Cocktail Recipes with Turkish Coffee

In cocktail world, coffee flavored liqueurs are used to prepare some popular cocktails such as B-52, Baby Guinness, Black Russian, Mudslide and White Russian.

Kahlúa and Tia Maria are the most known coffee flavored liqueurs used in those cocktails.

Actually, there are some very good Turkish coffee flavored liqueurs that can also be used in cocktails. For example, Mey Icki, which is a Turkey based liqueur company, produces good quality Turkish coffee flavored liqueur under "Hare" brand.

Turkish coffee cocktails are very similar to common coffee cocktails.

Cocktail Recipes with Turkish Coffee Liqueur

(cl means centilitre and 1 cl equals to 0.338 oz)

Turkish White

Ingredients

• 4 cl Turkish Coffee Liqueur
• 2 cl Vodka
• 3 cl Milk
• Ice

Preparation

• Cover edge of a whisky glass with ground Turkish coffee.
• Pour ingredients into your glass and stir gently. Add ice.
• If you want to strengthen the coffee taste, then you may add a few coffee beans.

Turkish Black

Ingredients

• 5 cl Turkish Coffee Liqueur
• 2 cl Vodka
• Ice

Preparation

• Same as Turkish White.

BanaTurk

Ingredients

• 5 cl Turkish Coffee Liqueur
• 1 cl Banana Liqueur
• 2 cl Vodka
• 3 cl Milk
• 1/2 Banana
• 2 cl Chocolate syrup
• Ice

Preparation

• Put all the ingredients into a blender.
• Mix it until consistence of frozen.
• Pour mixture into a cocktail glass and add a banana slice to decorate it.

TurkAlmond

Ingredients

• 5 cl Turkish Coffee Liqueur
• 2 cl Almond Liqueur
• 3 Almonds

Preparation

• Fill a whiskey glass with ice.
• Pour liqueurs one by one into the glass and stir.
• Add almonds.

Choco Nut

Ingredients

• 5 cl Turkish Coffee Liqueur
• 2 cl Vodka
• 5 cl Milk
• 1 cl Hazelnut Syrup
• 5 Hazelnuts

Preparation

• Same as TurkAlmond.

Ice Cream w/ Turkish Cofee

Ingredients

• 5 cl Turkish Coffee Liqueur
• 4 cl Milk
• 2 cl Chocolate syrup
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• Vanilla Stick

Preparation

• Put all the ingredients into a blender.
• Mix it until consistence of frozen.
• Pour mixture into a cocktail glass.
• Add vanilla stick.

Flying Turk

Ingredients

• 2 cl Turkish Coffee Liqueur
• 2 cl Irish Cream (such as Baileys)
• 2 cl Orange Cognac (such as Grand Marnier)

Preparation

• Pour all liqueurs into a shot or sherry glass as it will be layer over layer. To do it, you can use a cold bar spoon. After pouring Turkish coffee liqueur, pour Irish Cream very slowly over the back of the spoon. Be careful, you should avoid disturbing the lower layer. Repeat the same process for the orange cognac.
• Serve with a stirrer.

Traditional Way of Making Turkish Coffee in Egypt

The recipe below belongs to Ahmed from Egypt. I would like to thank him for this lovely contribution.

It's really exciting to see how Turkish coffee is prepared in different parts of the world. If you want to share your own Turkish coffee experience please send an email.

Turkish Coffee in Egypt
This guide is for brewing Turkish coffee using (cebertaiyah) pictured below, the method is not very different from the guide posted by Mahir here for brewing coffee using a stove; it’s just a different heating device.

This device, cebertaiyah, is made from copper, uses red alcohol (ceberto) as a source of the flame, the main idea behind it is that the flame is weak and slow in heating the water, which in turn makes brewing the coffee take longer time than brewing on a stove, so it makes the coffee brewed taste stronger.

