10 Steps to make perfect Turkish Coffee
Merhaba Turkish Coffee lovers...
A simple search on google will offer you a wealth of links on “How to make Turkish coffee”. Everyone from local housewives to World Cezve/Ibrik Champions will proudly show off their unique and cherished methods of making “Türk kahvesi”.
Techniques may vary, but what they will all unite on and synchronically tell you is that making Turkish coffee is an artform. It is famous precisely for the way it is made. The baton of culture handed down through generations of the family line, it is a source of pride for those who can perfect the correct level of froth and elegantly serve the smoothest brew. As such, these intricate details and “secrets” are bestowed only upon the privileged few of the inner circle of coffee knowledge.
...and we are no different. The Turkish Coffee Club also stakes its claim of knowing how to make the best Turkish coffee in the world - and better than the rest, so there...
Now for the serious stuff.
Read on and join us in our passion of making perfect Turkish coffee...
Although it is your personal preference, medium roasted beans are generally considered the best for Turkish coffee. Reason being that your coffee will effectively continue to roast whilst brewing, so it’s advisable not to select too dark a roast.
The Coffea Arabica is the most commonly used bean type for making Turkish coffee, but feel free to experiment with other types and blends as well. As will all types of coffee making - make sure you’re using fresh coffee, or you have a very secure air-tight box for storage. Otherwise, your coffee won’t froth much and will taste very bitter.
The most important thing to remember when preparing Turkish coffee is the grind...
Turkish coffee beans must be ground down to the finest level, something close to 100 microns, or in more common terms, like chocolate powder...like talcum powder...like confectioner’s sugar...like… well you get the picture - we’re talking fine, real fine. If you still need a more common reference, a Turkish grind is at least twice as fine as an espresso grind - maybe its down to all the Turkish belly-dancing, who knows...
Turkish coffee cups come in many different shapes and sizes, so we’re going to keep it simple by using cup and spoon measurements rather than grammage. If you stick strictly to grammage measurements, you will most certainly end up using too much or too little water and coffee, and that won’t do you any favours at all...
So here are your 10 easy steps to making Turkish coffee…
You will need:
1 x Turkish coffee pot
1 x dessert spoon
Sugar - to preference
Finely ground Turkish style coffee
Coffee cup
Select a coffee pot that is large enough for the number of cups you're going to make.
Fill your coffee cup to the top with cold water and pour into your pot. Repeat this for the number of cups of coffee you will make. Be sure to leave about half-a-pinkie-finger’s gap between the waterline and the top of the coffee pot. This is to allow sufficient room for the all-important froth to form.
If you take sugar, add your desired amount into the pot.
Add a heaped spoonful of coffee per cup, into the pot. Don’t stir immediately. Just let the coffee rest on the surface of the water.
Now place your pot onto the hob and turn to medium heat.
After about 30 seconds, the coffee will begin to sink into the water. This means that the water is now warm enough to dissolve the sugar. It is also time to begin stirring the pot. Stir for about 1 minute or until you’re sure that the coffee grounds are sufficiently distributed and slightly dissolved in the water. For novices, this will be achieved over a course of time - a period of trial and error. So don’t give up, persevere on...
Turn the heat to a low setting and after a few more stirs, allow the coffee to settle.
When you begin see small rings of bubbles forming around the edges of the surface, turn down the heat a little more, or move the pot away from the hob.
Take extra care not to let the coffee boil through. You want to build a thick froth on the surface of the coffee, which will begin at around 70oC. If you let the coffee boil, you won’t have any froth. Coffee with no froth is like Cristiano Ronaldo with no hair...
Once froth is formed, remove from the heat, scoop the froth with your spoon and gently place into the base of the cup. If you’re making for more than one person, you can share the froth equally to all the cups. Put the pot back onto the low heat and repeat. Possibly through the psychological effect of the power of threes, it is advised by modern coffee sages to return your pot to the heat and froth-up your coffee a total three times. Each time you should take care to spoon away the froth into your cups and then return the pot to the heat. The more the froth means the better the taste. After the final heat you can pour your coffee evenly into your cups.
Now comes the drinking part; and yes, of course there is a special way of drinking the coffee...
A glass of water should always be served alongside a cup of Turkish coffee.
The tradition behind this is that you should drink half of the glass before the coffee in order to cleanse your pallet. This will also allow you to set aside a minute or so for the fine grinds to settle at the bottom of the cup, leaving you a smooth yet deliciously intense drink. You should sip your coffee slowly, taking care not to disturb the settled grinds.
If you prefer, you can drink the remaining half of the water after the coffee. However, you should never completely finish the water - this means that the coffee was terrible and you are trying to cleanse your mouth from the taste - now you wouldn’t want to offend your host, would you?
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