Whenever the subject of Turkish coffee arises, an old proverb comes to mind: “Coffee should be as black as hell, as strong as death, and as sweet as love”. This sentiment certainly sums up the intensely rich experience of sipping traditional Turkish coffee.

Author Nushet Yilmaz Comert, a Turkish coffee aficionado, not only brews his cup from scratch, but also dallies in the ancient Middle Eastern ritual of reading coffee grounds deposited at the bottom of the cup.

The coffee predominantly used by Turkish and Greek Australians to make this special-style brew is an especially fine-powder blend, marketed since the 1950s in Australia by Bushells. (Of course, there are also imported and locally roasted blends available in any continental grocery.)

If you’ve never tried Turkish coffee, the good news is it’s surprisingly easy to make. So follow the steps below to sample this intense traditional Turkish drink in all its frothy glory.

How to

To make perfect Turkish coffee, you’ll need: sugar; finely ground coffee powder or Minas; a metal stirring spoon; and a small copper boiling pot called a briki or cezve (pictured).

To begin, add one espresso-sized cup of cold water per person to the pot. Add one heaped teaspoonful of finely ground Turkish-style coffee powder (or Minas) per person. Finally, add one teaspoon of sugar for every two teaspoons of coffee you’ve added. Stir to dissolve the sugar.

Place the coffee pot over medium-low heat, keeping a watchful eye over it. Once it starts to simmer around the edges, it will become thick very quickly and begin to give off a nice aroma. Remove it from the heat and set aside for a minute.

Return the coffee pot to the stove, allowing it to simmer once again. Once the mixture becomes thick and creamy with a layer of foam on top, remove from heat and divide it among serving mugs, spooning the froth off first.

The froth factor

The perfect coffee will have a thick layer froth on top. It’ll be very creamy in the mouth. As you continue sipping, you’ll feel the creaminess at the back of your throat as the sediment will have sunk down to the bottom. You can alternate sips of coffee with sips of water, or just before drinking, to cleanse the mouth, allowing for greater flavour intensity.

Finally, when you’ve enjoyed your last sip, have a go at reading the grounds. To do this, Comert says, “Turn the cup towards you upside down on the saucer and make a wish. Wait till it cools down a bit. And wait for the sediment to flow down to the saucer.

“I was brought up among women who read cups and they’d lift the cup up and say, ‘See here, see here ... that’s a road’ or ‘That’s a camel’. I’d peek into the cup and so I learnt. It’s fun.”