Turkish Coffee - Legal Drama.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by muziq

Thanks Dan and Moses for the additional info and discussion on cardamon. I'm hitting my local middle eastern market today to pick up an ibrik and will give this a shot!

Please permit a weird aside here in ibrik/cezve world: GermantownRob sent me a very sporty little Bialetti Eleganz stainless steel mokapot. It makes great tasting moka, no fuss, every time. However, to save my life I cannot get this pot to generate anything more that the flimsiest, tiniest bit of crema atop the brew. Using the same coffee and best procedures I always have heaps of crema with my old Bialetti Moka Express (aluminum) pots.

I have one cezve and it is made of 18-10 stainless. It will generate froth once (on the first boil) and then no more. The froth from the first boil, BTW, is weak and it barely holds together well enough to spoon out into a cup.

A fine point here - or maybe no point at all. A traditional cezve is brass or copper with a silvered tin lining (so the internet for-sale captions claim). Those I have seen in restaurants are always of this type. Besides being made of traditional material they are also pretty "used" looking, i.e., they appear oil-covered or well scorched on the outside and, particularly so, on the inside neck. I suspect keeping froth involves a "well-oiled" machine and that stainless might be something to avoid.

Anyone around with more experience who can comment on how to build and keep foam atop the coffee on 2nd, 3rd or even (the most traditional) 4th boil? Do we have any Turks here? And native Balkan types with coffee background? Hello?