Why does Turkish sand make coffee without filtering the dregs? How fine is the grind of Turkish coffee?

Filter papers, filter cloths, filters and other items are all the filtering devices we use when making coffee nowadays. The purpose is to filter out the coffee grounds so that the coffee has a cleaner texture. But even today, when filtration equipment is very popular, there are still many coffee practices that retain the existence of coffee grounds. For example, Turkish coffee, in addition to the visual effect of "never pouring", the curious drinking method of "even powder and residue" also adds a lot of popularity to it.

But the reason why Turkish coffee is not filtered is not that people are lazy, nor is it that they cannot keep up with the times. It is the result of its unique production craftsmanship, drinking habits, and cultural traditions. "Why Can't Turkish Coffee Always Finish?" shared on Front Street in January As mentioned in this article, the biggest difference between the production of Turkish coffee and modern mainstream coffee lies in its extraction method-boiling.

The so-called "boiling" means that coffee powder will be put into a cooker with water and continuously heated, which is completely different from the current two mainstream coffee extraction methods of "rushing" and "soaking". Although different, the production steps are not complicated. For example, Turkish coffee consists of pouring water and coffee powder into a copper pot called "Cezve", and then putting the copper pot into a sand table and continuing to heat it. When the coffee liquor inside is boiled until it boils, the Turks will choose whether to pour the coffee based on their cooking method: let the coffee boil three times and then pour it out once, or pour out one-third of the coffee each time. Either way, you can eventually get a cup of strong black coffee.

If you have experienced Turkish coffee, you will know that the time for making Turkish coffee is actually not long. The time from the boiling of the coffee to the end of extraction is only about ten seconds. If the grinding degree of the coffee powder is as "rough" as hand-washed, it will be difficult to extract a cup of strong black coffee, even if the heating time before boiling is added. Therefore, the grinding degree used for Turkish coffee is very, very fine. How fine is it? According to analogy, the grinding degree of Turkish coffee can be compared to powder particles. Many friends may think that it looks about the same thickness as espresso powder, but in fact, Turkish coffee powder will still be thinner than espresso powder!

Because by kneading, we can feel a little graininess from the Italian coffee powder, while Turkish coffee can hardly feel the graininess when kneading, it has a flour-like texture. Each particle has a diameter of about 100-150 microns, which is the size that we would classify as an extremely fine powder (so the right side of the picture above is the "Turkish coffee powder" sifted out on the front street). On average, one coffee bean can be broken down into 15,000 to 35,000 particles of this size. Because it is ground very finely, Turkish coffee can brew a pot of strong black coffee in a short period of time. At the same time, due to the extremely fine grinding, Turkish coffee can be made without filtering coffee grounds.

Because coffee powder will start to precipitate to the bottom of the cup after being saturated with water, and very finely ground coffee powder will absorb water faster, this encourages coffee powder to quickly absorb water and release it in the body in a short period of time. Flavor substances, and then sink to the bottom of the cup. When the coffee is brewed and poured out from the copper pot, some of the coffee powder will be poured into the cup with the coffee liquid due to boiling and tumbling. But the coffee powder poured into the cup will also precipitate quickly. When the coffee reaches a palatable temperature, the coffee powder has already sunk to the bottom of the cup. As long as the tilt is not high, it is almost difficult to drink a large amount of coffee powder.

That's right, it's not that you can't drink coffee powder at all, but there is still a certain probability. But it doesn't matter if you drink it, because the amount of floating coffee powder is rare and the particles are powdery, the existence of coffee powder will not have much negative impact on the texture of Turkish coffee. Not only that, they will also add a stronger flavor and a more mellow taste to the coffee, which can be said to be an auxiliary material to "color and flavor" the coffee. At this time, a friend may ask: "In the past, it may have been because there was no filtering equipment that it was not filtered, but why does Turkish coffee still choose not to filter out the coffee grounds now when filtering equipment is very popular?

This brings me to another feature of Turkish coffee! Since Turkish coffee has a long tradition of not filtering dregs, another very representative and mysterious special function of Turkish coffee-divination has been born. When people finish the Turkish coffee in their cups, the coffee grounds that had settled at the bottom of the cup will be revealed. At this time, people will cover the plate on the cup and invert it upside down, dry the coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup, and then perform divination by interpreting the pattern formed by the coffee grounds.

The emergence of this custom has made "retaining coffee grounds" an indispensable part of Turkish coffee. People will try to see hints on all aspects of life from the pattern, and will also put a ring or coin on an inverted cup to dispel the odds of the bad omen. It is very interesting.

To sum up, everyone knows why Qianjie would say that Turkish coffee still retains coffee grounds because of its unique production process, drinking habits, and cultural traditions.

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