{
  "id": "coffee-drinks-around-the-world",
  "url": "https://coffearium.org/entries/coffee-drinks-around-the-world/",
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "title": "Coffee drinks around the world",
  "summary": "How coffee is prepared, sweetened, spiced and served in different cultures, from Turkish and Arabic coffee to the Italian bar, Nordic kettle coffee, Viennese coffeehouses and café de olla.",
  "domain": "history",
  "kind": "Concept",
  "stage": "cup",
  "topics": [
    "history"
  ],
  "topicSections": {},
  "lang": "en",
  "status": "verified",
  "reviewer": "Coffearium verification pass",
  "lastVerified": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z",
  "updated": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z",
  "added": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z",
  "brief": [
    "Turkish coffee is fine-ground coffee, cold water and sugar brewed slowly in a pot until it foams; UNESCO inscribed its culture and tradition in 2013.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a></sup>",
    "Arabic coffee is lightly roasted, pounded and brewed in a copper pot over a fire; the oldest or most important guest is served first. UNESCO inscribed it in 2015.<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup>",
    "In one 2023 study, Turkish coffee is made from 8 g of coffee and 70 g of water and served in a cup of 50–70 mL.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup>",
    "Viennese coffeehouse culture has been on Austria’s national inventory of intangible cultural heritage since 2011.<sup><a href=\"#src-s13\">13</a></sup>",
    "According to a coffee historian, Nordic coffee was mostly light roasted, brewed in a kettle and drunk black.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup>"
  ],
  "quickFacts": [
    {
      "label": "Turkish coffee",
      "value": "8 g coffee + 70 g water; 50–70 mL cup (one 2023 study)"
    },
    {
      "label": "Arabic coffee",
      "value": "Light roast, copper pot; a quarter cup per pour, one to three cups"
    },
    {
      "label": "Heritage listings",
      "value": "Vienna 2011 (national); Turkish 2013; Arabic 2015, extended to Jordan 2024 (UNESCO)"
    },
    {
      "label": "Café de olla",
      "value": "Clay pot, piloncillo, cinnamon, cloves (Mexican cookbook, 1998)"
    },
    {
      "label": "Coffee–chicory mixture, India",
      "value": "At least 51% coffee by mass (food standard)"
    }
  ],
  "aka": [
    "World coffee drinks",
    "Coffee cultures",
    "National coffee drinks"
  ],
  "linkTerms": [
    "Arabic coffee",
    "qahwa",
    "gahwa",
    "café de olla",
    "cafe de olla",
    "Viennese coffeehouse",
    "Viennese coffeehouse culture",
    "coffee cultures"
  ],
  "related": [
    "the-ethiopian-coffee-ceremony",
    "coffeehouses-from-mecca-to-europe",
    "eras-and-waves-of-coffee",
    "cups-and-vessels",
    "coffee-as-food-in-ethiopia",
    "brew-methods",
    "espresso",
    "espresso-recipes-and-ratios",
    "moka-pot",
    "cold-brew",
    "serving-temperature"
  ],
  "contested": [
    "Does Turkish coffee boil? A coffee science textbook chapter describes heating the pot up to boiling, sometimes several times<sup><a href=\"#src-s6\">6</a></sup>; a 2023 study of Turkish coffee in Türkiye describes taking the pot off the heat before it boils.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup>"
  ],
  "corrections": [
    {
      "date": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z",
      "change": "Café cubano was removed (paragraph, matrix row and source); it is now listed under open questions.",
      "reason": "The University of Miami feature it rested on could not be opened during verification."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z",
      "change": "Turkish coffee: the count of 26 local kinds, mastic as a flavouring and “only two” geographical indications were removed or reworded; dibek grinding now follows the study (dimpled stones at first, today a hammer).",
      "reason": "These details could not be found in the 2023 study; the study describes dibek differently."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z",
      "change": "Arabic coffee is described as brewed in a copper pot over a fire, not boiled; the Jordanian file’s settings were corrected.",
      "reason": "The UNESCO decision does not say the coffee is boiled; the element page names weddings and tribal gatherings for all submitting states, and government offices and homes for Jordan."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z",
      "change": "Coffee’s arrival in Istanbul is given as the 16th century, with a note that dates differ; café de olla method corrected (coffee added as the water returns to the boil, then heat off); the Viennese listing is cited from the Austrian inventory directly.",
      "reason": "The 2023 study says only that the early 16th century is “accepted” and that dates differ, and a sibling entry dates Istanbul’s first coffeehouse to 1554; the recipe adds coffee at the boil; the inventory entry was opened."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "s1",
      "title": "Turkish coffee culture and tradition",
      "authors": "UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage",
      "year": 2013,