I don’t know the history of this device but I know it’s been around before the introduction of stoves, it comes in different shapes and styles and is also used to make tea, it’s starting to disappear from the market though, most people consider it a relic, or a decoration item because most people now use stoves or machines to brew their coffee.

Now that you have a source of heat you need a pot (“canaka" in Arabic and "cezve" in Turkish) pictured below; it is also made from copper for uniform heat transfer and equipped with a wooden handle for ease of use.

Next you need the coffee itself, which comes in a different variety, Turkish coffee beans should be ground to the finest level possible.

There are the light roasted beans, the medium roasted and the dark roasted beans “my favorite”. Dark coffee has a bit of a sting to it, so beware, it’s not suitable to people newly introduced to the world of Turkish coffee.

Now, you add the sugar (if you want sugar), the coffee, then add the water.

Tip: I found that using cold water has better results than using room temperature water; maybe this is due to the fact that cold water takes longer to brew thus giving the mixture a longer time to mix.

With regards to sugar, there are 3 (or five) types of coffee, the no sugar coffee (sadah or merra), the medium sugar coffee (mazbot), and the lots of sugar coffee (zyadah).

For the amount to coffee and sugar, I encourage the new comers to experiment, you can start with two teaspoons of coffee and one small teaspoon of sugar, this way the coffee is not bitter.

After you add the mixture, and before putting it on fire, give it a good stir.

You now remove the cap of the “cebertaiyah”, light the flame, and put the pot there.

Now here is another tip, and if you will take anything from this article, let it be this, always stir the mixture while it’s on the flame, it doesn’t matter what heating device you’re using, make sure that you give your coffee at least three good stirs while it’s brewing.

You wait until your coffee is near the boiling point and then remove it, you can leave the coffee to cool and bring your coffee to the point boiling several times it you want, but once is enough.

After you remove the pot from the cebertaiyah you replace the flame cap, it’s a bit tricky, and you do it from the side in a slide motion.

Now pour your coffee and enjoy.

This article was written and also the photos were taken by Ahmed from Egypt.

Mirra

Mirra is a special kind of Turkish coffee. It is a very strong coffee, which is prepared commonly in the south-east region of Turkey (especially Mardin, Urfa and Diyarbakir provinces).

"Mirra" is derived from the word "mur" which means "bitter" in Arabic. It is mainly presented at ceremonies of hosting special guests, ‘sira’ nights (name of a special entertainment event in the region) or wedding feasts.

Mirra can be prepared with any kind of coffee beans. But, coffea arabica is generally preferred. Fresh coffee beans are roasted in a big paddle. When the roasting is done, the beans are ground in a special wooden mortar called "dibek". Although using a dibek is the traditional way, today automatic grinders are widely used instead of dibek. The ground coffee beans should be a bit coarser than the Turkish coffee.

During brewing process, Mirra is boiled again and again since it gets the favorable consistency. The coffee is boiled with water until it almost turns into sediment, and then it is mixed with water to prepare the mixture called “şerbet”.

A coffee jug, which is specially designed for Mirra is filled with the şerbet. To avoid overflowing it is brought near and taken away, and after getting the favorable consistency it is taken from the heating source. The coffee is poured to another jug called ‘mutbak’ after getting cold, before the coffee mix with the sediment at the bottom, and again some şerbet is added. This mixture is poured again to another mutbak after being completely boiled and before mixing with the sediment. The coffee in the mutbak is boiled for a while, and taken from the heating source and left to cool. After the cooling, the coffee is poured into the biggest of the coffee jugs, which are specially designed for Mirra and have lids over their spouts, and lastly it is poured to the biggest zinc cezve. Cardamom is generally added during the brewing process.

As you may have already noticed, the brewing method of Mirra is totally opposed to the basic principles of coffee brewing idea. As explained above, Mirra is being boiled for hours; six to seven times! Moreover, Mirra is prepared in big amounts, then saved and consumed in days or even weeks!

