How to Make Turkish Coffee: A 5 Step Guide

Turkish coffee is one of the oldest brewing methods in the world. And before we dig into exactly how to make Turkish coffee, let’s talk about a bit of the history of Turkish coffee, what it is, and the cultural significance it has today! 

It was first used by the Turks in the Ottoman courts of Istanbul in the 16th century, soon after coffee was first discovered. 

It wasn’t long until the first coffee houses started opening in Istanbul around 1554-55, starting the trend that would eventually pervade our modern culture.

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How to Make Turkish Coffee: What Is Turkish Coffee?

Turkish coffee is made from combining a finely ground coffee and water and heating the mixture until a lovely creme forms on the surface. It is then served in a small glass or porcelain cup without removing the coffee grounds. This process of brewing coffee is called decoction. Most of today’s coffee is made via percolation, including french press, pour-over, and drip coffee. 

How to Make Turkish Coffee: Coffee to Water Ratio

What is the Ideal Coffee to Water Ratio For Turkish Coffee?

As with any coffee brewing method, the ratio of coffee grounds to water is an important factor. When making a traditional cup of Turkish coffee, a good ratio to start with is one part coffee and ten parts water. Try it for yourself and adjust the ratio to your personal preference. 

Things You’ll Need to make Turkish Coffee

Quality, freshly Roasted, Organic Coffee Beans

A quality cup of coffee always starts with a quality coffee bean. A lot of specialty Turkish coffee roasters prefer a light roast or maybe a medium roast like our Organic Ethiopia Medium Roast. This is due to the fact that when the coffee is ground extremely fine, like Turkish coffee, it heats up and almost burns the coffee, so starting with a light roast ensures that you don’t lose all those specialty notes and flavors that come with a lighter roast coffee. This helps control any bitterness. Obviously, using fresh beans is very important to making good Turkish coffee.

Coffee Grinder

Unlike a lot of the coffee brewing methods used in our culture today, Turkish coffee is ground to almost a powder, like the consistency of flour. And to grind coffee to this consistency, you’ll need a grinder with an extremely fine setting. You can find a very inexpensive hand grinder on amazon like this. In the case of the Baratza Encore grinder and most other burr grinders, set it to the finest setting possible. Even this won’t give you as fine a grinder as some Turkish coffee aficionados would prefer, but will be sufficient in most cases.

Turkish Coffee Pot

Another important element of making Turkish coffee is the Turkish coffee pot or Ibrik. This specific pot is also known as a Cezve in Turkish. Another name for the Turkish coffee pot is an Ibrik, which is probably the most common name used in the US. 

The typical ibrik is made of copper, although other popular materials include brass, stainless steel, and even silver. The interior is then lined with tin to give stability to the pot.

Filtered water  

As always, the water used to brew your Turkish coffee will affect the final taste and quality, so find some good filtered water for you.

How to Make Turkish Coffee: The 5 Steps

Now that you have all your ingredients and equipment together, let’s get into the process of actually brewing a delicious cup of traditional Turkish coffee.

1. Grind Your Coffee

Grind the proper amount of fresh roasted, organic coffee, and put it in your ibrik. The grind of Turkish coffee is the finest grind in the coffee world. The reason for this fine grind is because the grounds will NOT be filtered out of the coffee. The fine grind also creates more surface area of the bean to be exposed to the coffee and thus extracted creating a stronger, more robust brew. 

2. Add Water & Stir briefly

Add the correct amount of filtered water. Ideally, start with room temperature or slightly warm water. If you start with refrigerated water, you run the risk of over extracting your coffee. 
Briefly stir your coffee and water mixture, but only briefly. Approximately 10-15 times. After that, don’t stir at all during the brewing process. If something is floating you can maybe push it down slightly, but don’t agitate much at all. There will be some natural agitation during the brewing process that you can’t control.

3. Put Your Coffee on the Heat Source

Put your ibrik on your heat source, and let it do its magic. You’ll know your brew is complete when the creme starts to form and rise in the pot. Remove the pot when the creme reaches the top of the pot. Ideally, it should only brew for 2 or 2 ½ minutes with the max temperature around 204-206 degrees. 

4. Pour and Serve

As soon as you remove the coffee from your heat source, slowly pour the coffee into your waiting cups. Evenly distribute the creme on the top between your cups, before completely filling the mug. Wait a few minutes before drinking to let the grounds drop to the bottom. 

5. Enjoy Your Coffee

Serve your Turkish coffee with a small glass of water, and a sweet bite. Traditionally the sweet bite is a piece of Turkish delight, but anything works, including a dried date.

Now comes the best part, the first sip. And remember that Turkish coffee is best enjoyed with friends and good conversation. 

How to Make Turkish Coffee: In Conclusion

So go grab your own turkish coffee pot, some freshly roasted, organic coffee and try your hand at making a traditional Turkish coffee. While this style of coffee is unique in that it isn’t filtered, the result will still give you a robust and well-flavored coffee.

SonRise Coffee is a small-batch, certified organic coffee roaster and would love to serve you with top-quality coffee, making your life better one cup of coffee at a time.