      "publisher": "UNESCO",
      "url": "https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/turkish-coffee-culture-and-tradition-00645",
      "tier": "A",
      "quote": "The beverage is served in small cups, accompanied by a glass of water",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s2",
      "title": "Spatial distribution of Türkiye’s local Turkish coffee kinds",
      "authors": "Demir, Y.; Bertan, S.",
      "year": 2023,
      "publisher": "Journal of Ethnic Foods 10, 32",
      "url": "https://journalofethnicfoods.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42779-023-00200-8",
      "doi": "10.1186/s42779-023-00200-8",
      "tier": "A",
      "quote": "8 g of ground coffee and a cup (70 g) of room temperature water are mixed.",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s3",
      "title": "Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 10.COM 10.B.32 (Arabic coffee, a symbol of generosity)",
      "authors": "UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage",
      "year": 2015,
      "publisher": "UNESCO",
      "url": "https://ich.unesco.org/en/decisions/10.COM/10.B.32",
      "tier": "A",
      "quote": "The most important or oldest guest is served first, filling a quarter of the cup, which can then be refilled.",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s4",
      "title": "Arabic coffee, a symbol of generosity",
      "authors": "UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage",
      "year": 2024,
      "publisher": "UNESCO",
      "url": "https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/arabic-coffee-a-symbol-of-generosity-01074",
      "tier": "A",
      "tierNote": "Element page of the multinational file, as extended to Jordan in 2024 (decision 19.COM 7.B.55).",
      "quote": "the coffee must be poured using the right hand",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s5",
      "title": "We Consumers – Tastes, Rituals, and Waves",
      "authors": "Morris, J.",
      "year": 2017,
      "publisher": "In: Folmer, B. (ed.), The Craft and Science of Coffee, Academic Press, ch. 19 (pp. 459–477 cited)",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00019-0",
      "doi": "10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00019-0",
      "tier": "B",
      "tierNote": "Chapter by a university historian in a textbook; the Folmer chapters count as one Tier B source and carry no number or exact date alone.",
      "quote": "Whereas the Arabian version of the drink was still essentially an infusion, using lightly roasted beans and flavored with cardamom, Turkish coffee preparation involved blackened beans, sweetened with sugar.",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s6",
      "title": "The Brew – Extracting for Excellence",
      "authors": "Mestdagh, F.; Glabasnia, A.; Giuliano, P.",
      "year": 2017,
      "publisher": "In: Folmer, B. (ed.), The Craft and Science of Coffee, Academic Press, ch. 15, pp. 355–380",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00015-3",
      "doi": "10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00015-3",
      "tier": "B",
      "quote": "Grounds need to settle before serving.",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s7",
      "title": "Economic Sustainability – Price, Cost, and Value",
      "authors": "Perez, J.; Kilian, B.; Pratt, L.; Ardila, J. C.; Lamb, H.; Byers, L.; Sanders, D.",
      "year": 2017,
      "publisher": "In: Folmer, B. (ed.), The Craft and Science of Coffee, Academic Press, ch. 6, from p. 133",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00006-2",
      "doi": "10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00006-2",
      "tier": "B",
      "quote": "For coffee drinkers who do not like the taste of pure coffee, retailers and baristas have created new coffee beverages.",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s8",
      "title": "Ka koida Kaffee. Ein bibliographischer Kommentar zum Wiener Kaffeehaus als Desiderat der literaturwissenschaftlichen Gedächtnisforschung",
      "authors": "Grill, M.",
      "publisher": "Brücken. Germanistisches Jahrbuch Tschechien – Slowakei 27/1, Charles University, Prague",
      "url": "https://bruecken.ff.cuni.cz/wp-content/uploads/sites/56/2020/10/Markus_Grill_91-110.pdf",
      "tier": "A",
      "tierNote": "Scholarly journal article; its footnote 2 quotes the Austrian UNESCO Commission’s description of the inventory entry (source 13, opened directly in verification).",
      "quote": "Seit 2011 zählt es offiziell zum österreichischen Kulturerbe.",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s9",
      "title": "Midnight Espresso, Wellington, 1997",
      "authors": "Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand",
      "publisher": "Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand (Tea, coffee and soft drinks)",
      "url": "https://teara.govt.nz/node/218019",
      "tier": "A",
      "tierNote": "Government encyclopedia of New Zealand; photograph and caption.",
      "quote": "one of the café trailblazers whose 1989 opening announced the comeback of espresso coffee made from freshly ground beans.",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s10",
      "title": "The land of the long black and flat white: Coffee culture in Aotearoa",
