Brewing a pot of Turkish coffee

Turkish coffee is quite simple to do. You need a Turkish coffee pot (džezva, cezve, zezwa, jazzwe, briki, ibric, ibrik, raqwa, kanaka, turka, ghallaye or however your culture calls it - I'm gonna use turkish coffee pot for clarity in this article). It can either be a traditional copper one with a very narrow top, or one of the modern versions made of enamel or stainless steel. Saucepans and regular pots will work too - but for best results, top of the pot should be at least slightly narrower than bottom.

Next, you need coffee. Freshly ground to powdery consistence is best... but is rarely used actually. These days most Turkish coffee is sold preground, as few people have grinders at home. Franck jubilarna kava is a common Croatian brand. It's a "standard", best-selling coffee around here (and rather cheap). It's somewhat of an acquired taste - there are people hating it and people swearing it's the best coffee in the world. Heck, you can get it on Amazon.

But I'd still recommend freshly-ground stuff any time. It's incomparable. Turkish coffee here often gets bad rap and it's looked down upon - but when done well, with top of the line coffee used, it can hold its' own against any gourmet method. You should grind it to the finest setting - finer than espresso, as fine as your grinder goes. It must be powdery like flour, powdered sugar or cocoa powder.

Another Croatian tradition: a jar of mystery coffee! To keep it traditional (aka with what most people have at their homes, without any special gear), that's what's gonna be used in this tutorial.

Step 1: Pour water in your pot. Leave some head space.

Step 2: Put coffee on top, and turn heat to medium.

It's best if you have a gas stove, but if you don't use what you have.

Minutes pass. Coffee will slowly sink down.

More minutes pass. Crema starts to appear. It's almost done.

Just a few seconds more, get ready...

Step 3: Remove from stove.

Step 4: Remove some crema from the top (it will contain some fine grounds) and spoon it in your cups. If you don't want the crema (why???), stir it in instead. Don't touch your coffee pot for a minute - grounds will drop to the bottom.

Step 5: Pour in some coffee, from sides so that crema floats on top. Wait a bit for the grounds to settle at the bottom and enjoy. Obviously, don't drink it bottoms up since there will be a layer of grounds at the bottom.

According to many, milk is sacrilege - but a lot of people drink it with milk. You might try some. Most people who drink milk add cold milk. If you want hot, foamed milk with a Turkish coffee, make sure you like the results, and a mix of foam, crema and fine grounds.

This is just one of the methods of making Turkish coffee. I mentioned two others in one of my first posts. If you use the quick method (with separately heating the water and pouring over the grounds), it will be done much faster (in about a quarter of the time), but you will get much less crema and the pot should be left alone for longer time to brew/settle properly. The method depicted in this article will get you better results though, both visually and taste-wise - and it's probably simplest to do. It only requires some time and patience.

If you wish to sweeten the coffee with sugar, the best way to do it is during brewing. Add sugar before coffee (since after putting coffee in you're no longer stirring) and proceed as normal. Some cultures like to add some spices too (cinnamon, cardamom etc.), so if you feel like experimenting you might try that too.

How to use a Moka Pot to make coffee

Moka pot is an amazing tool. Invented by the Italian company Bialetti in 30s, it will give you a drink similar to espresso which you can drink straight or use instead of espresso in various drinks such as macchiatos, cappucinos or lattes. You don't need any measure for it - the pots are pre-measured to a certain size, in a number of cups (meaning espresso cups, not huge mugs). Pics in the instructions below are made using a 6-cup pot.

Step 1: Heat water in a kettle (optional)

Step 2: Fill water up to the release valve

Step 3: Add coffee

Step 4: Level coffee with your finger and place it in pot

Step 5: Screw in top part (careful, base is HOT if you pre-heated the water!) and place on low to medium heat

Step 6: Coffee starts pouring in after a while.

At this level, keep it on stove for some 10-15 more seconds, and then remove

Step 7: Done! Enjoy your coffee :)

Pre-heating up water in a pot is optional, personally I found that it gives better results than using cold water - since coffee is on stove for a shorter time, there's less chance coffee will end up burned due to pot heating up. Also, I removed it from the stove before the all water percolated up, since that tends to overextract the coffee (and comes close to boiling it).

Best coffee is freshly ground to espresso size, or slightly coarser than that.

Some of the most notable moka pots:

• Bialetti Moka Express - the original, comes in various sizes - be sure to select the right one for you
• IKEA RÅDIG - stainless steel option, with different styling - but only one size
• Bialetti Brikka - built slightly differently from Moka, with a special valve that builds pressure to the higher levels than Moka - coffee is released quickly, with richer crema

These pots are typically very durable. However, you might need to replace the rubber or silicone gasket after some time. These are not expensive - but be sure you're getting them in the correct size.

Clean mostly with water. If residual oils build up too much and go rancid, boil a mixture of water and alcoholic vinegar to clean the moka pot.

How to use a French Press to make coffee

French Press is a wonderful thing. It's cheap, easy and makes wonderful coffee. It's my preferred coffee maker. It produces coffee that is (mostly) mechanically filtered, and rich in taste and flavor.

Here's how you can make the coffee in it.

Step 1: open the French press and pour in some hot water to pre-heat it. Ditch the water.

Step 2: add coffee.

Step 3: pour in enough water to cover it and let it "bloom" for a bit.

Step 4: pour water almost to the top and stir.

Step 5: close the French Press, with the plunger up high. Let it brew for 4 minutes.

Step 6: depress the plunger gently and slowly. Pour coffee out of the French Press and enjoy (don't forget to clean the press)

Regarding coffee: it's best if it's ground freshly and coarsely. I usually put 1 heaping teaspoon per dL of water, I know how much coffee I like. If you have a scale and want to weigh your coffee, I've heard weight ratios between 1:10 and 1:20 used. How much you use should probably vary according to the coffee bean used, coarseness of the grind, your tastes and other factors. Experiment! It's delicious :)

I recommend freshly-roasted beans from your local coffee shop... if you have these sorts of establishment nearby, or if you're willing to order online - these will give you the best taste.

If you're stuck without a grinder (or don't intend to get one at this moment), get yourself a coffee ground to French Press coarseness. Or, failing that, filter coffee coarseness. Supermarket brands are typically below independent coffee roasters when it comes to quality.

Out of cheap Croatian pre-ground brands, I've had relatively good results with Franck's 100% Arabica. It's just slightly more expensive than most cheap coffees, and produces a tastier brew than other coffees near its' price point. However, some grounds do pass through the mesh filter...

Besides making coffee, French Press is a very versatile tool that can be used for other things as well: making tea, foaming milk, draining stuff etc. For those of you asking where to get the French Press: if you're in Croatia (where this item is relatively unknown at homes), check out Muller or IKEA. Otherwise, you might want to consider ordering online.