The Turkish ibrik is less commonly used for making coffee than the previously discussed drip, Chemex, and French press methods. And that's a shame, because Turkish coffee is a rich and intense pleasure for coffee-drinkers. It all starts with a beautiful copper pot...
The one pictured at the top of the page is very traditional. The brass ibrik immediately above and to the right is also very traditional; the narrow neck at the top is key to making good Turkish coffee. You will also see more modern pots like the copper versions pictured directly above. They're sometimes marketed as milk warmers, and we love their shape for all sorts of kitchen uses.
Their original use, however, is one of the oldest methods of making coffee. These little pots were used in the hot desert sands in Arab and Turkish cultures where they have been making coffee for hundreds of years, long before it became popular in the West.
The process is relatively simple. Water (and sometimes sugar too) are boiled in the small pot. Very finely ground coffee is added. As the water slowly simmers the coffee foams up on top, inside the ibrik's narrow neck. The foam is stirred in and reheated until it comes up again. This is repeated several times. Then the pot is removed from the heat and the coffee grounds settle. It usually takes at least seven minutes to brew; this is a slow, deliberate method of making coffee.
The resulting coffee is thick and intense, with even more sediment and "chewiness" than a cup of French press coffee. It is usually drunk in small amounts - demitasse or espresso cups are the favored way to serve it.
Turkish coffee is often sweetened and spiced, too - sugar and ground cardamom or cinnamon are added to the pot with the coffee.
You can see very complete pictorial instructions for making Turkish coffee with an ibrik at Coffee Geek.
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
I only have had Turkish/Greek coffee in Greece. My friend's Aunt makes it for me and then reads my fortune in the grounds. It's thick, rich, and delicious. The fortune at the end is always fun as well!!
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I grew up on this stuff - my parents are Greek and Armenian and both raised in Turkey - and can't say I'm much of a fan.
I called it mud and used to drink it when I was 10 out of the saucer rather than the cup, so as to avoid the sediment at the bottom...
But you're right - the fortune reading was always the highlight!
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I have a story about fortunes being read after drinking Turkish coffee. It goes something like this.
Naive young woman meets and falls in love with a man of European descent.
He tall, dark, handsome etc., etc.
She meets his family. The reception is luke warm, but naive young woman believes they will come to love her in time.
The holidays arrive.
Naive young woman is shocked to receive a gift from her future mother in law. It's a copper pot for making Turkish coffee. Young woman is thrilled!
Until ....
Future mother in law offers to make coffee with the new pot after dinner, and proceeds to tell naive girl her fortune.
Basically, she told me I would NEVER marry her son!
I went out and bought a French press on Boxing Day of that year and never looked back!
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I love Turkish coffee! Whenever I smell it I'm instantly transported back home, seeing my dad drink his post-afternoon-nap cup of ahwa turki. Sigh..
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HWTM:
Love, love, lurv that story!!!
Is there any truth to it?
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SB - It's the absolute truth!
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every morning, for past hm...20-something years, i wake up to my ritual of making a real cup of coffee in my old copper pot. that habit formed and defined my mornings forever. i drink only one cup of coffee a day and that cup is slowly brewed, intense and aromatic turkish version. i time it so it's ready by my make up table, 10 minutes before i jolt out the door. that routine is only interrupted when i have house guests, then i get out my conventional coffee-maker stored in the cabinet.
i passed that habit to couple of my exes. it a beautiful thing...
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Once, a Bosnian friend served me that coffee in these tiny cups. I drank it, it was interesting, and then finished it off, which included all sorts of sediment at the bottom. He laughed, I choked!
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In Communist Prague, you could order only 2 kinds of coffee, Turkish, and Viennese. Most people made Turkish at home, although I don't think anyone had the copper pots. In 1990, after the communists but before all the western expats, I made the mistake of ordering a cappucino -- worst one in my life. But back to the Turkish coffee; the coffee came ground very, very fine, almost like a powder, so that if you got some sediment at the bottom of your cup, it wasn't too unpleasant. Haven't seen any Turkish coffee there in many, many years (and now you can get lattés and cappucinos everywhere...).
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