultan Mohammed VI would go out incognito sometimes to check on what the people were thinking. He went to the wine shops and saw happy men singing and laughing. Then he went to the coffee houses where sober, intent men were complaining about the government. So he let the haram bars stay open and closed the coffeeshops

6 Likes

Covfefe means “failed coffee” in Trumpistan. True story.

12 Likes

… amongst the other thing: Cats! Specifically, how stray cats are wonderfully treated in Turkey.

5 Likes

In arabic, THIS is an ibrik:

It confused me for years, when people talked about making coffee in one.

2 Likes