Turkish coffee and tea: the back story

About Turkish coffee and tea: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Istanbul Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Istanbul’s first coffeehouses opened in the 16th century and quickly became places for news, games, music and conversation. Turkish coffee culture and tradition is inscribed on UNESCO’s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Tea, brewed strong in a double pot and served in tulip glasses, is what Istanbul drinks all day.

Turkish coffee

Turkish coffee is ground to a fine powder and brewed slowly in a small pot called a cezve, with sugar added at the start if you want it: sade (plain), az şekerli (a little sugar), orta (medium) or şekerli (sweet). It comes with a glass of water and often a piece of lokum. Let the grounds settle and stop before the bottom of the cup.

The coffeehouse

The kahvehane, the traditional coffeehouse, is still part of neighbourhood life: men playing backgammon (tavla) and cards, glasses of tea and the click of dice. In the courtyard of the Çorlulu Ali Paşa Medresesi near the Grand Bazaar, students and visitors smoke nargile and drink tea under the trees.

Turkish coffee is never stirred once it has been poured.

Tea all day

Tea (çay) is brewed in a double teapot, the çaydanlık, and served in small tulip-shaped glasses, strong or light (koyu or açık) as you like. You will be offered it in shops, offices and carpet stores. The best places to drink it are by the water: on a ferry, in a tea garden on the Bosphorus or on Pierre Loti Hill above the Golden Horn.

Something sweet

Istanbul’s sweet shops are institutions: baklava from Karaköy Güllüoğlu, lokum and baklava from Hafız Mustafa, milk puddings from the muhallebici, and in winter boza, the thick fermented millet drink served at Vefa Bozacısı since the 19th century.

Breakfast

Kahvaltı, breakfast, is a feast: cheeses, olives, tomatoes and cucumbers, honey and kaymak (clotted cream), jams, eggs with sucuk or menemen (eggs scrambled with tomatoes and peppers), simit and endless tea. Weekend breakfasts by the Bosphorus are a favourite Istanbul ritual.

Our advice: order a Turkish coffee orta şekerli in a traditional café, drink tea on a ferry, try boza on a winter evening, and keep a weekend morning free for a long breakfast. When offered tea in a shop, accept: it is hospitality, not a sales trick.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Turkish coffee and tea: the back story before you go.