nixter wrote:Just bumping this as Ive been really into brewing turkish lately and this is a fantastic read. Everything else I've found on the net swears by the triple boil.

well.. boiling is something I associate with eggs not with coffee.

Besides, if results are so good, why feel the need for swearing by the triple boil? As always "fresh coffee" is the key for all brewing methods, any other persuasion agents are gratuitous, included "swearing by, making a vow, taking an oath or stirring 12 times right then 7 times left". Actually that last one works better with safelocks rather than Turkish coffee

However, superstition will always be a part of Turkish coffee, can't imagine without some in it Just next time you come across with someone singing about triple boil myth, ask for an explanation and don't give up till you get a logically valid one. excuses such as "to make it hot enough" or "for more froth formation" or "cos my mother and her grand grand grand mother said so" are excluded

I actually had my best cup yet when brewing to a near boil only. More flavor was apparent. I took it off the heat as soon as the foam that starts at the edges moved inwards and covered the whole surface. I'm a fan of little or no sugar.

Anyhow, lets just say for argument's sake that I did ask someone for a good explanation of why the triple boil. What would I give as defense to the no boil approach?

near boiling vs triple boiling are not the same. I had explained in detail at my previous posts "bringing to boil" is much better and preferred style compared to triple or single boiling. So no surprise there you got better result at near boiling. As you'd know by experience brewing with cezve over stove-top it takes only a few seconds from 95 to 100 Celsius degree. since infusion is all about heat and time, once you get over the boiling point you'll probably end up with much bitter tasting coffee. Just like any other method. You're not pouring scalding hot-boiling water over coffee grounds when you brew french press. or you won't use 100 Celsius degree hot water for your espresso. same goes with filter/drip. Coffee contains hundreds of flavor components, oils, minerals, solubles and we still don't know about every one of them in precise detail (thanks to our spotlight-loving lead vocalist caffeine). some of those needs more heat to dissolve, some needs more time, or both. others need more pressure etc. and once they're dissolved not all of those are preferred tastes, so we keep it below boiling point. Plus, "overextraction" and "underextraction" rules won't change for turkish coffee.

now.. to brew bitter or better, that is the question and that's your defense

if you need more; boiling will cost you espresso-like crema and even the big bubbled foam/froth. you'll either have weak one or no foam/froth at all. actually properly brewed turkish coffee has a thin layer of micro bubbled espresso-like crema on top

Thanks so much for the reply! Forgive me though I'm slightly confused by your wording, are you saying boil or no boil?

definitely NO boil

Got it. Ok here's when I've been stopping the brew, tell me if it's too late. Basically as things near boiling the edges will darken and rise up slightly before turning in to a foam. This edge foam starts creeping towards the center and once it totally covers the surface I remove from heat. Sound good? I was just curious because it seems to me that there is at least some light boiling going on at the bottom which is facilitating the foam creation.

Thanks again for your help!!

What you're doing sounds good.

about those bubbles forming around cezve's edges while coffee start rising, that's not necessarily an indication of boiling. Mainly it's hot liquid rising and coming into contact with even hotter upper surface of cezve. I'm not sure but the right word for this could be "sizzling" anyway, you'll easily understand once it starts boiling because coffee will overflow instantly. you may ask, "if it's overflowing how do people triple boil?" answer to that; by pulling back cezve just before it fully overflows, waiting few seconds for it to cool down a bit then repeating the process.

Check out vimeo video I had posted at previous page of this thread. You'll notice the sizzling and bubbles forming at edges around 2:38 - 2:40 from there coffee starts rising a couple milimeters and around 2:48 I remove cezve from heat. if I had kept it on stove a little longer, then it would start boiling and coffee would overflow in 3-5 seconds.

I was told that you let the foam build up three times. We were making Turkish in an homage to the Turkish Grand Prix that we had gathered to watch, so it was a one-off, and I just asked the folk that I knew that make it far more often. They said three, I did three.
Say what you will, but that three-time foamed Turkish coffee convinced me that every single Turkish coffee served to me prior to that was crap. And the wife of a friend of mine that had previously been a complete candy-bar customer (eight to ten ounces of steamed milk to each shot of espresso, accompanied by a shot of caramel, some chocolate, vanilla, and two teaspoons of sugar), announced upon receiving her portion of the Turkish that I had made, "I don't think I need milk with this." I made the coffee with one short teaspoon of sugar to each serving.
I'll probably experiment, but this was smooth, strong, and had no bitterness at all.

may I ask which beans/brand you used? and how old?

It was a local roaster's blend product, that I like very much as an espresso. I don't recall exactly how old the roast was, but I tend towards >three days but <ten.
I did the same thing just recently with a six day old Yrgacheffe, and wasn't as pleased. Probably because I'm not a great fan of SO coffee's to begin with, and bright acidic, lemony-orange berry Africans are n't helping that opinion. I do understand that they are pretty great, and why some folk would love them, just not my thing.
I've gotten hold of another of this guy's blend, and I'll be trying it again, soon.