So, if you look at Mirra from a technical perspective, it is obvious that this coffee brewing style violates basic coffee principles. However, it is an ancient and precisely a different way of coffee brewing.

Cilveli Kahve (Flirtatious Coffee)

Cilveli Kahve (or Flirtatious Coffee in English) is a historical and special type of Turkish coffee. It is generally prepared in Western Part of Turkey, especially in Manisa province.

Actually, Cilveli is almost same with a regular Turkish coffee. But, what Cilveli Kahve makes different than regular one is its special topping. The coffee is brewed just like a normal Turkish coffee. Then, the coffee cup is topped with almond that is double roasted and ground. Also, two local spices added into the almond to enrich the aroma and flavour.

The almond topping should be eaten with a spoon. Only after that, the coffee can be drunk.

At old Ottoman times, Cilveli Kahve prepared only by young girl when her love visits her family to ask the family to give their daughter as bride. The name of the coffee comes from this ritual.

In fact, even regular Turkish coffee is a significant symbol of the asking family permission for a marriage. In Turkey, people still serve Turkish coffee for family permission visits.

Brewing Turkish coffee in cup

An old and interesting way of preparing Turkish coffee is brewing it in a cup. Yes, you read it correctly! :-) Not in a pot or a machine, but in a Turkish coffee cup... In Turkish, this special recipe is called "fincan kahvesi".

There are two alternative ways to prepare a fincan kahvesi:

1) Do nothing (lazy) way :)
The first method is actually is similar to the pot way. Just put coffee, and if you want sugar, as much as you desire into your cup. Then, place your cup on a heating device. Traditionally, the heating device is a brazier, as it is shown on the photograph below. Unlike the pot method, you do not need to stir or do anything else after this step. But, do not forget, the heat coming from the brazier should not be strong. Just keep your cup on the braizer for 2 or 3 minutes. Okay, now your coffee brewed in cup is ready to serve. Of course, you should be careful as the cup is really hot! :-)

2) A little bit hard work way
In this method, you start with pouring coffee (and if you want sugar) and hot water (just fill half of the cup) into your cup. Then place your cup on a heating device. Do not stir; just wait about half a minute. Then pour some more hot water to fill the cup. After this point, you should start stirring. When the cup is fulfilled with foam, take it from heating device and wait one minute before serving.

Preparing Turkish Coffee in Sand

At the old times, brazier was a typical device used commonly in Turkish homes. As they were so indispensable, it was believed that person controlling the tongs of the braziers is at the highest level of the home hierarchy. Braziers were used to cook meals, heat up rooms and brew Turkish coffee.

Turkish coffee prepared over a brazier is called “kul kahvesi” in Turkish. It literally means “ash coffee”, since the coffee is brewed with coal ash located in a brazier.

Today, braziers are not common in Turkish homes any more. They are almost forgotten. I have to say finding such brewed coffee is really difficult nowadays. You can drink original kül kahvesi only at a few special restaurants. Or, if you are really lucky, you may meet with Turkish people who keep and use the traditional braziers.

However some people, especially older generations, still believe that coffee brewed over brazier is much better than coffee prepared over stove or with automatic machines. This belief motivated some Turkish companies to produce machines that simulate brazier heat. The logic behind this thinking is actually simple. They fill a metal container with sea sand and warm up the sand with electricity. A traditional coffee pot is placed in the hot sand, and that is all! The heat is gently transferred to the pot; therefore the pot received the same level of heat from all directions. This process allows brewing the coffee a little bit slower, but it is believed it is tastier. It takes about 3 to 4 minutes to prepare the coffee.

Maybe, these machines are not perfect substitute of taste of the traditional “kul kahvesi”. But, they offer chance of brewing Turkish coffee in a different and nostalgic way.

