A European’s morning begins with a cup of Americano or a sip of espresso. But in the country that gave Europe the noble drink, only coffee brewed in a cezve on sand is still considered real.
More and more mental work, less and less sleep, more and more stress, less and less rest… If you want to get into the rhythm of a big city, use doping. Coffee copes with this role perfectly. But in Istanbul, a multi-million metropolis between Europe and Asia, residents are in no hurry to switch to time-saving “machine” coffee, a modern European version of an old Eastern drink. Loyalty to tradition does not allow it, as well as ideas about life. After all, unlike espresso and Americano, Turkish coffee is drunk not to catch up with the quick running time but to stop it.
Coffee Character
A typical Istanbul scene. Local men of a respectable age, sitting in plastic chairs at a kahvehane (cafe) and looking at passersby, slowly sip coffee. It is customary to order it only once, poured into a small cup with an oriental pattern: drinking two portions in a row is considered indecent.
Turkish coffee is consumed either after a meal or separately from everything else. Nothing should interfere with enjoying the aftertaste, including the water that is brought with the cup. By mistake, tourists leave it for last to… get rid of the bitter aftertaste. If a Turk had done the same in their place, his actions would have been considered offensive because only tasteless coffee makes you want to wash it down with water as soon as possible. Turks drink it first: it neutralizes the taste of the food eaten earlier, and now nothing prevents you from immersing yourself in the rich and full taste of coffee.
No business meeting here is complete without coffee. Moreover, in Turkish offices, more often than in European coffee machines, there are cezves. True, for the sake of time, electric ones. Depending on what the interlocutor chooses, how serious the conversation is planned is determined. Light conversation is accompanied by water or tea, but coffee precedes important negotiations.
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Struggle of Empires
Coffee, which is considered to have originated in the Ethiopian region of Kaffa, came to Turkey via the Arabian Peninsula in the 16th century after the Ottoman conquest of Yemen. According to legend, the Ottoman governor of Yemen, Ozdemir Pasha, came to Istanbul to pay his respects to Sultan Suleiman I with a gift – a bag of amazing mocha beans named after the port city of his country.
The locals liked the bitter, invigorating drink so much that the first establishments began to open in the city, which became the prototypes of modern cafes. In the halls decorated with carpets and pillows, visitors leisurely tasted coffee and had casual social conversations.
This drink conquered all strata of the population of Istanbul at that time: it was drunk by the poor and the rich, the pashas, and their subjects. Wealthy Turks hired a special person who brewed a drink for them, “black as the devil and hot as fire.” And the strongest one, capable of driving away sleep, was prepared before the morning prayer at the mosques.
Until the mid-17th century, coffee remained a bitter overseas “soup” for Europe, a drink as hostile as the Ottoman Empire itself, which was single-mindedly pursuing a plan to conquer the continent. After their defeat in the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Ottomans abandoned their attempts to enslave Europe. As they fled, they forgot 500 sacks of coffee on enemy fields.
Language and Ritual
Europeans have never learned how to drink coffee properly, according to the Turks. And today, they have to resist the expansion of the European instant drink, into which, ironically, the subject of Turkish national pride has transformed. The peculiarities of the coffee ritual are passed down from generation to generation. In a traditional family, the drink should be brewed by the youngest daughter. In her absence, this right is granted to any other representative of the fair sex. Depending on the number of guests, the woman chooses a suitable cezve: small, medium or large. After all, coffee brewed, for example, for two in a large vessel, will lose its aroma and taste.
The cezve should be copper – it cools more slowly, which means the coffee will be richer. Previously, the drink was brewed by placing the Turk in a tray with sand heated on coals. With the advent of gas and electric stoves, the ritual was simplified but not forgotten – in many coffee shops and traditional families, coffee in sand continues to be made.
— After the liquid has been brought to a boil three times, we pour it in small portions into each of the cups until the contents of the Turk are finished, — teaches Cem Turk. — If there is no signature foam in the cup, some guests may be offended or joke: like, you brought bad coffee, which means you don’t love me. They treat coffee in order of seniority, starting with the oldest guest.
You can take fortune-telling seriously or jokingly, but the Turks observe the ritual. The cup with the remaining grounds is covered with a saucer, spun three times, and turned upside down. Women put a ring on top, and men put a coin. The Turks believe that metal cools the sediment faster. After lifting the cup, they carefully examine the picture formed on the bottom.
Coffee in modern Turkey, as it was three centuries ago, is everywhere and in everything. Even the state language is evidence of this. The brown color is named after everyone’s favorite drink: kahverengi literally means “coffee color” in Turkish. Breakfast (kahvalti) literally translates as “before coffee.” And the word “coffee” itself comes from the Turkish kahve, an improved version of the Arabic qahwah (an abbreviation of qahwat al-bun, which literally means “wine from beans”). It is no secret that coffee bushes are not grown in Turkey. But this does not stop the Turks from teaching the whole world how to drink proper coffee.