      "authors": "Gibson, S.",
      "year": 2018,
      "publisher": "Te Papa (Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa), blog",
      "url": "https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2018/11/14/the-land-of-the-long-black-and-flat-white-coffee-culture-in-aotearoa/",
      "tier": "B",
      "tierNote": "Blog post by a curator of the national museum; no references.",
      "quote": "Coffee began its climb to ascendancy in New Zealand with the arrival of American servicemen in the Second World War.",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s11",
      "title": "Café de Olla 1998 (Mexican Spiced Coffee)",
      "authors": "University of Texas at San Antonio Special Collections",
      "year": 2014,
      "publisher": "La Cocina Histórica, UTSA Libraries (recipe from Verti, S., El Libro Clásico de la Navidad en México, Editorial Diana, México, D.F., 1998)",
      "url": "https://lacocina.utsa.edu/?p=5360",
      "tier": "B",
      "tierNote": "University library blog reproducing a recipe from a Mexican cookbook in its Mexican Cookbook Collection; one cookbook’s recipe, not a survey of practice.",
      "quote": "Olla Honda de barro, jarritos individuales",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s12",
      "title": "Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1274: Road map of Coffee Board",
      "authors": "Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India",
      "year": 2024,
      "publisher": "Department of Commerce, Government of India",
      "url": "https://www.commerce.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LS-USQ-No.1274-dated.-03.12.2024.pdf",
      "tier": "A",
      "quote": "As per the standards, the coffee content in the mixture shall not be less than 51 percent by mass.",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    },
    {
      "id": "s13",
      "title": "Wiener Kaffeehauskultur",
      "authors": "Österreichische UNESCO-Kommission",
      "publisher": "Österreichisches Verzeichnis des immateriellen Kulturerbes (national inventory, entry of 2011)",
      "url": "https://www.unesco.at/kultur/immaterielles-kulturerbe/oesterreichisches-verzeichnis/detail/article/wiener-kaffeehauskultur",
      "tier": "A",
      "tierNote": "Official inventory text of the Austrian UNESCO Commission; A for what the inventory records.",
      "quote": "Typisch für ein Wiener Kaffeehaus sind Marmortischchen, auf denen der Kaffee serviert wird,",
      "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "markdown": "## What makes a coffee drink local\n\nEvery coffee drink starts with roasted coffee and water. What changes from place to place is the rest. Cultures differ in how dark they roast, how they brew and whether they add sugar, milk or spice.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> They also differ in where coffee is drunk, who serves it and in what order.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a>,<a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup>\n\nThe first coffee drinkers on record were Sufi mystics in what is now Yemen, in the mid-15th century, according to a coffee historian.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> In his account, they used a brew of dried coffee husks seen in Ethiopia, called *buno* there and *qishr* by the Sufis.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> Ethiopia’s own way of preparing and sharing coffee is described in the Ethiopian coffee ceremony entry. How coffeehouses spread from Arabia to Europe has its own entry too.\n\nThis entry describes drinks from the sources by or about the cultures that make them. It covers only drinks for which we found an official, academic or institutional source. Several well-known drinks are therefore missing (see Open questions).\n\nSome coffee traditions are recognised as cultural heritage. UNESCO lists Turkish coffee culture and Arabic coffee on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a>,<a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup> Austria lists Viennese coffeehouse culture on its national inventory.<sup><a href=\"#src-s13\">13</a></sup> The listings describe social practices: preparing, serving and sharing coffee.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a>,<a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup>\n\n<figure>\n<div data-figure=\"coffee-drinks-around-the-world-heritage-listings\"></div>\n<figcaption>Coffee drinking practices listed as intangible cultural heritage, by year of listing: one national inventory (Austria) and two UNESCO elements, one of them extended to a further country.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a>,<a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a>,<a href=\"#src-s4\">4</a>,<a href=\"#src-s13\">13</a></sup></figcaption>\n</figure>\n\n## Turkish and Arabic coffee\n\n**Turkish coffee.** Freshly roasted coffee is ground to a fine powder. The coffee, cold water and sugar go into a pot and brew slowly on a stove until a foam forms.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a></sup> The pot is the cezve.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> In a 2023 study, the coffee is cooked on medium heat without stirring and taken off before it boils.