As coffee and coffeehouses became an integral part of social culture, coffee became the only drink in the world to have spawned a whole related culture. Ever since the first coffeehouse opened in Istanbul in 1554, coffee has had a tremendous impact on art and culture. Countless artists, students and teachers have come together in coffeehouses to read books, perform …

Coffee tasting, also called “cupping”, is the sensory evaluation of coffee, which assesses more than just taste. The senses of smell, taste and “feel” are all involved in this analysis. Smell and taste are very dependent on each other and difficult to separate in assessment. The sense of “feel” involved in assessing coffee evaluates the coffee’s body. All coffee is …

Roasting is the briefest yet most important and painstaking stage in coffee production. This process carries a heavy weight of responsibility. Both time and money can be lost in a brief moment of carelessness, rendering the labour of hundreds of people on the fields and in the production process pointless. The heat applied to the green coffee beans during roasting …

After the hidden flavours of a high quality coffee have been brought out by roasting, the coffee must undergo one more process before it can be prepared: “grinding”. Every type of coffee is ground differently. From the finest to the most coarse, these are Turkish Coffee, espresso and filter coffee. Turkish Coffee undergoes a much more complicated grinding process than …

Drinking coffee is a unique pleasure for Turks. A cup of Turkish coffee is endowed with a variety of important connotations for Turks: friendship, affection and sharing. This is best illustrated in the old saying: “A single cup of coffee can create a friendship that lasts for 40 years”. Turkish coffee is such an intrinsic part of Turkish culture that …