Share Turkish Coffee for Friendship and Peace of Mind / 🇹🇷 Turkey

When you invite someone for Turkish coffee, the cup can be the beginning of the visit rather than the end. Drink it slowly, then leave the grounds behind. In Türkiye, some people make a wish, turn the cup onto the saucer and look at the shapes once it has cooled. You can use the shapes to start a friendly conversation. If you see something like a road, ask where the other person would like to go. If you see a branch, ask what they would enjoy seeing grow this year. Leave room for their own reading, even if they see something completely different from what you see.

1. Serve Turkish coffee in small cups and bring a saucer for each one. Leave the grounds in the cup after drinking.
2. Make a quiet wish. Once the cup is cool enough to handle and contains no liquid to spill, cover it with the saucer and turn both over together.
3. Let the cup cool fully, then lift it and look for a shape in the grounds. Choose a detail you can turn into a hopeful question rather than a prediction.
4. Ask the other person what they see and listen to the story they make of it. If you like, end by choosing a day to meet again.

Turkish coffee is closely associated with hospitality and friendship. The preparation uses finely ground coffee and serves it in a small cup, leaving grounds to settle at the bottom. The grounds have become part of a social pastime in which people look for shapes and tell stories. A report on the tradition describes making a wish before letting the upturned cup cool. The waiting changes the rhythm of the meeting: even after the coffee has gone, there is time for one more exchange. Two people can start with the same pattern and end up with two different stories. It is a good occasion to find out what the other person has been thinking about.