Turkish coffee is very finely ground coffee simmered with cold water, and sugar if you want it, in a small long-handled pot called a cezve, then poured unfiltered into a small cup so the grounds settle at the bottom. It arrives thick, strong and capped with foam, with a glass of water on the side and often a cube of Turkish delight. In 2013 UNESCO inscribed Turkish coffee culture and tradition on its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which recognised the drink as a social ritual as much as a recipe.
This guide explains everything a first-timer needs: where the drink came from, how it is brewed, the four words you need to order the sweetness you want, how to drink it without a mouthful of grounds, the customs around it, and the historic places in Istanbul where locals still queue for a cup or a bag of fresh grounds. It closes with a home method that works on an ordinary stove.
The basics fit in a few lines. The pot is a cezve (also called ibrik), usually copper or brass with a long handle. The beans are mostly Arabica, medium roast, ground to a flour-fine powder, and the usual ratio is one heaped teaspoon per small cup of water of 65 to 70 ml. Sugar goes in before brewing, milk is not part of the classic drink, and the cup comes with a glass of water and often lokum or a square of chocolate.
Where Turkish coffee comes from and how it reached Istanbul
Coffee arrived in Istanbul from Yemen in the 16th century, during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Ottoman chroniclers record that two merchants from Syria, Hakem from Aleppo and Şems from Damascus, opened the city's first coffeehouses in the Tahtakale market district around 1554 to 1555.
The coffeehouse, or kahvehane, quickly became the place where men met to talk, read poetry aloud, play backgammon and argue about politics. That last habit worried several sultans, and coffeehouses were closed more than once by decree. The bans never stuck. From the Ottoman capital the brewing method spread across the Balkans, the Levant and North Africa, which is why close relatives of Turkish coffee are drunk today as Greek coffee, Bosnian coffee, Armenian surch and the cardamom-scented coffee of Lebanon. Each country claims its own version, and each is brewed in a pot that looks almost identical to the cezve.
The drink survived partly because the method needs nothing but a pot, a heat source and a grinder. Before electric grinders, coffee was pounded in large stone or wooden mortars called dibek. The Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi business, still selling coffee beside the Spice Bazaar today, built its name in 1871 by selling coffee already roasted and ground, so customers no longer had to do it themselves.
How Turkish coffee is brewed, step by step
Powder-fine coffee and cold water are heated slowly in a cezve until a dense foam rises, then poured before the pot boils. Nothing is filtered, so the grounds stay in the cup and sink to the bottom.
The grind is the first thing that separates it from every other coffee. It is finer than espresso, closer to cocoa powder, and that is what lets the coffee suspend in the water and build its foam. A standard portion is one heaped teaspoon per small cup of water, roughly 65 to 70 millilitres, the volume of a traditional fincan. Sugar goes in at the start with the coffee and water, because once the coffee is poured you cannot stir without clouding the cup.
The pot then goes over low heat. In old cafés that meant charcoal embers or a tray of hot sand; at home it is the smallest gas ring on its lowest setting. As the coffee warms, a dark foam called köpük gathers at the surface. Just before it rises over the rim, the pot comes off the heat, the foam is spooned into each cup, and the rest is poured slowly on top so the foam floats intact. Many baristas return the pot to the heat for a few seconds between those two steps to build a second rise. A well-made cup has an even, unbroken layer of foam across the whole surface. Thin or patchy foam usually means the coffee boiled.
Sand brewing, called kumda kahve, is still done at some Istanbul cafés and is worth watching. The barista pushes the cezve through hot sand, deeper for more heat and closer to the surface for less, which controls the temperature very precisely and gives a fine, thick foam.
How to order Turkish coffee by sugar level
Because the sugar is cooked into the coffee, you choose the sweetness when you order, not at the table. Four words cover every option, and waiters will often prompt you with "Şekerli mi?" (with sugar?).
