Turkish Coffee - Move over Starbucks; Make-way Timmy's

About the coffee!!! Coffee in Turkey is like no other that I have had. It is strong but not bitingly so. It is served very hot and with a glass of cold water. Our first introduction to wonders of Turkish coffee came during a tour to the  Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum. After our tour and free time I met up with the rest of our group and our guide in the courtyard where they were having coffee.

 So basically Turkish coffee is a method of preparation, not a kind of coffee. There is no special type of bean but they are ground to the finest possible powder; finer than for any other way of preparation.

Cold water is put into these little long handled vessel and a few heaping teaspoons of coffee is added and if sweet is desired it is also added at this point - we were always asked - no sugar, little sugar, medium sugar or a lot of sugar. I settled on a little sugar and my understanding of that was about a half a teaspoon.

The coffee and the desired amount of sugar are stirred until all coffee sinks and the sugar is dissolved. Following this, the spoon is removed and the pot is put on moderate heat; if too high, the coffee comes to the boil too quickly, without time to extract the flavour. No stirring is done beyond this point, as it would dissolve the foam. Just as the coffee comes to the boil, the pot is removed from the heat. It is usually kept off the heat for a short time, then brought to boil a second and a third time, then the coffee is poured into the cups.
Getting the thickest possible layer of foam is considered the peak of the coffee maker's art. One way to maximise this is to pour slowly and try to lift the pot higher and higher as the pouring continues. Regardless of these techniques, getting the same amount of foam into all cups is hard to achieve, and the cup with the most foam is considered the best of the lot.

The others that joined us on our first introduction to Turkish coffee were a newly wed couple from Sorrentini, Greece. They were familiar with this method of making coffee as they do the same in Greece. She said slowly cooked, very slowly. Also you are not supposed to drink down to the grounds that are left in the bottom of the cup and it is a very small cup - expresso sized.

And so began my love affair with Turkish coffee - one sip at a time.

One of the discussed musts of this trip was our fortune told. The grounds left after drinking Turkish coffee can be used for fortune-telling. The cup is commonly turned over into the saucer to cool, and then the patterns of the coffee grounds can be used for a method of fortune telling known as kahve falı. One of the Turkish travel books we had recommended the Majestic as the BEST place to have your fortune told - so a tram ride over the Galata Bridge that spans the Golden Horn and asubway ride to Taksim Square we happened upon this place - and it was a happenstance - we were just wandering enjoying the sites looking for a place to eat and ............ there it was - The Majestic - must have been kismet. But once inside we opted to have a tarot cards read - still was fun - coffee/tea/baklava and insight into our future.

We did get a personal lesson from Theresa at the Ikonium Studio and that is another story for sure.