RazorPete's primer on turkish coffee
I'm with Joesixpack, while drip coffee is ok, turkish coffee is great, and its so easy to make.
You can do it camping or anywhere.
If you buy your coffee at the local roasting company, just ask for a quarter pound to be ground extra fine or turkish style, that should give you plenty to practice with.
You can use just about any container to make it, I have not tried a percolator such as Joe uses, but my trusty Steel Army canteen cup works great for large batches. These stainless steel canteen cups are great for so many different purposes. You dont have to pay for it with three years of active duty in an infantry division, like me (lol, ouch that hurts), but instead you can get them from an army surplus store for nine bucks.
http://www.1starmy.com/uploadimages/...t_2608_enl.jpg
but if you really want to do it the right way, you should get an ibrik. The copper is the traditional type, but stainless steel is also popular, according to my turkish friends. You can get them for around 10 or 15 bucks.
http://www.freshcoffeeshop.com/images/copper_mh_2.jpg
Anyway, you just use about one tablespoon of coffee and one teaspoon of sugar for every cup of coffee you make. And I mean cups the size of espresso cups.
http://www.tulumba.com/mmTULUMBA/Ima...1HH987_250.jpg
You add the water cold to the coffee and sugar into the pot then slowly heat it, gas electric, camp stove, any will do. You have to keep your eyes on the pot while it cooks. After a couple minutes you will notice the pot start to foam.
Take the pot away slightly let the foam die down and then put it back in after a couple seconds, repeat a couple times, not letting the foam get close to the top of the lid.
Then take the pot off the heat, and then pour into your cup, or cups if you are making a large batch. Try to get even amounts of foam into each cup. I have found that mocha java, especially yemen or other mideast varieties are especially good made this way.
mmmmmm (and to think I am trying to cut down on coffee right now, arrrgghhhh!)
Notes
-Its pretty hard to get a uniform turkish grind yourself in a home blade grinder, and if you have some large particles that escape fine grinding, they tend to float up into the cup and ruin the coffee drinking experience.
-if you really want to grind turkish coffee at home, then invest in a large mortar and pestle, that grinds it real fine, and thats the traditional way its ground anyways.
-you have to avoid sloshing the coffee around while you are drinking it but instead just keep it stable. Its good to let the sediment settle well on the bottom. That way you can drink more of the liquid before you get to the solid part.
-If you order turkish coffee in the U.S. even if it is in a turkish restaurant, sometimes they just make it american style and its not as good as the kind you would get in the mid east. Much better to make it yourself with fresh coffee.
-outside of turkey, other mid east countries just call it arabic coffee
-the sugar is best added to the coffee pot at the beginning rather than how we normally add it after you pour it in the cup. Thats because the sugar helps you to get the foam.
