How to Make Turkish Coffee

Start with an Ibrik (Turkish coffee pot) I got mine from Sweet Maria’s, the best coffee site on the Internet, it is a whole education on coffee as well as a great site for equipment as well as beans…even green beans!

I fresh grind, by hand, freshly ground espresso coffee. I use a hand grinder from Sweet Maria’s- a Zazzenhaus.

I use Sumatran Reserve organic, fair trade coffee from Green Mountain Coffee, wonderful full bodied coffee delivered to my door on a schedule I choose.  In my case, 2 pounds every 5 1/2 weeks.

Procedure:
Using a whisk, mix 9 ounces room temperature water with 2 Tablespoons sugar, 4 Tablespoons coffee, and spices (though I seldom use spices in coffee cardamom in traditional in Turkish coffee but cinnamon or chocolate is also awesome), stirred into the Ibrik.

Then place on medium high heat. When foaming starts at the edges of the ibrik, slowly begin reducing the heat. The goal is to keep the coffee foaming, but not to let it rise more than a quarter of its volume. If you turn the gas down too quickly and the foaming stops, just turn it back up. The goal is to foam for 3 additional minutes (5 minutes total time). At 6 minutes total the coffee tastes over extracted, and at 4 it can be thin. The temperature at the end of 5 minutes should be around 167 F.

Traditionally the coffee is pored very slowly into the cups to keep the grounds out as much as possible. I personally do not like them in my coffee, so I use a Hario V60 Porcelain coffee cone with a hemp filter in it to strain the coffee through. If I’m at home I drink my coffee from a double walled stainless steel cup…I am serious about keeping my coffee hot!  If traveling I use the Elements Stoneware and Stainless Steel Mug (no plastic!)

Sugar amount:
0-4% of water mass. I find using half the mass of coffee is just about the maximum to balance the bitterness and really let the acidity shine.

Grinding:
I like the Zassenhaus Turkish mill. Mine is set 3/4 of a turn past French press–the burrs brush lightly when there is no grist.

Warning; You will get totally spoiled by this coffee.  It’s thick buttery flavor is amazing…