Various coffee experiences of different authors around the world.
5. Coffees from Turkey.
Embarking on a trip to Turkey? You’d best leave your Keurig at home.The Turks are serious about their coffee, and to prove it, they’ve spent the last five centuries whipping up a signature blend that is as unique as any on earth. Until recently, I haven’t been much of coffee drinker, but when I landed in Turkey I simply knew I had to try this mystical brew I’d heard so much about. It took a few days in Istanbul
before I finally mustered up the courage to taste what a Middle Eastern friend once described as a beverage bearing the texture of waste from an overdue oil change.”From first sip, it’s obvious that Turkish coffee isn’t your typical morning grande at Starbucks. Turkish coffee differs, not in the choice of beans, but in its preparation. Finely ground roasted beans and sugar are added to water and boiled (and cooled) multiple 
times in a special pot called a cezve. Served unfiltered, Turkish coffee bears earthy aromas, a distinctive full body and frothy texture that would make an espresso green with envy.It’s also immensely flavourful, helping seasoned coffee aficionados appreciate the subtle woody tones of high-quality coffee beans. Once you get past the shock of drinking something with a sludge-like consistency, you’ll probably come to enjoy this surprisingly delightful beverage—no visit to Turkey is complete without it!
Coffee experience from Istanbul
It’s probably mundane to say my best coffee memory is from Istanbul, but it’s true. The fact that my father was Turkish and I’m partial has nothing to do with it at all. On the other hand, what does have a bearing on the matter is what comes WITH the coffee… in this case halvah, that sesame sweet with pistachios, and to crown the lot, a tiny, perfect square of loukoum, or Turkish delight. Turkish coffee isn’t for the tame: if you work at it you could probably stand a spoon in its creamy thickness. It’s dark and rich and exotic and smells of burnt beans, the aroma reaching you long before the taste. Properly made, its water is boiled three times and sugar incorporated directly during boiling. More than coffee it is a heavenly syrup, a coulis of coffee, a creamy, grainy mixture which, for me, is the king of coffees.
Leyla Giray Alyanak is a former foreign correspondent with a passion for travel and improving people’s lives in developing countries. At 43 she made a major decision to reinvent herself and travel the world solo for six months. She was gone more than three years. Leyla now works for an international development agency in Geneva and she blogs at Women on the Road./etramping.com
