So, confession time. I’m not much of a coffee drinker. I know, I know – according to the internet, I’m not much of an entrepreneur either without that hobby/addiction/routine. However, when I was in Istanbul last summer, I tasted my first Turkish coffee + it may have changed my life. Turkish coffee is sweet, not bitter at all, + so smooth – quite a difference from most of the coffee I’ve tasted in the United States. Once I’d had my first sip, I knew my souvenir from the trip was going to be a way to make this deliciousness at home.
When making Turkish coffee, you need very fine grounds – it should be almost like powdered sugar consistency.
Use your cup to measure how much water you’ll need into the coffee pot. The cups are small, almost like espresso cups + the traditional Turkish coffee pot is made of copper or brass, with a long handle.
Once you have your water measured, add the coffee + sugar. Use one scoop of sugar for medium sweetness or two for extra sweet – you can also skip adding sugar but really, WHY would you skip adding sugar?!
It’s important not to stir the coffee when you first add it to the water; instead, let it heat up on the stove + stir once gently after it has dissolved. You want the coffee to foam so don’t actually let the water come to a boil, just heat it slowly to allow it to froth.
Once the coffee is warm + has built up enough froth (just take it off the heat for a bit if it starts to rise before the foam has really accumulated), it’s ready + you can pour it into your cup. Turkish tea is usually served with a small glass of water as well. Let the coffee settle in the cup – since it will still have all the grounds, you need them to sink to the bottom of the cup before you can drink it. Then enjoy!
Once you’ve finished your delicious Turkish coffee, you can have your fortune read in the grounds. Leave a little bit of liquid in with the grounds (don’t drink it down to the bottom, otherwise you’ll get coffee grounds in your mouth!), make a wish, and then put your saucer over the top of the cup + flip it over. Move the cup in clockwise circles 3 times to coat the inside of the cup with the grounds + then place on the table to cool. You can’t read the fortune until your cup has completely cooled, so sometimes a ring or a coin is placed on the top of the cup to accelerate the process.
Once the cup has cooled to the touch, flip the cup back over + look for shapes in the grounds on the sides of your cup. The different shapes give you clues about your future; for example, a fish means money is coming, birds indicate news, roads are taking you on a journey and so on. Just have fun with it!
One of my favorite things to do is find shapes in the clouds when I’m outside on a sunny day + this is basically the same game but on a smaller scale. There’s a whole culture involved in fortune reading through Turkish coffee grounds, including a phone app where you can upload a photo of your cup + have your fortune read, but overall it’s fun to just look for symbols + use your intuition to weave together a story.
Have you ever tried Turkish coffee? If you do, let me know what you think!
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