Turkish Coffee
How to make Turkish coffee at home
If you enjoy espresso, you may also like Turkish coffee. The art of Turkish coffee brewing is the perfect way to celebrate your time together and make every shared moment unforgettable. Here we prepared for you a guide to making Turkish coffee at home, tips, how to make a great tasting one and answer some questions about common issues with Turkish coffee.
The traditional way of brewing of Turkish coffee has a theatrical, celebratory look. If you make it in a traditional cezve pot and use Turkish coffee cups set for serving, you can create a truly magical coffee experience at home. Apart from that, it’s also one of the most delicious ways of making coffee. It’s also inexpensive and you can brew your Turkish coffee pretty much anywhere where you have access to a stove.
What is Turkish coffee?
Turkish coffee is an old, simple method of brewing coffee. It’s a traditional way Turks prepare their coffee at home. It uses an unfiltered immersion brewing method, where coffee grounds are simply soaked in hot water on the stove.
What does Turkish coffee taste like?
Turkish coffee has an intense, full-bodied taste, it’s rich and potent. It’s also thicker and stronger than regular coffee. Very often sugar and spices are added to it, so you can come across various flavors of this type of brew.
While we show some very specific Turkish coffee instructions here, everyone has their own style of making it. We encourage you to experiment and make adjustments according to your preferences.
How to make the best Turkish coffee at home
Turkish coffee equipment
Here is what you will need to brew your Turkish coffee at home:
- Metal pot
Ideally you should use an ibrik or Cezve, which is a type of pot traditionally used in Turkey. The shape of the pot matters, it should have a broader bottom part, however if you don’t have such a pot, you can use any metal pot. - Stove
- Coffee
- Water in room temperature
- Spoon
- Serving cups
- Sugar (optional)
Turkish coffee recipe
- Grind your coffee ultra fine
It should look like powder or flour – this is critical if you want to make a good cup of Turkish coffee. If your coffee is too coarse, it won’t foam well and the larger coffee bits will float on the surface in the cup spoiling the experience. - Fill the ibrik with water
You need the amount of water equal to the number of cups you want to serve, e.g. for 2 people use 2 cups of water.
Use water at room temperature. - Add ground coffee and stir
Add your finely ground coffee to the pot and stir it to make sure that all the grinds are wet.
Stirring increases the extraction, so stir just a few times to avoid over extraction.
Use 1 heaped teaspoon of coffee per person. You can add more or less coffee depending on your preference. - Add sugar (optional)
If you decide to add sugar, this is the time to do it. Don’t stir the sugar, let it sink to the bottom. Thanks to this, the sugar will caramelize while it heats up and add a delightful caramel flavor to your coffee.
Use 1 teaspoon per person if you want to get a very sweet coffee. - Place the pot on the stove
Brew your coffee on a medium heat.
The brewing will take 7 – 10 minutes. - Leave it alone!
Now, this is the most difficult part… don’t stir the coffee. You should never stir Turkish coffee while it’s on the stove, just leave it alone. - Scoop the foam
After about 2 minutes a foam will begin to form on the surface. Scoop the foam with a spoon and transfer it to the serving cups. If the foam appears again, repeat the process. Remember not to agitate the coffee while doing it! - Remove the ibrik from the stove before it begins to boil
When a white foam begins to form, it’s a sign that the water is about to boil. It’s time to finish the extraction and take the coffee out of the heat very quickly, before it starts boiling.
If it starts boiling, your coffee will be over extracted and will taste bitter.
The maximum brewing temperature should be 92 – 94 ℃. - Pour coffee to the cups
Do it slowly and gently not to destroy the foam in the cup. - Don’t stir the coffee in the cup
Wait for the coffee grinds to fall down to the bottom and settle. And again, you don’t want to break the foam on top. - Serve it with a glass of water and something sweet
While serving Turkish coffee you have a fantastic opportunity to create a unique coffee experience. It goes extremely well with Turkish delight or other indulgent sweet desserts.
Here is a video showing how to brew the Turkish way:
The above are basic Turkish coffee preparation instructions, but you can get creative and experiment with different variations. Here are some ideas.
Turkish coffee ideas
You can add to your Turkish coffee:
- Cardamom or other species
- Milk
- Cream and 70% chocolate
There are more options, this is just to inspire you to get creative!
Common mistakes in making Turkish coffee
Here is what people often do wrong when brewing Turkish coffee:
- Too coarse grind
Because of a too coarse grind, big pieces of coffee will float on the surface in the cup and the coffee won’t foam well. - Stirring during the brewing
Mixing the coffee increases extraction and doing this you will get a bitter cup. - Bringing coffee to the boil
Again, this is the reason why your Turkish coffee can be over extracted and taste bitter.
Tips to make the best Turkish coffee and troubleshooting
Turkish coffee not foaming and how to get a nice foam
Why is my Turkish coffee not foaming?
The possible reasons for Turkish coffee not foaming are:
- too coarse grind
- the coffee isn’t fresh
- water was brought to a boil
- coffee to water ratio is too low
- mixing the brew while on the stove
How to get a good foam on Turkish coffee?
To get a nice foam on Turkish coffee:
- use freshly ground coffee
- grind it to the finest possible grind (it should look like flour)
- try using more coffee
- You can also try removing the pot from the heat once it begins to foam and put it back on the heat, but doing this you risk over extracting the coffee, which may make it taste bitter.
And we cannot emphasize enough this one: never mix Turkish coffee while it’s on the stove. We recommend changing one variable at a time, this way you will find one which one works!
Why is Turkish coffee so bitter?
Turkish coffee may be bitter when it’s over extracted (overcooked), it’s easy to over extract Turkish coffee. It should be brought to boil and you need to remove the pot from the heat at the right time, just before the water begins to boil.
Turkish coffee and bean density
As we mentioned before, it’s very easy to over extract the coffee when brewing with the Turkish method. As bean density has an influence on how much you extract during the brewing, here is a tip on the bean density for your perfect cup of Turkish coffee.
Tip: use dense coffee for Turkish brew
Dense coffee resists brewing, so it’s not so prone to over extraction. Coffee grown at higher altitudes is denser, so this is the one you want to use for your Turkish brew.
Also lighter to medium roasts are denser. Darker roasts will promote over extraction.
Which coffee is the best for Turkish brew?
Denser coffee grown at higher altitudes and light to medium roasts will work best for Turkish brew.
And finally we answer the frequently asked question about the strength of Turkish brew.
Is Turkish coffee strong?
Yes, Turkish coffee is very strong, it’s stronger and thicker than regular coffee. It’s very strong because of the super fine grind of the beans, which allows maximum extraction.
Final note
Turkish brew is probably the way people originally started making coffee and how the love of coffee has begun. This coffee brewing method gives you a potent, rich cup as well as a lovely brewing and drinking experience. It’s also an eco-friendly method, as you don’t produce any waste from filters and it uses a relatively small amount of energy.
Turkish coffee may have an opinion of a bitter tasting coffee, that’s because it’s very easy to over extract. But if prepared the right way, it can be one of the most delightful brews you can have.
Have you fallen in love with Turkish coffee? What do you like about it? Share in the comments!
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