Turkish coffee sugar levels and what they mean
| Turkish word | Pronunciation guide | Sweetness | Who orders it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sade | sah-deh | No sugar | Purists and anyone who wants to taste the roast |
| Az şekerli | ahz sheh-ker-lee | A little sugar | First-timers who find plain coffee bitter |
| Orta şekerli | or-tah sheh-ker-lee | Medium sweet | The most common order in cafés |
| Şekerli / çok şekerli | sheh-ker-lee / chok sheh-ker-lee | Sweet / very sweet | Those with a sweet tooth; often paired with nothing else |
Ordering for a group? Each cup is brewed with its own sugar level, so tell the waiter one level per person. Some cafés brew a whole tray in a larger cezve, in which case they will only offer one sweetness for the tray.
How to drink Turkish coffee without swallowing the grounds
Sip the glass of water first, wait about a minute for the grounds to settle, then drink the coffee slowly in small sips and stop when it starts to thicken. The last centimetre of sludge stays in the cup.
Never stir the cup once it is served, and do not tip it back like an espresso shot. The cup holds only a few mouthfuls, so Turkish coffee is a drink for sitting down and talking. Turkish delight (lokum) or a piece of chocolate is the usual companion, and in many homes and cafés coffee is offered after a meal, not first thing in the morning. The water is there to clear your palate before the coffee; drinking it afterwards is also fine.
Decide on sugar when you order, because it is cooked into the pot and cannot be stirred in later: sade, az şekerli, orta şekerli or şekerli. Look at the froth before the first sip. Connoisseurs judge a cup by how thick and unbroken that layer is, and in some regions a cup served without froth has traditionally been read as a polite refusal.
Turkish coffee customs: hospitality, betrothal and fortune telling
A well-known Turkish saying holds that a single cup of coffee is remembered for forty years, a way of saying that a shared cup creates a lasting bond. The drink is still tied to hospitality and to a few family rituals.
When a man's family visits a woman's family to ask for her hand in marriage, the young woman traditionally brews and serves the coffee. In a playful twist, she may add salt to the groom's cup in place of sugar. If he drinks it without a grimace, the families take it as a sign of patience and good character. The custom is still performed at many engagement visits, mostly for laughs.
After drinking, many people turn the cup upside down onto its saucer, let it cool, and then read the shapes the grounds leave on the inside. This is fal, coffee fortune telling. A friend or relative usually does the reading, and the tradition is light-hearted: a bird might mean news, a road a journey. Some cafés in Istanbul offer readings, but you will hear far better stories from a Turkish friend.
Where to drink Turkish coffee in Istanbul
A handful of long-established roasters and cafés on both sides of the Bosphorus serve the city's best cups. These are the places worth planning a walk around, with what each does best.
Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, Eminönü
Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi has sold coffee in Eminönü since 1871, and its flagship shop sits on Tahmis Street, the lane running alongside the Spice Bazaar. The building, an art deco corner block, dates from the 1930s. This is a shop with no seating: you join the line, ask for a quarter or half kilo, and walk away with a warm vacuum-packed bag ground that morning. The smell reaches you a block away. Allow 15 to 30 minutes including the queue; the T1 tram stops at Eminönü.
It is the best place to buy coffee to take home. Ask for it "Türk kahvesi için" (for Turkish coffee) and it will be ground to the right powder. The packets also sell in supermarkets across Turkey, but the shop grind is fresher. Combine it with the Spice Bazaar and a ferry from the Eminönü piers.
Fazıl Bey, Kadıköy
Since 1923 Fazıl Bey has served coffee from its original shop on Serasker Caddesi in the Kadıköy market on the Asian side. It roasts its own beans, brews each cup individually in a cezve, and the small room has changed little in decades. Locals stand at the counter or squeeze onto the stools outside.
Order an orta şekerli and watch the foam: it is among the thickest you will find in the city, and half an hour is enough for a cup. A ferry from Eminönü or Karaköy to Kadıköy takes around 20 to 25 minutes and is the most enjoyable way to arrive. Spend the rest of the afternoon in the fish and produce market and the cafés of Moda.
Şark Kahvesi, Grand Bazaar
Inside the Grand Bazaar in Beyazıt, the old coffeehouse Şark Kahvesi has served shopkeepers and shoppers for decades. At busy hours the tables fill with traders on a break. It is the most convenient cup if you are spending a morning in the bazaar's lanes, and the T1 tram to Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı drops you close by.
