Turkish cezve (ibrik)

A pot sized for the cups you pour

CoffeeHQ explanation

The narrowing neck is functional. It gathers the foam as the coffee heats and makes the rise visible, so you can take it off the heat in time. That only works when the pot is filled to the right level, roughly up to where it begins to narrow.

This is why cezves are sold by the number of small cups they make, and why one pot does not serve every occasion. A large cezve with one cup's worth of coffee in it spreads the liquid across a wide base, where foam does not collect. Many households that make this coffee often own two sizes.

Copper, stainless steel and brass

Widely documented

Copper with a tin lining

The traditional choice. Copper conducts heat quickly and evenly, which makes the gentle heating this coffee wants easier to control. The inside is coated with tin so the drink does not touch bare copper. That is more than tradition: the model food code used by United States regulators bars copper and brass from contact with food more acidic than pH 6, because acidic food leaches copper, and coffee is on the acidic side of that line.

Stainless steel

Needs no lining and no special care, and many steel pots work on induction. It conducts heat less evenly, so it wants a lower flame and a little more attention.

Brass and decorative pots

Brass is used like copper and is likewise lined. Some ornate pots are made as souvenirs; check that one is intended for use and lined before putting it on the heat.

Looking after a tin lining

Widely documented

Tin is soft. Clean a lined pot with a soft cloth or sponge and never with an abrasive pad or a metal spoon scraped around the inside. Do not heat it empty or let it boil dry, because tin melts at a far lower temperature than copper: a maker of tin-lined copper pans puts the figure at 232 °C and warns that a pan boiled dry will reach it. The same maker keeps its copper out of the dishwasher and names metal spoons and whisks as the main cause of a worn lining.

With years of use the lining wears thin and the copper begins to show through as pinkish patches. At that point the pot should be re-tinned by someone who offers that service, or retired from use, for the reason given above. The outside of a copper pot tarnishes, which is cosmetic and polishes off.

The heat source and the grind

CoffeeHQ explanation

Any gentle heat works: a small gas burner, an electric ring on low, or the traditional tray of hot sand, which surrounds the pot with even heat. A small pot on a large gas ring needs care, as the flame can reach the handle. Copper and brass will not heat on induction without an adapter plate. Electric cezve machines also exist and stop automatically as the foam rises.

The grind is the real barrier. This coffee is ground to a powder much finer than espresso, and most home grinders cannot produce it. The practical options are a hand mill built for the purpose, a grinder whose maker states it reaches this fineness, or coffee bought already ground for the method.

What goes wrong with the pot

CoffeeHQ explanation

No foam forms

Usually because: The pot is too big for the amount being made, or the heat is too high and the coffee boils before foam builds.

Change first: Use a pot that the batch fills to the neck, and heat more slowly.

It boils over in a moment

Usually because: The rise is fast at the end, and the pot was full or unattended.

Change first: Fill only to the neck and lift it off the heat as soon as the foam starts to climb.

Gritty rather than silky

Usually because: The grind is not fine enough for the method.

Change first: Use coffee ground specifically for this style.

What to do next

• How to make Turkish coffee — The method itself: proportions, heating, the foam and serving.
• Turkish coffee, the tradition — How the drink is prepared and served where it comes from.
• Greek coffee vs Turkish coffee — The same pot under another name, and what really differs.
• Become a barista — A structured programme from dose and grind through milk, drinks and maintenance.