Bill2 wrote:kahvedelisi: Thanks for your detailed reply. Ok, I understand now that there is no such thing as "real traditional", but wanted to know what beans would produce the best result roasted to your type "a" roast, ie. lighter roast to first crack, and which would produce a similar style of coffee to what this person would be used to drinking.


thanks,
Bill

South American beans, even with very light roasts they will keep their sweetness when you brew Turkish Coffee. If you decide roasting darker you may try central american (such as SHB Costa Rica roasted to City+), if you'll pass beyond city+ then definitely yemen (if you roast yemen to cinnamon and leave it there, you'll be wasting good some coffee for nothing)

Kuban111 wrote:My question is in regards to the pre ground brands that normally are sold for Greek coffee.
Is it a normal practice that some of these brands might include spices already in the blend?

Hi Kuban,

Sorry for answering so late, got some projects and honestly it didn't occur to me to re-visit this topic till now

Yes, in Turkiye and Greece there are several brands selling ground coffee mixed with spices&herbs. Most common one is cardamom (as Abe mentioned already) and his description is right, that's one way of using, but in greece and turkiye cardamom generally ground instantly and added into coffee during brewing. Pre-mixed ones..ah well..those are just to make your life easier

Another widely used spice in turkiye; cloves (it's a strong spice so if you'll try use a little) also you can use nutmeg though it's not wide spread.

Third one is kinda Greek origined; mastic gum (also produced and used in turkiye but world's main mastic producer is greece) not sure if you can find this one ins states, but I definetely recommend it (just beware there are some fake ones, closest description I can give; it smells like..umm..pine? )if you find any greek or turkish stores ask for mastic (greek) or damla sakizi (turkish). It's also an ingredient used in raki/ouzo/mastika (turkish/greek/bulgarian)

Not a spice to mix into your coffee but it's kinda "a tradition" (ahah) in turkiye to serve mentha liquor with turkish coffee (in greece it's generally brandy served with coffee ie. metaxa)

Btw if you like the taste (no I don't) you can try ground ginger too

best

kahvedelisi wrote:if you roast yemen to cinnamon and leave it there, you'll be wasting good some coffee for nothing

What about Ethiopian Harar? Would that work at a cinnamon roast level?


thanks,
Bill

Bill2 wrote:What about Ethiopian Harar? Would that work at a cinnamon roast level?


thanks,
Bill

Hi Bill,

Unfortunately I haven't roasted any ethiopian coffee myself, so I can't really help you there. But you can check sweetmarias pages for ethiopian coffee and get an idea I think

http://www.sweetmarias.com/coffee.africa.ethiopia.html

For easier reference, kahvedelisi's follow-on explanation split to How to prepare Turkish coffee.