Guest Post: Turkish Coffee

Hi everyone...as you can see by the title this is not your favorite Kelsey anymore but a friend of hers who asked if she might add to the general spirit of this blog by contributing a guest post. I won't be nearly as whimsical and creative as her (and let's face it, who is?) but I hope this might at least somewhat compliment all the amazing things she has going on here!

To begin with, let's clarify: I am no authority on Turkish coffee. In fact, I should probably apologize in advance for posting this in case someone who is a professional Turkish coffee brewer reads this blog and finds my methods offensive or in any way distasteful. I am no connoisseur. But I do think it has a valid enough social meaning to many people and cultures to be on this blog!

My parents are Serbian, and as far as Serbians are concerned, Americans don't know what coffee is. The stuff they sell at big-name coffee shops? It's just dirty water to begin with. Then we go ahead and add milk, cream, and sugar to it? Crazy Americans! [Note: The author of this post worked in a coffee shop herself as a barista and means no disrespect to coffee fanatics whatsoever.] Long story short, to Serbians - this is coffee: the dark, rich, frothy coffee that has all the grounds boiled right in, and collecting at the bottom of the cup.

And the thing about coffee with Serbians is, they drink it all the time. Not like Americans though. If you step into anyone's house in Serbia (which happens all the time, as people pop up totally uninvited as a way of life), there is immediately an ibrik* on the stovetop anticipating your Turkish-coffee-drinking, and some fancy dessert is pulled from behind a magic curtain. You are here to stay, at least for a while, and chat with your host about your house, your family, the weather, those crazy teenagers, and the crick in your neck that you just can't seem to get rid of. My point is, Serbians don't buy coffee on the go, they don't drink coffee in their cars, and they certainly wouldn't dream of having a cup by themselves. Turkish coffee is all about the experience of sitting down and socializing. And, luckily, it tastes wonderfully.


Some tips:

1) I learned this from my dad: Don't sweeten your coffee. Instead, eat something very small and very sweet like these walnut bars with a hint of lime with it. That way, you can alternate between the bitter (but tasty) coffee and sweeten your pallet with a fun dessert.

2) For a rowdy good time, try fortune telling after you've sipped all your coffee! It sounds ridiculous but this is the most fun part, in my opinion (and goes precisely with the theme of socializing). I have no idea how you are actually supposed to tell fortunes with your coffee grounds, but basically what I've been doing with friends is just drinking all the coffee, swirling around what's left of the coffee and grounds for a little bit to mix it well, and flipping the cup upside down onto the saucer. There, you let it dry for a few minutes and when you pick the cup back up, pretend you're looking at a cloudy sky and try to see some images in them and tell a story. When my mom was teaching me how to make this, we found we could see a llama, a koala, a road leading somewhere, a man, and something medical (I forget what). We concluded based on the placement that the llama indicated my past (study abroad in Chile), and the koala was on my 'road to the future' (clearly I'm going to Australia). And there is a man there I am going to meet, for whatever reason (I'm not one to dream of romance or weddings all that much) who will either be a doctor or will need me to help him somehow. Anyway, it's fun!

Turkish Coffee
~the only way I know how~
____________________

Items needed:
1 ibrik
Turkish coffee sized cups (like tea cups, they are small)
Turkish coffee (not just any coffee)
Sugar

Directions:

1. Measure out water for the ibrik by simply filling one of the turkish coffee cups as many times with water as you have people you are making coffee for.
2. Mix in a little sugar, to taste, to the water. (If your'e just starting, try about 1 tsp sugar per cup of coffee you are making).
3. Boil the sugar-water mixture, remove from heat.
4. Pour ONLY 1 cup's worth of water back into one of the turkish coffee cups.
   
5. Add about 1 tbsp coffee to the ibrik for each cup of coffee you are making. You can add more if you want it stronger. Stir well with a metal spoon.
   
6. Return the ibrik to the flame, BUT BE CAREFUL BECAUSE
7. Allow the coffee mixture to heat up, watching carefully, and to rise in the ibrik as much as you can without letting it overflow. Seriously, the coffee rises quickly so watch this (it's pretty cool) and try and remove it from the flame just before it boils over in the ibrik.
   
8. Pour the previously removed water back into the coffee mixture (my mom says she's guessing this is to help you NOT boil over the coffee mixture, but she's not sure).
9. Stir for a little while - if you've done it right, it should be kind of foamy/frothy near the top. This is the mark of good turkish coffee. =)
   
10. Use a spoon to evenly distribute the frothy part between all of your cups before pouring coffee from the ibrik into each cup.
    
11. Let the coffee settle (you don't want to be drinking the grounds).
12. When it has settled for about a minute, enjoy!