Cavalier Coffee (Suvari Kahvesi)

There's a special Turkish coffee type named Cavalier Coffee ("Suvari Kahvesi" in Turkish). It's also called "Tarz-ı Hususi", which means "special style" in Ottoman Turkish, or "Tarsusi" in short. People who live in the Aegean part of Turkey mostly call it Suvari, while people living in Mediterranean part prefer Tarz-ı Hususi.

Actually, Cavalier Coffee's brewing style is almost same with the traditional way. The main difference comes from foam. Cavalier Coffee's foam is less than traditional coffee's foam. Also, it's generally prepared sugarless.

Moreover, it's serving is different too. This coffee is served in traditional Turkish tea glass, which is bell-shaped, not in small Turkish coffee cup.

Turkish Coffee Recipes

In this blog, I wrote two guides showing the preparation of the traditional (most known) recipe for Turkish coffee (How to Prepare Turkish Coffee and Photo Guide: How to Make Turkish Coffee).

In addition to that classic recipe, there are a number of different Turkish coffee recipes. Here some of them! If you’re looking for a new taste in your Turkish coffee, I think you should give a chance to the recipes below. :-)

Italic in parenthesis shows the original name of that recipe in Turkish.

Turkish Coffee with Honey(Balli Turk Kahvesi)This recipe is based on using honey to sweet your coffee.

Ingredients:- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 1 teaspoon of honey,
- a Turkish coffee cup of cold water.

Preparation:Just follow the classic recipe to brew your Turkish coffee. The only difference is that don’t use sugar during the brewing. When you finished brewing just add one (or as much as you want) teaspoon of honey.


Turkish Coffee with Raki(Rakili Turk Kahvesi)It’s a recipe with alcohol, as Raki is traditional Turkish liquor. The same recipe can be made with Ouzo, which is Greek version of Raki.

Ingredients:- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (if desired),
- 1 teaspoon of Raki,
- a Turkish coffee cup of cold water.

Preparation:Just prepare your Turkish coffee by following the traditional recipe, then add Raki.


Turkish Coffee with Cognac(Konyakli Turk Kahvesi)It’s very similar to the recipe above.

Ingredients:- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (if desired),
- 1 teaspoon of cognac,
- a Turkish coffee cup of cold water.

Preparation:Same as above, instead of raki use cognac.


Turkish Coffee with Whiskey(Viskili Turk Kahvesi)This time whiskey companies Turkish coffee :)

Ingredients:- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (if desired),
- 1 teaspoon of Whiskey,
- a Turkish coffee cup of cold water.

Preparation:This recipe is quite similar with Turkish Coffee with Raki. But the main difference is the time you add the liquor. In this recipe, we are adding the alcohol at the beginning. As the alcohol evaporate during the brewing process, at the end you’ll have less alcohol taste. You can change this recipe by using different liquor types.


Turkish Coffee with Cardamom(Kakuleli Turk Kahvesi)Using spice to give strong aroma to the coffee is a very old tradition in Turkish coffee culture.

Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (if desired),
- as much cardamom as you prefer,
- a Turkish coffee cup of cold water.

Preparation:Get as much as cardamom as you want. Grind it and mix with the coffee. Then just brew your coffee in classic way.


Turkish Coffee with Cinnamon(Tarcinli Turk Kahvesi)
Another spice that is widely used as spice in Turkish coffee recipes is cinnamon.

Ingredients:- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (if desired),
- as much cinnamon as you prefer,
- a Turkish coffee cup of cold water.

Preparation:Same as above.


Turkish Coffee with Amber(Kehribarli Turk Kahvesi)
Ingredients:- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (if desired),
- as much amber as you prefer,
- a Turkish coffee cup of cold water.

Preparation:Same as above.


Turkish Coffee with Clove(Karanfilli Turk Kahvesi)

Ingredients:- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (if desired),
- as much clove as you prefer,
- a Turkish coffee cup of cold water.

Preparation:Same as above.


Turkish Coffee with Mastic Gum(Damla Sakizli Turk Kahvesi)Another popular Turkish coffee recipe, especially around Mediterranean part of Turkey and Greece.

