How to brew Turkish coffee in the sand at home

European mornings start with a cup of Americano or a sip of espresso. But in a country where coffee culture originated in hoary antiquity, only Turkish coffee brewed in a cezve on the sand is still considered real.

In my short career as a barista, my favorite thing to do is to brew Turkish coffee in the sand. It was a real ritual for me. Next to the thoroughbred Italian coffee machine, there was always a heated brazier with sand, which sometimes saved us in the winter cold. A small cezve, a good portion of freshly ground coffee, a couple of grains of salt are a must for knowledgeable guests. But most of all, the process itself fascinated, when you buried the Turk in the sand in a circular motion, and your hand was doused with pleasant warmth.

I never liked coffee – I prefer tea. But the job of a barista required him to love, and I did it with full dedication. In the morning, preparing the bar, be sure to have a shot of espresso to wake up and get ready for the working day. But he preferred to savor coffee brewed in a Turk. This drink with milk was especially impressive. As it turned out, you can cook at home just as well. Even on gas, the main thing is that the fire barely burns. As my friend once said: “The samovar is a teapot for the rich…”. His samovar boiled for 20-30 minutes – an unaffordable luxury for a bustling city. Time is money. Proper Turkish coffee is also a drink of the rich.

Turkish coffee secrets

Unlike the Western tradition, where coffee in the form of espresso or Americano is drunk in order to catch up with the fast-paced city life, in Istanbul – a metropolis of many millions – and in other Turkish cities, coffee is drunk in order to stop this fuss. A familiar Turkish picture: local men of respectable age sit at the kahvehane (cafe) on ordinary plastic chairs and slowly sip a fragrant drink from small cups. It is customary to drink it, coffee, only one small cup at a time – ordering a second one is considered bad manners.

What does a Turk need to make coffee?

• brazier with sand
• manual coffee grinder made of brass or copper
• Arabica coffee beans
• spring clean water
• cezva, she is a Turk
• sugar, salt, spices

The brazier at home can be safely replaced with a deep cast-iron frying pan, which must be filled with quartz sand. But if you are going to drink coffee in an oriental way all the time, then it makes sense to think about buying a special roaster. Sand in this case plays a very important role – it allows the Turk to heat up evenly and slowly, which has a very positive effect on the taste and aroma of the drink. Coffee on the sand is richer and more aromatic. Of course, in the absence of a brazier, you can cook on a conventional gas stove, on a very small fire.

Ground coffee loses most of its flavor and aroma in 1-3 minutes. After an hour, it is no longer worth brewing.

An automatic coffee grinder overheats the coffee, and it loses a lot of taste. But it is better to have it than to buy already ground coffee – after grinding, it loses its flavor and aroma in just minutes. Traditional cezves are made of copper – it has the highest thermal conductivity (of the “available” metals, it, copper, is second only to silver in thermal conductivity) and the water will heat up evenly. We wrote a separate article about the choice of Turks, which you can find here. The main thing is that it should not be large, ideally for one serving, that is, no more than 100 ml.

Step by step to perfection

First you need to heat up the brazier. Coffee needs to be ground into dust – the finer the grind, the richer the drink will be. It is considered bad form to cook at once for two or three servings in a large cezve, so water should be poured into the Turk for one serving. Traditionally, this is 60 ml, but if there is more Turk, then water must be poured to the narrowest point of the neck. Be sure to leave room for the foam to rise. It is also not worth pouring less – all the aroma will go away. Now it’s time to add the main ingredient. How many spoons of coffee to put in a cezve? In Turkey, they add 6-7 grams (a heaping teaspoon) per serving – 50-60 ml of water.

Then it’s time to add salt, sugar and spices to taste. Salt is a natural flavor enhancer, a couple of grains is enough. Turks mostly drink coffee without sugar (sade). It is generally accepted that strong coffee (without sugar) is drunk by people with a strong character. Sweet coffee is called “orta”, and very sweet coffee is called “sekerli”. Suitable spices: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, etc.

One spoon of sugar is “orto”, for “sekerli” you need two.

After adding all the accompanying ingredients, the contents of the Turks must be mixed well. Put the cezve on the fire or bury a little in the sand in a circular motion. When the mixture is heated for the first time, a light brown foam forms on its surface – köpük (kopyuk). This foam acts as a natural lid, holding the essential oils in place. It is very important that the coffee does not boil until the resulting thick layer begins to rise from above. It must be carefully collected with a spoon and transferred to a cup (or cups, if several servings are being prepared).

After this procedure, without stirring, coffee should be brewed for another 20-30 seconds, bringing to a boil 2-3 times, but not allowed to boil for a long time. It is very easy to do this. As soon as the coffee boils, and this is accompanied by a rise in foam, the cezve must be raised above the roaster or stove, wait 3-4 seconds for the foam to drop a little. Repeat the procedure. The more times the drink boils in this way, the stronger and richer it will be, but the main thing here is not to overdo it and not burn the thick. Three boils just right. Well-brewed Turkish coffee is homogeneous, viscous and very fragrant. Now you can slowly pour it into a cup.

Euro-east coffee ceremony

Coffee is the drink of real men, brewed by real women. So it was a couple of centuries ago, so it is in Turkey now. In traditional families, the youngest daughter should brew coffee, and if there is none, then any other representative of the weaker sex is allowed to go to the cezve. If the drink is made into several servings, then after the third boiling it is poured into cups in small portions in a circle until the content of the cezve is over. Traditionally, the first cup is given to the oldest guest – by seniority.

In Turkey, and throughout the world, a cup of coffee is always accompanied by a glass of water. Many tourists mistakenly believe that water is needed in order to beat the bitterness of the drink. Water should be drunk before to clear the mouth of the taste of previously eaten food and fully enjoy the rich taste of coffee. They drink only not tasty coffee, and this can offend the owner.

If fate takes you to Istanbul, then be sure to tell fortunes on the coffee grounds. For 20-30 lira, a specially trained person – falji will help to decipher the intricacies of the coffee pattern. In most cases, this person is a bartender, but sometimes a specialist sits in the corner of a coffee shop and reads a book. The existence of this person is screamed by the corresponding inscriptions on the menu – fal (“fortune-telling”), as well as advertising posters on the walls of coffee houses. There are a dime a dozen such masters, so you will find it without problems.

Remarkably, coffee is not grown in Turkey. But this does not prevent complaisant Turks from teaching the whole world to drink this drink correctly. And only a rare traveler, once in Asia Minor, will deny himself the pleasure of giving up the coffee machine and forgetting about this very time for a while. Sit in a kahvehan, order a cup of amazingly fragrant and delicious Turkish coffee, which is sure to be served in a cute little cup with an intricate pattern and a glass of spring water.

A drink born from copper, sand and flame…