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> According to a coffee science textbook, the grounds must settle, and some sediment reaches the cup.<sup><a href=\"#src-s6\">6</a></sup>\n\nThe coffee comes in small cups with a glass of water.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a></sup> The water cleans the mouth before drinking, and a Turkish delight is part of the service.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> According to UNESCO, the drink stands for hospitality and friendship. It is drunk in coffeehouses where people meet to talk, share news and read.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a></sup> The grounds left in the cup are sometimes used to tell fortunes.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a></sup> Coffee reached Istanbul in the 16th century; the 2023 study notes that sources give different dates for its arrival.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> The coffeehouses entry covers the first coffeehouses there.\n\n**Arabic coffee.** The file submitted to UNESCO by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar describes the preparation. The beans are lightly roasted in a shallow pan over a fire.<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup> They are pounded in a copper mortar and brewed with water in a large copper pot over the fire.<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup> A coffee historian describes the early Arabian drink as lightly roasted and flavoured with cardamom.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup>\n\nServing follows clear rules. The most important or oldest guest is served first, with a quarter of a cup that can be refilled.<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup> It is common to drink at least one cup and no more than three.<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup> The coffee is poured with the right hand, and the guest shakes the cup to show they have had enough.<sup><a href=\"#src-s4\">4</a></sup> UNESCO describes serving Arabic coffee as a ceremonial act of generosity.<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup>\n\n## Espresso cultures and milk drinks\n\n**Italy.** According to a coffee historian, Italian coffee culture grew around the espresso bar.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> Espresso was brewed fresh for each customer and drunk quickly, often standing at the counter.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> In his account, the bar served coffee before work, coffee breaks and an espresso after meals.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> In the south, sugar was often put into the cup before it was served.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> At home, the moka pot became popular throughout Italy.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> The espresso recipes entry gives the parameters of the Italian espresso definition.\n\n**Cappuccino and latte.** According to the same historian, “cappuccino” first meant a small white coffee.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> It became an espresso topped with steamed milk, made at the bar.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> Caffelatte was a working-class breakfast at home: milk and bread warmed in a pan, often with little or no coffee.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> The espresso entry follows how the American caffè latte developed from café au lait.\n\n**New Zealand.** A 1997 photograph in the encyclopedia of New Zealand shows a Wellington café whose opening in 1989 marked the return of fresh espresso.<sup><a href=\"#src-s9\">9</a></sup> Its caption calls the drink served “probably a flat white or caffè latte”.<sup><a href=\"#src-s9\">9</a></sup> A curator at New Zealand’s national museum links the rise of coffee there to the arrival of American servicemen and of European immigrants and refugees in the 20th century.<sup><a href=\"#src-s10\">10</a></sup> No source opened for this entry settles where the flat white was first made.\n\n## Kettle coffee and coffeehouses in Europe\n\n**Nordic countries.** According to a coffee historian, light roasts dominated in Scandinavia, especially in Finland.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> Coffee was brewed directly in a kettle and mostly drunk black.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> Among Sami reindeer herders, any milk added was dried reindeer milk; in Sweden, a common addition was cheese.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> Some drinkers sucked the coffee through a lump of sugar held between the lips.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> In Sweden, the *fika* break with coffee and cake developed in the late 19th century.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup>\n\n**Vienna.** Viennese coffeehouse culture has been part of Austria’s national inventory of intangible cultural heritage since 2011, as a social practice.<sup><a href=\"#src-s13\">13</a></sup> The inventory text names small marble tables on which the coffee is served, Thonet bentwood chairs, booths and newspaper tables.<sup><a href=\"#src-s8\">8</a>,<a href=\"#src-s13\">13</a></sup> A literary scholar describes reading newspapers in the coffeehouse as a social act.