Turkish coffee is made by a method rather than from a particular bean: coffee ground as fine as flour is stirred into cold water, with sugar if wanted, in a small long handled pot called a cezve, then heated slowly until a thick foam rises. It is poured, grounds and all, into small cups and allowed to settle before sipping. Coffeehouses spread through Istanbul in the sixteenth century, and Turkish coffee culture and tradition is now inscribed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. A Turkish proverb holds that a single cup of coffee is remembered for forty years, which is a long return on four minutes of work.

The sugar is decided before brewing, never after: sade is plain, orta medium, şekerli sweet. It arrives with a glass of water and often a piece of Turkish delight, and after the last sip some people turn the cup over to read fortunes in the grounds.

The coffee

Ingredients

• 2 coffee cups (about 5 oz / 150 ml) cold water
• 2 heaped teaspoons (about 14 g) Turkish coffee, powder fine
• 0 to 4 teaspoons sugar
• 2 pieces of lokum

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