Turkish coffee, traditions, and rituals deeply embedded in history

A delightful aroma of freshly grounded coffee beans wafts in the Hamamonu neighborhood in Turkey’s capital city Ankara, luring visitors to the myriad coffeehouses on the cobblestoned narrow streets of the historical quarter.

Ahmet Erdogan is a coffee maker in one of these shops. As a young man in his early 20s, he is versed in the art of coffee making.

“A customer who is really fond of coffee drinks the Turkish coffee without sugar; the bitter taste harbors all the flavors in the coffee,” he told Xinhua.

It is a Turkish tradition that before an engagement or marriage, the prospective groom and his relatives will visit the girl’s family to ask for bride’s hand from her father.

During the visit, the brideto-be normally prepares and serves Turkish coffee to the guests. For this reason, women usually underwent thorough training to learn how to make the perfect brew.

In a nearby coffeehouse, veteran coffee maker Hakan Gullu explains to Xinhua how good Turkish coffee is made. He uses a special widebottomed copper pot called a cezve.

The coffee is brewed in a pan filled with sand that’s heated over an open flame.

“The Turkish coffee is first and foremost a tradition, a ritual,” Gullu said.

The best Turkish coffee is foamy. The coffee-to-water ratio must be perfect and you need to cook the coffee slowly to get the best taste, Gullu added.

Turkish coffee is thicker and stronger than any other brewing method because the finely ground coffee beans are not filtered out of the finished brew.

Another ritual and possibly the most enjoyable part of drinking Turkish coffee is fortune-telling, where the fortune tellers will read the patterns left by the coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup to tell the drinker’s past and future.

Turkish coffee’s special preparation, brewing techniques, and rich communal culture saw it inscribed in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2013.

Coffee master Gullu takes pride in the fact that younger generations still perpetuate the tradition of regularly consuming Turkish coffee.

“Young people are tempted by other types of coffees such as cappuccinos, but they still drink Turkish coffee,” he said.