Turkish coffee — tasting notes & food pairings

Turkish coffee

Turkish coffee is a method of preparing coffee in which very finely ground beans, almost to a powder, are simmered with water (and often sugar) in a small long-handled pot called a cezve or ibrik and served unfiltered, grounds and all, in a tiny cup. As it sits the fine sediment sinks to the bottom and the drink is sipped from the clear coffee above, leaving a thick mud of grounds behind. A well-made cup is crowned with a fine layer of pale brown foam, the köpük, prized as the mark of a careful brew. Strong, thick and intensely aromatic, it is the traditional coffee of Turkey, the Balkans, the Levant, the Caucasus and much of the former Ottoman world, and the grounds left in the cup are read for fortune-telling.

BitterNon-alcoholic

Unsweetened Turkish coffee reads first as concentrated dark roasted coffee — deeply bitter and aromatic with smoky, earthy, dark-chocolate and faint caramel notes over a bright acidity — and because the coffee is ground to a flour-fine powder and served unfiltered, it has a notably thick, full body and a faintly gritty finish from the fine sediment; a careful brew is topped with a pale layer of köpük foam. Sweetened versions soften the bitterness and add caramel roundness, and cardamom or mastic, where used, lend warm-spicy and resinous top notes.