Coffee is one of the most consumed drinks daily around the world. Some people do it to wake up, others for its health benefits, and you can also drink it for its flavor (when that coffee is specialty). The interesting thing is that there are many ways to prepare and enjoy it, and one of the most exotic is Turkish coffee, or coffee shop. At first glance, it may not look like coffee, but it is. And, furthermore, it has great cultural significance in Türkiye.
So much so that it has been Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2013 due to its important role in connecting generations throughout the centuries.
Sparkling. Although the ingredients to prepare this coffee are the same as anywhere else, water and coffee, but there are two variants: the water must be cold and the coffee must be ground until it resembles flour. Traditionally, it was done directly with a mortar. Something fundamental for the preparation of Turkish coffee is coffee pota small container with a long handle that is traditionally made of copper or brass. In it coffee pot Both cold water and coffee are placed, and that is when it begins to heat over low heat.
With a Turkish delight
This preparation allows the flavors to concentrate and the crucial thing is to control the foam. Also known as kaimakThe thick foam is a unique characteristic of this coffee and is what gives the flavor clue that it is ready. If it is removed from the heat at the right point, that foam remains creamy. If it does not exist, it will be considered a failed coffee. And once ready, it is served directly and unfiltered in small cups, distributing the foam among all of them.
Tradition. Its flavor is very intense and it has a somewhat heavy texture due to the absence of filtering. And something funny is that it would make any purist of this drink angry because it is sweetened with sugar while it is cooked. Neither milk is added nor is it diluted with water, but more important than all this is the cultural relevance that this drink has.
To start: the coffee shop It is a symbol of hospitality. It is common for guests to be greeted with a cup of this coffee and some Turkish delight. It is a gesture of friendship, but also respect and has its own saying: “a cup of coffee brings forty years of gratitude.” Something similar to what happens in other parts of the world is that it is a social drink to talk, dialogue or enjoy board games. That classic “let’s have a coffee and I’ll tell you”, wow.
El Cezve
Test before the wedding. But apart from the social value, Turkish coffee is essential in two other areas of life in many regions of Türkiye. An example is the role it plays in traditional weddings. When the groom’s family visits the bride’s family to propose, the future wife prepares coffee for those present. And there is a little twist to the story: the bride adds salt only to the groom’s coffee.
If he drinks it without complaining, it means that he has patience, so he will be prepared for the difficult moments in the relationship. And beyond that, that meeting over coffee represents the beginning of a new stage in the lives of both those directly involved and their family.
Reading the dregs. Another example is its importance in rituals in some regions of the country. As you can imagine, this coffee has grounds (quite a lot, I have to add), so when someone finishes the drink, they place the cup on the saucer (a saucer that in Europe we used very differently a few years ago) and, when the As the dregs cooled, they tried to guess the future by interpreting the resulting shapes.
As you see, Turkish coffee is much more than a simple drink. And the reason why it was named Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is not because of the entire production process and its cultural importance (that too), but because it is a way of protecting something that, with globalization and the arrival of so many other ways of preparing coffee such as instant coffees, could be lost forever. If you haven’t tried it, it’s not bad to have another experience, but I have to say that it is not one of my favorite preparations.
Maybe they put salt on me, who knows.
Images | Alet123, Tema, Maderibeyza
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