Turkish – Tried and True

Have you ever enjoyed Turkish Delight with almonds or walnuts or pistachios? What about Baklava? Try combining these delicacies with Turkish Coffee. What a great way to enjoy beans! For over five hundred years coffee has played an important role in Turkish life style and culture. Turkish coffee is not the kind of coffee you usually buy at the corner coffee shop. It's a rich, smooth, after-dinner drink.

Here's the key - an Ibrik. It's a small pot, beautifully designed with a long handle and is used to brew Middle Eastern-style coffee. Your other ingredients are sugar (to your individual taste), very finely ground coffee, spring water and ground cardamon. Cover the bottom of the pot with sugar. Next pour in spring water to the point where the pot narrows. On top of this add your very, very finely ground coffee beans and cardamon to the top rim of the pot.

Now, do you happen to have a desert out your back door? No? Traditionally, that's where this coffee was made - on the hot desert floor. So, no desert, then your stovetop will have to do. Put the pot on a low burner. Keep it there until the coffee starts to foam over. The aroma will be delicious! Take it off the burner and give it a good stir. Do this a couple of times, each time returning it to the burner only until the coffee starts to boil over.

Quickly pour your brew into individual cups and watch as the grounds sink to the bottom. Turkish coffee is sipped very slowly. It really needs to be piping hot!! It's a coffee for quiet conversation and listening to music after dinner. I'm going to enjoy my cup on my back steps, imagining a sweltering desert at my feet. Where will you sit and enjoy yours? Email me and let me know how your Turkish brew turned out.

For more information, check out the links at http://www.cafenation.net and http://www.smellthecoffee.com, next to this article. You can find Ibrik's at sites like http://www.essetti.com. If you want to read more about Turkey and it's unique culture, click on http://www.ege.edu.tr/Turkiye/ All About Turkey. This site will fill you in on the music, theater, literature, economy, language, recreation, government, history, tourism and news of the region. You can view more than one hundred photos to find your "inspiration" for serving Turkish coffee!

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