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After a long day of wandering the streets of Istanbul, Luke and I decided that we would leave the busy main streets and find an quiet, authentic place to have a cup of Turkish coffee. It was early evening and we were tired after spending many hours looking through carpet shops and visiting the Grand Bazaar.
Turkish coffee is that wonderful sweetly-spiced coffee that is served in demi-tasse cups and is nearly half grounds. We had made a point of trying whatever the local specialty drink was in each of our ports of call. For Turkey it was Turkish coffee.
We saw a small lit sign part way down a dark side street and we left the main thoroughfair to head for it. It turned out to be a small cafe with maybe five tables. There were two men working there and no customers. One of them motioned us toward a booth. Neither man seemed to speak English and neither of us spoke Turkish. Nonetheless, it was pretty easy to order two coffees.
Luke and I were relaxing and chatting when one of the two men came back a little while later and placed a stainless steel pitcher in the middle of the table. The pitcher held about two pints of a white liquid and we were confused about what that liquid might be. We had never had any kind of liquid served to us with Turkish coffee before and we began to debate what it was.
Luke thought that it might offend the proprietors if we didn't accept what they had brought and at least give it a try. I was more cautious and thought that it would be best if we just left the pitcher alone and waited for our coffee. Luke was determined, however, and the two men watched in shock as Luke lifted the creamer to his mouth and started to drink.
Luke's gesture caused quite a commotion. I don't think that the guys could believe what they had just seen. They spoke very animatedly between themselves and ocassionally pointed at Luke. I was surprized that they didn't kick us out. Instead, they quietly brought our coffee and waited for us to leave.
Mark Martin <mark@mark-a-martin.us>
Last modified: Tue Jul 25 16:54:54 CDT 2000