Grown and consumed for more than 600 years in Anatolia, the Turkish coffee is a very special flavour in our lives. It is a traditional beverage, to which perhaps the utmost meaning, the utmost affection and the outmost stories are attributed. We have revisited the Turkish coffee during the snow holiday last week, and now let’s remember it with all its root and its deep down meaning and the stories it creates in our brain, and most importantly, let’s enjoy this short passage about it…
No matter how much we point out the physical properties of coffee, such as its stimulating and energizing effects, the coffee also has an incontrovertible sentimental effect. Drinking coffee forges a daily ritual for us, representing the ‘special moment’ that we spare for ourselves during the rush of the day. The coffee is a ‘magical potion’ that creates an atmosphere of ‘pleasure’ and adds intimacy to the shared moment among people. The coffee, with its unique fragrance, is easily distinguished from other beverages, strengthening the relationship that people establish with it.
Turkish coffee is a quick ‘getaway’ in the day – a ‘Freedom’
A teensy ‘getaway or break’ takes us out of our daily routine, relaxing and comforting us. While it provides comfort and relaxation, it also makes us feel ‘free’. Therefore, coffee is always associated with moments and places of pleasure.
Turkish coffee is an ‘excuse’ to make time for ourselves… a ‘Reward’
Turkish coffee is actually an ‘excuse’ to make us feel happy and free. Coffee is a way of rewarding, of gratifying that we grant for various excuses. It is the ability to pamper ourselves, even for a short time in life, a way to say “Well done to me!” after the work we have just finished. Women have a slightly more tendency to reward themselves with Turkish coffee.
A perfect excuse for ‘Chitchat’
Turkish coffee is mostly associated with ‘chitchat’ and ‘being together with friends’. Chatting and Turkish coffee are inseparable. When we want to have a chat with a friend, neighbor or a loved one, we habitually say “let’s have coffee” or “let’s go for a cup of coffee”.
Turkish coffee is served in small coffee cups, and can be drunk in a short time, which is adept for the whirlwind of metropolitan life that allow for small talks only. Turkish coffee is the indispensable accompaniment when it comes to having a chat with colleagues in break times, with neighbours in the morning, with loved ones in the evening.
Turkish coffee is a ‘special’ drink, a means of ‘Sharing’ with the most intimate friends
Turkish coffee means friendship and intimacy. It is a representation of ‘sharing’. Since it is a special drink, we do not drink it with just anyone, but with the closest of friends, or with neighbours. Turkish coffee contains ‘elitism’ at its core. Even when it makes us tranquil if we drink it alone, the pleasure reaches the peak if we drink it together with friends.
Friendship and Intimacy comes together in coffee
Inviting friends over for a cup of coffee is due to the need to have a friendly conversation or to be engaged in small talk. In this sense, it is the indispensable drink of short meetings and ‘gossip’ among best of friends.
Turkish coffee represents a Tradition and a Culture
Turkish coffee is not an ordinary beverage. Coffee represents a ‘culture’. Having a profound effect on the lifestyle in Turkey, Turkish coffee plays a central role as a sign of hospitality and friendship.
The role of Turkish coffee is indisputable, especially when entertaining guests, asking a girl’s hand in marriage, and visiting relatives in feasts. Turkish coffee represents a ‘ceremony’ on these occasions.
Neither believe in, nor be deprived of ‘Fortune Telling’
Seeing the fortune from the coffee grounds or having your fortune read is an important ritual of Turkish coffee culture. Man or woman, young or old, coffee fortune-telling is identified with Turkish coffee. When we drink Turkish coffee from the coffee cup, we close the cup directly over the saucer. We do it automatically even when we do not want fortune telling from the coffee grounds.
Coffee = ‘Pleasure, Peace, Relaxation, Sharing, Freedom’
Special Note: We would like to thank Dr Nihal Bursa for granting us with the permission to publish some parts of our research prepared for her called “TURKISH COFFEE PERCEPTION and CUP CULTURE” in this article.