<sup><a href=\"#src-s8\">8</a></sup>\n\n**France.** According to a coffee historian, both rich and poor households in 18th-century France drank coffee with milk and sugar.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> He describes this as turning coffee from a drink into a food with calories.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup>\n\n## Spiced, sweetened and blended coffees\n\n**Mexico.** A Mexican Christmas cookbook of 1998 gives a recipe titled “Café de Olla, Receta Tradicional”.<sup><a href=\"#src-s11\">11</a></sup> Water is boiled in a deep clay pot with cinnamon, cloves, *piloncillo* (unrefined cane sugar) and stone-ground chocolate.<sup><a href=\"#src-s11\">11</a></sup> Ground coffee is stirred in as the water returns to the boil, and the heat is turned off.<sup><a href=\"#src-s11\">11</a></sup> The pot is kept warm by the fire, without boiling, while the grounds settle.<sup><a href=\"#src-s11\">11</a></sup> The coffee is taken from the top of the pot and served in individual *jarritos* (small mugs), with a thin cinnamon stick in place of a spoon.<sup><a href=\"#src-s11\">11</a></sup>\n\n**Vietnam.** A coffee science textbook names the iced, sugared Vietnamese *cà phê sữa đá* as an example of drinks created for people who do not like the taste of plain coffee.<sup><a href=\"#src-s7\">7</a></sup> No academic or official source opened for this entry describes the *phin* filter or egg coffee.\n\n**India.** According to a 2024 answer to India’s parliament, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has set standards for a coffee–chicory mixture: it must contain at least 51% coffee by mass.<sup><a href=\"#src-s12\">12</a></sup> No academic source opened for this entry describes South Indian filter coffee itself.\n\n**Japan.** A coffee historian notes that Japan built its own coffee culture before mass consumption arrived.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> In his account, many practices later linked with the third wave drew on that culture.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> He describes it as a minority culture of coffee shops, while ready-to-drink canned coffee came to dominate the Japanese mass market.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> The eras and waves entry covers these labels.\n\n<!-- deep-dive -->\n\n## How the drinks compare\n\nThe matrix sets the drinks side by side by method, sweetener, milk and additions. Each cell is cited; a dash means the sources opened for this entry do not state it, not that it is never done. The matrix compares practices as described in single sources. It is not a survey of what most people drink today.\n\n<figure>\n<div data-figure=\"coffee-drinks-around-the-world-matrix\"></div>\n<figcaption>How seven coffee drinks are brewed, sweetened and served, as described in the sources of this entry. A dash means the sources opened do not state it.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a>,<a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a>,<a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a>,<a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a>,<a href=\"#src-s7\">7</a>,<a href=\"#src-s11\">11</a></sup></figcaption>\n</figure>\n\nThree patterns stand out. Turkish coffee and café de olla leave the grounds in the pot or cup and rely on settling, not a filter.<sup><a href=\"#src-s6\">6</a>,<a href=\"#src-s11\">11</a></sup> In both, sugar goes into the pot during brewing, not at the table.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a>,<a href=\"#src-s11\">11</a></sup> None of the sources for Turkish and Arabic coffee mentions milk; milk appears in the Italian espresso drinks and, rarely, in Nordic kettle coffee.<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a>,<a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a>,<a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup>\n\n## Reference values\n\n| Parameter | Value reported | Context | Source |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| Turkish coffee, coffee | 8 g | Per cup, ground coffee | Demir & Bertan<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> |\n| Turkish coffee, water | 70 g (one cup) | Room temperature at the start | Demir & Bertan<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> |\n| Turkish coffee, water to coffee | ≈8.8 g/g | Our calculation from 70 g ÷ 8 g | Demir & Bertan<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> |\n| Turkish coffee, cooking | 2–2.5 min, medium heat, no stirring; off the heat before boiling | Cezve | Demir & Bertan<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> |\n| Turkish coffee cup | 50–70 mL (average) | Single handle | Demir & Bertan<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> |\n| Local kinds of Turkish coffee | Grouped by city and region | Document analysis of the literature, mapped by GIS | Demir & Bertan<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> |\n| Arabic coffee, first pour | A quarter of the cup, refillable | Oldest or most important guest first | UNESCO 2015<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup> |\n| Arabic coffee, cups per guest | At least one, at most three | Common practice | UNESCO 2015<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup> |\n| Coffee–chicory mixture, India | ≥51% coffee by mass | National food standard | Government of India<sup><a href=\"#src-s12\">12</a></sup> |\n| Heritage listings | 2011 Vienna (national); 2013 Turkish; 2015 Arabic; 2024 Arabic extended to Jordan | Listing years | Austrian UNESCO Commission<sup><a href=\"#src-s13\">13</a></sup>, UNESCO<sup><a href=\"#src-s1\">1</a>,<a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a>,<a href=\"#src-s4\">4</a></sup> |\n\n## Turkish coffee in detail\n\n**Extraction.