Turkish coffee brewed the bazaar way, with the cezve pushed into a pan of hot sand so the foam can be raised slowly and lifted off before it boils. On a stove at the lowest heat it is the same coffee; the sand only makes the heat gentler and easier to judge.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Turkish Coffee in Sand, and Reading the Cup page.
Ingredients
- 7 to 8 g (1 heaped teaspoon) Turkish coffee, ground to a powder
- 60 to 70 ml (about 2 oz) cold water, measured with the cup you will serve in
- 0 to 2 teaspoons sugar, decided before brewing: sade (none), orta (1), şekerli (2)
- 2 to 3 cups clean, dry, washed sand, enough to fill a heavy pan about 2 inches deep
- 1 glass of cold water, to serve alongside
Directions
- Fill a heavy cast-iron pan about 2 inches deep with the sand and set it on a burner over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until the sand is too hot to hold a hand just above it.
- Put the cold water, coffee and sugar in the cezve and stir once or twice until the coffee sinks, then do not stir again.
- Push the cezve down into the hot sand. As the coffee warms, a foam forms and rises; when it climbs toward the rim, lift the pot up out of the deep sand to slow it.
- Spoon a little foam into the cup, return the pot to the sand to bring the foam up once more, then pour slowly into the cup so the foam stays on top.
- Turn off the burner and leave the pan of sand where it is until it has cooled completely; it stays hot for a long time.
- Serve with the glass of water, and let the grounds settle for a minute before drinking; stop when you reach them.
Notes
Where this comes from The coffee is the site’s standard Turkish coffee: about 7 to 8 g to 60 to 70 ml of cold water (see the Brewing page), sugar decided at the start. The sand pan is a home imitation of the bazaar sand trays; the depth of the pot in the sand is the heat control. History Turkey’s UNESCO nomination file (2013) describes the pot brewed “on the stove” and does not mention sand. A sand-coffee machine maker told Habertürk in 2012 that the older method was hot ash, and sand was his update. Safety Hot sand holds heat for a long time and spills easily. Use a heavy pan on a back burner, keep children away, and never move the pan until it is cold. The photo Two cezves set in hot ash and charcoal in Safranbolu, 2014, the older method; the sand trays look much the same.