5 ms·

Fwiw there are also machines that do it now, though purists disdain them. They are rare in homes (unlike espresso machines in Italy), but many commercial establ

by mjn 13y ago

Fwiw there are also machines that do it now, though purists disdain them. They are rare in homes (unlike espresso machines in Italy), but many commercial establishments in Turkey, the Balkans, and the Middle East will use the machine by default, if you don't inquire. In Greece there's probably a 50-60% chance of it being a machine nowadays, if you order at a restaurant or bakery and don't specifically ask if it's made in a briki. As is often the case, the solution to adapting to fast-paced capitalism seems to be automation.

gall 13y ago
I wonder if the disdain is for the idea of machine made Turkish coffee, or because there's some factor creating variance in the bubbling times for which the machines aren't compensating.
- coldtea 13y ago
  There's a HUGE culture behind Turkish(/Greek) coffee, and tons of details on making it. A better machine could mimic the technical part (not that anybody makes them like that currently), but the very idea of a machine making it is against the whole philosophy of drinking it. It's like making love to a plastic doll.
  - mjn 13y ago
    I agree as far as the ritual of making it in homes goes, but in a restaurant using a machine doesn't bug me much. Even when the coffee is made in a briki/cezve, at a larger store it'll be in a big assembly-line process in the kitchen, which doesn't really capture much mystique for me, and isn't visible to me anyway: all I see is that some coffee comes out a bit after I order it. So in that case it's just as well, to me, if a machine does it, as long as the quality is the same.
    - coldtea 13y ago
      >I agree as far as the ritual of making it in homes goes, but in a restaurant using a machine doesn't bug me much. For a larger store sure, it doesn't make much difference. But the traditional way was at small coffee shops (kafenes) where people would see for hours, smoke shisha etc. Usually with a sand based stove (hovoli) etc.

by mjn 13y ago

gall 13y ago

I wonder if the disdain is for the idea of machine made Turkish coffee, or because there's some factor creating variance in the bubbling times for which the machines aren't compensating.

coldtea 13y ago
There's a HUGE culture behind Turkish(/Greek) coffee, and tons of details on making it. A better machine could mimic the technical part (not that anybody makes them like that currently), but the very idea of a machine making it is against the whole philosophy of drinking it. It's like making love to a plastic doll.
- mjn 13y ago
  I agree as far as the ritual of making it in homes goes, but in a restaurant using a machine doesn't bug me much. Even when the coffee is made in a briki/cezve, at a larger store it'll be in a big assembly-line process in the kitchen, which doesn't really capture much mystique for me, and isn't visible to me anyway: all I see is that some coffee comes out a bit after I order it. So in that case it's just as well, to me, if a machine does it, as long as the quality is the same.
  - coldtea 13y ago
    >I agree as far as the ritual of making it in homes goes, but in a restaurant using a machine doesn't bug me much. For a larger store sure, it doesn't make much difference. But the traditional way was at small coffee shops (kafenes) where people would see for hours, smoke shisha etc. Usually with a sand based stove (hovoli) etc.