How to Make Turkish Coffee? How is Traditional Turkish Coffee Used for Fortune-Telling? What is Three Boils?

In the 21st century, coffee exists as more than just a beverage. In many places, coffee has been passed down through countless generations, becoming a distinctive local specialty. For example, Vietnam's egg coffee, Ethiopia's clay pot coffee, Irish whiskey coffee, and the romantic Turkish coffee! These are all unique experiences that we must try when visiting these places. Excellent! Today, FrontStreet Coffee will share the most mystical of these specialty coffees—Turkish coffee.

Turkish coffee is similar to Yunnan small beans—the Turkish coffee of today is completely different from the Turkish coffee of the past! Before the dissolution of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, Arabs were already using a large pot called Dallah to make coffee. (Note: The Ottoman Empire was a multi-ethnic empire established by the Turks in 1299, dissolved in 1923)

As we can see, this pot features a striking golden exterior and a spout like a toucan's beak. The Arabs used it to brew unroasted, possibly even raw, coffee beans! The Turks found this simply incredible. Soon, the Turks improved upon the Arabic coffee-making method, changing the lightly roasted/unroasted beans to darker roasted ones, and replacing the Dallah pot with a long-handled copper pot called Cezve. Only the brewing method remained unchanged—still adding water, coffee, and slow-cooking over charcoal fire. The coffee improved by the Turks became immensely popular and naturally was renamed "Turkish coffee." With the empire's expansion, this delicious coffee-making method quickly spread! Near and far, throughout the empire and even to European countries, Turkish coffee could be found on every street corner.

However, not many people understood the evolutionary history of Turkish coffee, so people named the local coffee-making method after their region: Greek coffee and Armenian coffee are typical examples. But as time passed, they also developed their own unique coffee cultural styles, though essentially, they share the same roots as Turkish coffee.

Cezve: The Turkish Coffee Pot

That's right! The Cezve long-handled copper pot mentioned by FrontStreet Coffee above is the "magical" copper pot we can see on various media platforms, continuously bubbling coffee liquid.

This pot is typically made of brass and entirely handcrafted. Its most distinctive feature is the long handle connected to a container with a spout. The thickness of the pot body varies according to its heating method—pots for sand heating are thinner, while those for open flame heating are thicker, typically ranging around 1-1.5mm.

How to Make Turkish Coffee?

The Turkish coffee-making method, like Ethiopian coffee, hasn't changed even in modern times! Simply add water and coffee powder to the pot, then heat it using any method except induction cookers! Similarly, Turkish coffee doesn't require filtering the grounds because the coffee powder used by Turks has been manually ground many times, creating particles even finer than Italian-style flour-like powder! Moreover, much of the powder settles at the bottom before drinking, so you won't consume much coffee powder when drinking directly. Even if you do, it's barely noticeable, so naturally, filtering isn't needed. Furthermore, this powder has another significant use after finishing the coffee!

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Parameters:

5g coffee powder, 60ml (because the pot is small), ground to an unmeasurable powder consistency after espresso grinding and multiple manual grindings. (It's worth mentioning: traditional Turkish coffee doesn't add sugar and spices for flavoring) Pour all the simple ingredients into the pot and wait for the fire to bring it to a boil. When the coffee liquid reaches its boiling point, it will start to foam and bubble, and just as it's about to overflow, we remove it from the heat source.

After cooling down, return it to the heat source again, remove it just before it overflows, and repeat once more, then pour it all into the cup to enjoy the coffee! This action is the most traditional "three-rolls" method. Of course, there's also the method shown in popular online videos, pouring out one-third each time.

Turkish Coffee Fortune Telling

Beyond the endlessly bubbling coffee liquid, the most mystical aspect of Turkish coffee is undoubtedly the fortune telling! After we finish drinking the coffee, we can cover the cup with its saucer, then flip the entire cup and saucer upside down and wait for some time.

After waiting for a short while, the coffee powder has almost solidified inside the cup. At this point, we can turn the coffee cup right side up. Then the fortune teller will interpret fortune based on the distribution pattern of the coffee grounds: letters, animals, moons, and sun shapes are regular participants in this fortune telling~ By the way, FrontStreet Coffee doesn't understand what they represent, so naturally, we won't provide misinformation~~

Although traditional Turkish coffee doesn't add condiments for flavoring, interestingly, in Turkish marriage customs, spiced Turkish coffee is used to judge character.

For example, a man preparing to propose to a woman's family needs to drink a cup of Turkish coffee with various condiments. If he doesn't show difficulty or wear a pained expression, it indicates that this gentleman is patient, can endure hardship, and has a cheerful personality! Just like FrontStreet Coffee~~~

- END -

FrontStreet Coffee

No. 10 Bao'an Qianjie, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473