Ingredients:- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (if desired),
- as much mastic gum as you prefer,
- a Turkish coffee cup of cold water.

Preparation:Same as above.


Turkish Coffee with Milk(Sutlu Turk Kahvesi)
This recipe was used even in Ottoman Palaces. For example, it’s known that Princess Mihrimah Sultana, who was the daughter of Suleyman the Magnificent, liked this recipe very much.

Ingredients:- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (if desired),
- a Turkish coffee of cold milk.

Preparation:Brew your Turkish coffee as usual, but just use milk instead of water. However, there’re some different variants of this recipe. Some people, add just a few drop of milk instead of using completely milk. Also, some people decrease amount of coffee used to ½ teaspoon when they brew the coffee by using milk.


Turkish Coffee with Vanilla or Almond Extract(Vanilyali/Bademli Turk Kahvesi)

Ingredients:- 2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee,
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (if desired),
- 2 drops of Vanilla/Almond extract,
- a Turkish coffee of cold milk.

Preparation:Add vanilla/almond extract to your coffee and then prepare your Turkish coffee by using classic recipe.

Photo Guide: How to Make Turkish Coffee

This is a photo guide showing how you can make Turkish coffee by using a pot. But, please don't forget that you can find a number of different recipes to make Turkish coffee. Actually, there isn't a single best way to brew Turkish coffee. This variety gives you chance of creating your own coffee according to your taste and preferences.

Before starting, to learn more about how to make Turkish coffee you can read this article.

Ingredients
Turkish coffee (finest coffee powder)*
Cold water
Sugar (if it's desired)

* I assume you're using roasted and ground Turkish coffee. Of course, if you can roast and grind your own coffee beans, it will always give you fresher coffee taste. To learn more about grinding process, you can take a look at Turkish hand grinders post.

Equipments
Pot (cezve), Heating device, Teaspoon, Coffee cup (fincan).

That's all. Now we can start brewing! :-)

Step 1
Okay! We're starting, get ready! :) Get your cold water and fill up your coffee cup with it.





Step 2
Pour water into your pot.








Step 3
If you want to add sugar, this is the time. If you are hesitant about amount of sugar to be added, start with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Then change according to your experience.



Step 4
Now, it's time to pour Turkish coffee. Here I'm using ground coffee. Traditionally, you should put 2 teaspoons coffee (about 5 gram). My spoon doubles teaspoon, so I put only one spoon of coffee.


Step 5
Okay, now tricky part is starting :) Heating is a very significant step in making Turkish coffee. Actually, it's not hard, but you've to pay attention. Put your pot on low flame. If you take your eye off during the brewing process, then it can overflow in a blink of the eye :-)

Step 6
When you put your pot on flame, stir mixture for once (about one or two seconds) to get a homogeneous liquid.





Step 7
When the coffee almost boils, pour some of it into the coffee cup by using your teaspoon to get the foam. If you make coffee for more than one cup, then pour it equally among the cups. Allow the remaining coffee to brew a while longer before adding it to the cups. Actually, you can repeat this process 2 or 3 times. It depends on your patience :) Rule of thumb is 3 times. Thinking behind this step is to have good quality foam. My suggestion is to start with only one time, if it's your first times.

Step 8
If you come until this step, it means you're so close to drink a cup of delicious Turkish coffee! :) As you noticed, Turkish style does not have a filtering process at any time. So, it is better to wait for a while (between 30 seconds to a minute) before drinking your coffee to let the coffee grounds settle at the bottom of the cup. By the way, the coffee grounds sink to the bottom shouldn't be consumed.

Now you can enjoy your coffee! :-) By the way, please don't forget drinking Turkish coffee shouldn't be done in hurry. Take a seat in a comfortable chair and then take a sip from your coffee to enjoy the moment! :)

Afiyet Olsun! (Bon Appetite!)

