Haven't seen much discussion of this machine.

Over on CG, on a years old thread on the Aeropress, Randy G made a brief comment about how much he loves the Beko, and mentioned filtering the coffee through a Melitta cone and diluting it slightly, as an alternative to regular brewed coffee. I'm hoping he will see this and comment further (I've seen the review on his site).

I'm particularly interested in the following issues:

The sludge/filter factor:
I generally prefer a cleaner cup, so pretty much all my brewed coffee is paper filtered (Aeropress, Clever, Brazen Plus; I even mostly use paper filters with my Yama vac pot).
If I avoid French press because of the sludge, should I just stay away from Turkish?
How does Turkish run through a Melitta cone compare to more common brewing methods, such as drip or Aeropress (even though I assume Turkish purists would object to the idea of filtering)? Is filtering a viable option or just a dumb idea in the sense that if you want to filter it, you shouldn't bother with Turkish coffee in the first place?

The sugar factor:
How much is sugar an integral part of the Turkish coffee experience? Is it necesarily a "sweetened" beverage, or can you make it with no or minimal sugar, so it tastes sweet without tasting very sugary?

The grind factor:
Is grinding very finicky?
Can you get good results with a basic espresso grinder, set very fine (I have a K3, for example)?
Is the grind less critical if you plan to filter the coffee?

Thanks to anyone with relevant input, whether on the Beko machine, or Turkish coffee in general.

Turkish is Turkish, a heavy bodied, immersion style unfiltered SWEETENED beverage...if it's traditional. I like mine with fresh cardamom.
Randy filters his to pass for an American style coffee...just for grins, I assume.
With apologies, you don't sound like a candidate for a true Turkish coffee. It is a 3rd cousin of Cuban coffee, which starts as espresso, then an obscene amount of sugar is briskly stirred in.

DrugOfChoice wrote:...

The sugar factor:
How much is sugar an integral part of the Turkish coffee experience? Is it necesarily a "sweetened" beverage, or can you make it with no or minimal sugar, so it tastes sweet without tasting very sugary?

...

I'm not Randy and I don't use the Beko. I do use a copper stovetop Turkish cevze.

I use no sugar in my prep at all. You can also boil your water and set aside some aside. Refill you cevze and make the coffee. If the coffee is too strong to your liking, dilute the prep with your set aside water just like you would with an Americano.

Boil on!

While Turkish coffee is indeed traditionally sweet, in countries where the word 'coffee' means Turkish by default, it is no big deal if you ask for it unsweetened. Obesity and diabetes are rampant problems in many of the affluent counties on the Arabian peninsula and in the Levant. Many people just don't want the carbohydrates. I have been drinking it for about 15 years without sugar. I also prefer it with cardamom.

I remember getting a cup of coffee in a cafe in the Amman airport once, and they used a Beko. I remember it being decent. I also remember thinking the machine was pretty cool.

We use about 1tsp of sugar for a full pot. Required? No. I have also used cinnamon, but that stuff is difficult to mix with water. Cardamon is also a possibility but I have not tried that.
Ya it's sludgy. Tasty, tasty sludge.
Grind- you can't grind too fine for Turkish. I have adjusted my Baratza Virtuoso until the burrs begged for mercy, and it could be a bit finer.

The Sludge? Like the Redd Foxx joke:
Wife asks, "Whatcha' bring home for dinner?"
"A skunk!"
"A skunk? What about the smell?"
"Let him get use to it the way I had to!"
So replace 'skunk' with Turkish coffee, and replace 'smell' with sludge.

Regarding the addition of cardamom, many places use pre-ground coffee with the cardamom already ground in. Cardamom is not universal in Turkish coffee. Arabic coffee is a whole other animal, and I've personally never had it without cardamom.

Regarding the 'sludge', one of the skills acquired by the Turkish coffee drinker is how to handle the fact that your cup is full of fine grounds that are settling to the bottom. The sludge should be a non-issue because you should not be drinking it, or at least I don't want to be as it is silty, and not tasty to me. As long as you are gentle with the cup, deliberate with your sips, and know when you've gotten close enough to the sludge and one more sip would be a mouthful of silt, you are fine. Then you savor your tasty cup of coffee.

I use a brass or copper ibrik, the inside of which is tinned. I thought about the Beko, but it would take money from my Velox fund. For Ibriks/cevze, I like the ones on Sweet Marias as the handles unscrew which makes them great for packing. They make for great old-school traveling rigs. Picture yourself in a Caravan on the silk road, a campfire burning, and a simple filter-less system for making a tasty cup of coffee. It really is cool that the Beko can do the same thing. Huge advantage of a Beko, imo - you can turn your back on it. Never turn your back on a pot of Turkish coffee, or you get Mount Vesuvius of coffee with grounds all over your stove.

Excellent post! My contribution, if I may:
I also, after letting my small cevze's brew rise and fall twice (skimming the foam into a cup with demitase spoon) I remove it from the heat source, and allow it to settle 2 minutes. The silt will sink. A slow pour from distance into the cup allows more brew, less silt into the cup, if done properly

Saw this..Europe only, unless a converter is used:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Turkish-Coffee- ... g/12164392

It's $27.

kaldi61 wrote:Regarding the addition of cardamom, many places use pre-ground coffee with the cardamom already ground in. Cardamom is not universal in Turkish coffee. Arabic coffee is a whole other animal, and I've personally never had it without cardamom.

By "Arabic coffee" are you referring to the light roasted Saudi coffee, Al-Qahwa? What's that like?

Around here "Arabic Coffee" will get you the Turkish style preparation popular in the Levant region. The city where I live has many Armenians and the all things westerners label "Turkish" are referred to by other names.

Yes, qahwa is what I call Arabic coffee. It is very different than any other drink. Always flavored with cardamom, i find it is generally grassy, and lacks the chocolate or caramel tones you get out of more roast. I do think it is a pleasant little drink, and it is almost always served accompanying some dates, which as a companion change how the beverage is received, but I think in a positive way, like a good cup of brewed coffee and the right donut. Some synergy there.

Not shocking about the Armenians not embracing the ottoman labeling the rest of the world seems to have embraced. That wound is far from healed. But even without that history, most of the countries in the region will also use their own nationality to describe the coffee we call Turkish, such as Lebanese coffee or Iraqi coffee, but it is the same as Turkish.