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x0x Turkish coffee
By Bahar Kalkan
Indispensable accompaniment to good conversation, companion on
sleepless
nights... How do you take it, plain or with sugar?
Coffee came to Istanbul in the mid-16th century during the reign of
Suleiman the Magnificent. The coffee that governor of Ethiopia Ozdemir
Pasha brought home with him began to be drunk initially in the palaces
and
stately mansions. It soon became a habit as people developed a taste
for
'drinking fresh coffee from a fresh, young hand'. In a feast for the
eyes,
three coffee 'angels' no more than sixteen years of age served guests
tiny
sips of the bitter brew. The coffee sets used for these ceremonies
dazzled
the eye as well. Art, elegance, wealth, youth and beauty combined to
turn
the drinking of coffee into a feast. In time the tradition of drinking
coffee spread to the population as a whole, reaching as far as the
villages and the nomads' tents. Among the common folk as well, coffee
was
served by young girls.
MORNING COFFEE
Serving coffee to guests became an honored tradition with time.
Ceremonies
such as asking for a girl's hand in marriage, engagements, weddings,
birthdays and religious feasts always included an hour of coffee
drinking.
And the words "Come by for a cup of coffee" were an invitation for a
brief
visit.
Such visits often took the form of 'morning coffee' gatherings among
women. Finishing up their early morning household chores, girls and
women
young and old would be ready for coffee by ten o'clock. For neighbors,
relatives, friends and acquaintances could show up unannounced any time
between 10 and 12 when there was a standing invitation to every home.
A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME
The latest gossip and incidents both happy and sad were related at this
coffee klatch, and sometimes plans were laid for the future, while the
hostess and her daughters and daughters-in-law and female servants, if
she
had any, served coffee in extremely elegant cups.
After the coffee was sipped from these cups, each of which was encased
in
a delicate jewel-like holder, the cup would be shaken three times and
turned upside down on its saucer for the fortune-telling ritual.
Tapping the bottom of the cup three times with her index finger, its
owner
would silently make a wish. In every gathering there was always one
woman
with a philosophy of life who could tell fortunes. Upon request, she
would
pick up the now cold cup and tell its owner's fortune, expressing
positive
thoughts, advice and guidelines as she saw fit. What all did not
transpire
in these fortunes! News from the mouth of a bird, long journeys, evil
eyes...
LIKE A CEREMONY
A plethora of artistic items were invented and used everywhere, from
the
imperial palace or pavilion right down to the peasant dwelling or
nomadic
tent, for serving coffee, which took on a special significance in
social
life. The quality of these items varied depending on the wealth of the
family, but every house had a special place where the coffee set was
kept.
It was also customary to give coffee cups with Let us take a closer
look
now at these items. Spread on a coffee roasting tray made of metal and
placed over a fire, raw coffee beans were roasted by constant stirring
with a long coffee spoon. The hot roasted beans were then emptied into
a
wooden container for cooling.
When cool, the coffee was poured into a mortar, again of wood, and
pounded
to a fine powder. Some coffee aficionados would drink only coffee
pounded
by hand like this in a wooden mortar, but coffee could also be ground
in
hand-held mills made of copper or bronze. The ground coffee was
preserved
in canisters made of wood, metal or ceramic and cooked without sugar in
a
large copper jug.
Long-handled copper or bronze coffee pots, known as 'cezve' in Turkish,
came in various sizes such as one-cup, two-cup or five-cup.
Since the coffee was prepared either without sugar, or with little,
medium, or lots of sugar depending on preference, pots of various sizes
would be lined up on the coffee brazier. The stately mansions and
Bosphorus villas had special niches for coffee hearths where the coffee
was cooked and the coffee sets stored. The unsweetened coffee made here
was poured into a coffee set made of silver, tombac, bronze or copper.
The
china coffee cups with delicate holders of silver or tombac were
arranged
on a tray for the service. The roundness of the tray and of the
embroided
cover held during the coffee ceremony symbolized the sun. In other
words,
serving coffee was a ceremony which required a number of different
items,
examples of most of which are found in museums or private collections
today. Research into the culture of coffee turns up a number of names,
forms, decorations, designs and shapes harking back to the ancient
civilizations of Anatolia and exhibited in these coffee utensils. The
Turkish coffee tradition, which is reminiscent of the ancient custom of
serving fruit sherbets whose roots go far back in time, therefore
represents a cultural synthesis. Coffee serving ceremonies also remind
us
of the Japanese tea ceremony. The roots of traditions that develop as
part
of life can run very deep indeed.
TANDIR COFFEE
In Anatolia, families, relatives and friends-men and women alike-would
gather after dinner in one house, every family bringing its own 'coffee
basket'. A circle was formed around the hearth or 'tandir', the baskets
were opened and the coffee pots set on the hearth in the middle, and
the
conversation continued apace as the coffee was cooked and drunk. Such
'tandir coffee' gatherings still continue today.
Frequented exclusively by men, the old coffeehouses with their interior
and exterior decor, coffee making utensils and custom of drinking
coffee
were virtual centers of education and communication in many respects.
These uniquely beautiful old coffeehouses live on today in miniatures
and
engravings and in paintings by European artists. Clearly we will never
give up coffee, our companion on sleepless nights and accompaniment to
friendly conversation, which is also responsible for the addition of
the
term 'kahvalti' ('under the coffee', in other words, breakfast) to the
Turkish language.
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