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How to Prepare Turkish Coffee

Turkish Coffee Preparation

You can prepare your Turkish coffee in two main ways:

• By using a pot (classical way)
• By using an automatic-machine (machine way)

1) Classical Way

It takes just 3 easy steps:

1) Grinding coffee
The first thing you need is coffee :) Traditionally, you should start by grinding coffee beans. Traditionally, Turkish coffee is made from Arabica beans. However, nowadays, Brazilian beans ara widely used. A dark roast is preferable but also a medium roast coffee will yield a strong aroma and flavour.


You can grind coffee with a mortar (the original method) or a mill (today's method). In the end, your coffee should be very powdery. Remember, Turkish coffee is the finest grind of coffee used in any style of coffee making. To have a faster start, you can skip this step by buying ground and roasted Turkish coffee. If you cannot find coffee specifically labeled as "Turkish coffee", then you may try a coffee type you enjoy. The main point is to grind it as fine as possible. For instance, you can use Starbucks Breakfast Blend that can be found easily.
2) Putting ingredients together
You can use your fincan (coffee cup) as a measuring cup. Just pour one cup of cold drinking water in cezve (pot) for per cup of coffee. Add two teaspoons of coffee (5 g) and two teaspoons of sugar (if desired) per cup.

3) Heating
Blend the coffee and sugar with teaspoon over a low flame. Heat the pot as slowly as you can. If you loose your attention, it can easily overflow, so please be very careful. If you take your eye off during the brewing process, then it can overflow in a blink of the eye :-) But, don't be afraid, once you get used to it is really very easy to take thins under your control.

When the coffee almost boils, pour some of the coffee into the coffee cup to get the foam. If you prepare for more than one cup, then pour it equally among the cups. Allow the remaining coffee to brew a while longer before adding it to the cups. This almost boil-pour some-and almost boil again method is critical to have good quality foam. You can repeat this process 2 or 3 times. It depends on your patience :) The rule of thumb is 3 times. But, there are many different recipes with different repeat numbers.

As you noticed, Turkish style does not have a filtering process at any time. So, it is better to wait for a while (between 30 seconds to a minute) before drinking your coffee to let the coffee grounds settle at the bottom of the cup. The coffee grounds sink to the bottom should not be consumed. Also, as you will see majority of the grounds are left in the cezve.

2) Machine Way

It is really so fast and practical, also the coffee prepared by the machine really tastes good. A  white goods producer, Arcelik, designed the Turkish coffee machine. The only thing you should do is to put coffee, water and sugar (if desired) into machine's special pot and then to press the only button the machine has. Your delicious coffee will be ready within one minute.
A guide to use Automatic Turkish coffee machine

How you can buy Turkish coffee machine?


Now you can enjoy your coffee... :-) Afiyet Olsun! (Bon Appetite!)

Turkish Coffee Recipes

Main points of brewing coffee in Turkish style are to use finely ground coffee beans and to brew it almost boiling level. However, there are many different recipes to prepare Turkish coffee. In this blog, I am collecting most-known Turkish coffee recipes as well as some traditional and historical ones. Enjoy! :-)


▪ Classic Turkish Coffee Recipe
Original recipe to brew Turkish coffee by using either pot (cezve/ibrik) or machine.

▪ Classic Turkish Coffee Recipe (with photos)
Mainly the same recipe above, but including step-by-step photos and more explanation.

▪ Rare Turkish Coffee Recipes with
Rare and ancient Turkish coffee recipes using alternative ingredients.

▪ Cavalier Coffee (Suvari Kahvesi)
Similar to traditional one but the foam and serving cup is different.

▪ Mirra
A very strong version of Turkish coffee.

▪ Flirtatious Coffee (Cilveli Kahve)
A historical recipe with a special topping method.

▪ Cocktails with Turkish Coffee
Cocktail recipes prepared with Turkish coffee liqueur/