9 facts about Turkish coffee...

1- Dating back to the 15th century, 
Turkish coffee is more than a cup of beverage for the Turks. 
It is a symbol of friendship, a tool for fortune telling and an excuse 
for chit chatting.

A cup of coffee is remembered for forty years, an old Turkish apothegm says. Click though for 9 interesting facts about Turkish coffee that you probably 
don’t know, compiled by İnci Hazal Özcan

2- Turkish coffee is not actually Turkish: 
It was first discovered in the Kaffa region of Ethiopia and then spread 
to Yemen in the 15th century. From Yemen, the coffee reached Istanbul 
and then expanded to Europe. Intrinsically, it is safe to say that Europeans learnt about coffee from the Ottomans. Moreover, the first coffee shop 
to be recorded in world history was opened in the Tahtakale neighborhood 
of Istanbul.

3- Foam is the game changer: 
Culturally, Turkish coffee without foam is not welcomed; it is highly desired when drinking a cup of coffee for quality reasons. Actually, it is quite possible that you hear someone demanding a nice, rich layer of foam when ordering Turkish coffee. Yet, more importantly, it helps the coffee stay warm for 
a long time.

4- It is the only coffee that is served with its grounds: 
The grounds left in the little Turkish coffee cup is majorly used for fortune telling. When the coffee is consumed, the cup is covered with its saucer. 
Then, one makes a wish and turns the cup over, making the thick layer of grounds form shapes. After the cup is cooled, the shapes are interpreted. 
In Turkey, there are actually smart phone applications in which you 
can send the photo of the ground residuals and real fortune tellers interpret it.


5- Served with Turkish delight – “lokum”: 
Another old tradition to politely know if the guest is satisfied is to serve 
the coffee with lokum. 
If the guest is satisfied with the host, he eats the lokum. 
Although this tradition has faded, Turkish coffee nowadays can also be 
served with treats other than lokum, like chocolate.

6- How it is made: To make Turkish coffee, 
you need finely grounded coffee beans, cold water, 
sugar –amount of which is upon preference – and a special coffee 
pot called “cezve.” Cezve is a small long-handled pot, generally made 
from brass or copper, specifically used to make Turkish coffee. 
The coffee is cooked slowly to generate an ample amount of foam. 
This cooking and brewing method was found in the Ottoman period, 
making the coffee exclusive to these lands.

7- It is protected by UNESCO: 
With its unique brewing and cooking techniques, the traditional 
Turkish coffee was inscribed to UNESCO’s Representative List 
of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013.

8- It is a great antioxidant: 
Turkish coffee has many health benefits. 
It balances the level of cholesterol in the blood, reduces the risk 
of cancer and acts as a painkiller for headaches.

9- Salty coffee for the groom: 
The coffee is at the heart of another Turkish tradition, when a groom-to-be, 
who comes with his family, asks a woman’s father for her hand in marriage, during which he is served salty Turkish coffee. 
But over the years, with arranged marriages dropping in numbers, the 
tradition has changed, and now it is a must for the groom to drink salty 
coffee during the ceremony.
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