Prices here are higher than in neighbourhood cafés, which is normal for the bazaar. Give it 20 to 30 minutes: sit, rest your feet and let the noise of the market go by.
Pierre Loti Café, Eyüp
High on the hill above Eyüp, at the top end of the Golden Horn, the Pierre Loti Café takes its name from the French writer who liked to sit there. People come for the view down the waterway as much as for the coffee, and it is busiest at sunset and at weekends, so late afternoon on a weekday is the calmer choice. Allow about an hour with the walk.
Combine the visit with Eyüp Sultan Mosque at the bottom of the hill, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Istanbul. Dress modestly for the mosque.
Mandabatmaz, Beyoğlu
Off İstiklal Avenue in Beyoğlu, down a side lane, Mandabatmaz is a very small café with a few low stools outside. The name means roughly "even a water buffalo would not sink", a joke about how thick the coffee is. The nearest stops are Taksim or Şişhane on the M2 metro.
There is little room to linger, so this is a quick, strong cup of about 15 minutes between shops and galleries on İstiklal. Go mid-morning on a weekday for a free stool.
If you want to see more of the city between cups, our guide to the top tourist attractions in Istanbul covers the major sights, and the Turkey destination page has ideas for the rest of the country.
Turkish coffee compared with espresso and filter coffee
Unfiltered and heavy in body, Turkish coffee tastes stronger than filter coffee and has a similar strength per cup to espresso. The differences are in grind, method and how you drink it.
Turkish coffee vs espresso vs filter coffee
| Turkish coffee | Espresso | Filter coffee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grind | Powder-fine | Fine | Medium |
| Method | Simmered in a cezve, unfiltered | Pressurised water through a puck | Gravity drip through paper or metal |
| Serving size | About 65 to 70 ml | About 30 ml single | 150 to 250 ml |
| Texture | Thick, with foam and sediment | Syrupy, with crema | Light, clean |
| Sugar | Cooked in | Added after | Added after |
| How it is drunk | Slow sips, grounds left in cup | Quick, often standing | Any pace, often with milk |
The serving is different too. Turkish coffee comes in a small porcelain cup, the kahve fincanı, holding about 90 ml, which the coffee only partly fills, and it always arrives with a glass of water. Because nothing is filtered, the fine particles stay suspended in the cup, which is what gives the drink its heavy body. Espresso depends on pressure and equipment; Turkish coffee depends on slow heat and timing, and the froth plays the part that crema plays in espresso. Drinkers who like espresso but find filter coffee thin usually take to it quickly.
How to make Turkish coffee at home
You need a cezve (a small milk pan works in a pinch), coffee ground specifically for Turkish coffee and cups of about 70 ml. Espresso grind is too coarse and will not foam properly.
Measure one cup of cold water per person into the cezve using the serving cup itself. Add one heaped teaspoon of coffee per cup and sugar to taste, then stir once, gently, just to wet the powder. Put the pot on the lowest heat and do not stir again. After two to four minutes, foam begins to gather at the edges and then across the surface. When it rises toward the rim, take the pot off, spoon some foam into each cup, return the pot to the heat for a few seconds, then pour the rest slowly down the side of each cup. Serve at once with water.
Three mistakes ruin most home attempts: hot water from the tap or kettle, which rushes the brew and kills the foam; turning the heat up to save time; and letting the coffee boil. A boiled cup tastes flat and loses its foam completely.
- Buy grounds in small amounts. Turkish-grind coffee goes stale fast because it is so fine. Buy a quarter kilo at a time and keep it airtight, away from light.
- Packing coffee in your luggage. Sealed commercial packs travel well. Check your destination country's customs rules on food items before you fly.
- Choosing a cezve. Copper or brass with a tin lining is traditional. Pick a size close to the number of cups you usually make; too large a pot gives a thin foam.
- Lokum pairings. Rose and pistachio lokum are the classic match. Buy them by weight from a confectioner, not in pre-boxed tourist packs.
- Café etiquette. Coffee is usually paid at the counter on leaving. Small tips are welcome but not expected in neighbourhood cafés.
- Visiting mosques nearby. Many historic coffee spots sit near mosques. Cover shoulders and knees, and women should carry a scarf.
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