In 2013, UNESCO added Turkish coffee culture to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This wasn't recognition of a beverage — it was recognition of a social practice, a way of gathering, a form of hospitality that has persisted for five centuries.
The Method
Turkish coffee is made in a cezve (sometimes called an ibrik in the West) — a small, long-handled copper or brass pot with a wide base and narrow neck. Finely ground coffee (much finer than espresso) is combined with cold water and sugar (if desired) in the cezve, then heated very slowly over low heat until it begins to foam and rise. It's removed from heat just before it boils, rested briefly, then heated once more. The resulting coffee is poured — grounds and all — directly into the cup.
The grounds settle to the bottom of the cup over a few minutes. You drink the top portion slowly, leaving the thick sediment. Then, traditionally, you invert the cup onto the saucer, let it cool, and read your fortune in the patterns the grounds make on the inside of the cup.
The Role of Hospitality
In Turkish culture, offering coffee to a guest is an act of hospitality that carries social weight. There's a proverb: "A cup of coffee commits one to forty years of friendship." Refusing coffee offered by a host is considered impolite. The coffee itself — whether served sweetened or not (you're asked before it's made) — is secondary to the act of offering it.
Turkish coffee is also part of engagement ceremonies. Traditionally, the prospective bride prepares coffee for her potential in-laws. If she salts the groom's coffee instead of sweetening it, it's said to test his character — a man who drinks without complaint is considered good-natured.
Coffeehouses Through History
The world's first coffeehouses — the qahveh khaneh — appeared in Istanbul in the 16th century. They became extraordinary social institutions: places where men gathered to talk politics, play chess, listen to music, and debate. The Ottoman authorities periodically tried to ban them, fearing the political discourse they facilitated. They always reopened.
The coffeehouse tradition spread from Istanbul to Vienna to London to Paris, where it became the café, the coffeehouse, the koffiehaus. Every coffeehouse in the world traces its lineage, however distantly, to those 16th-century Istanbul establishments.