** According to a coffee science textbook, Turkish coffee is extracted mainly by diffusion at high temperature.<sup><a href=\"#src-s6\">6</a></sup> These temperatures also extract less soluble compounds, which the textbook links to intense, bitter, dark-chocolate flavours.<sup><a href=\"#src-s6\">6</a></sup> Extraction continues after heating stops, because the grounds stay in the hot water.<sup><a href=\"#src-s6\">6</a></sup> In its account, the brew may be brought to the boil more than once, depending on the brewer.<sup><a href=\"#src-s6\">6</a></sup> The same chapter notes that the high temperatures can give a harsh cup, which a skilled brewer moderates through temperature and grind.<sup><a href=\"#src-s6\">6</a></sup> The 2023 study instead describes taking the pot off the heat before it boils.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> The brew methods entry places this method beside filter, immersion and pressure brewing.\n\n**Strength.** The recipe in the 2023 study uses about 8.8 g of water per gram of coffee (our calculation).<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> According to the textbook, the result is a rather strong coffee with some sediment in the cup.<sup><a href=\"#src-s6\">6</a></sup>\n\n**Regional kinds.** A 2023 study of literature on Turkish coffee in Türkiye grouped local kinds by city and region and mapped them.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> Some differ in grinding: *dibek* coffee was first ground between two slightly dimpled stones, and today the roasted beans are crushed with a wooden or iron hammer instead of being finely ground.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> Others mix in local products, such as almonds or black cumin.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> *Menengiç* coffee is a coffee substitute, a roasted, ground paste of terebinth (*Pistacia terebinthus*) without caffeine.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup> The study names geographical indication certificates for two of them: Gaziantep menengiç coffee and Elazığ cedene coffee.<sup><a href=\"#src-s2\">2</a></sup>\n\n**Roast in history.** A coffee historian contrasts the Arabian drink, lightly roasted and flavoured with cardamom, with Turkish coffee made from blackened beans and sweetened with sugar.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup> In his account, Ottoman coffeehouses seated customers in order of arrival rather than rank.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a></sup>\n\n## Arabic coffee as a multinational file\n\nThe UNESCO element “Arabic coffee, a symbol of generosity” was inscribed in 2015 on a joint nomination by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup> In 2024 the file was extended to include Jordan.<sup><a href=\"#src-s4\">4</a></sup> The 2015 file names sheikhs and heads of tribes, who serve Arabic coffee in their meeting spaces.<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a></sup> The extended file describes Arabic coffee at weddings and at tribal gatherings for reconciliation and conflict resolution.<sup><a href=\"#src-s4\">4</a></sup> In Jordan it is served in government offices and in Jordanian homes, in Jordan and abroad.<sup><a href=\"#src-s4\">4</a></sup> It adds that older people and guests are served first.<sup><a href=\"#src-s4\">4</a></sup>\n\nThe pages opened for this entry describe a social practice. They give no amounts of coffee, water or cardamom, and no brew time.<sup><a href=\"#src-s3\">3</a>,<a href=\"#src-s4\">4</a></sup> For this reason the entry gives no recipe for Arabic coffee.\n\n## Open questions\n\n- **Origin of the flat white.** Both Australia and New Zealand are named as its origin. No academic or official source opened for this entry states where it was first made.\n- **Italian espresso and UNESCO.** No UNESCO or Italian government document on an espresso nomination was opened for this entry, so its status is not given.\n- **Drinks without a source found.** Vietnamese *phin* coffee and egg coffee, South Indian filter coffee, Greek frappé, Cuban café cubano and Swiss café crème all lack an academic or official source among those opened. They will be added when such sources are found.\n- **Measured composition.** No study opened for this entry measured caffeine or dissolved solids in Arabic coffee or café de olla.\n- **Present-day practice.** Several descriptions come from historical accounts or one recipe.<sup><a href=\"#src-s5\">5</a>,<a href=\"#src-s11\">11</a></sup> How widely each practice continues, as of 2026, is not established here.\n\n## Key studies\n\n<div class=\"study\">\n<p><strong>Demir & Bertan, 2023 – Local kinds of Turkish coffee.</strong> Collected local Turkish coffee kinds from the literature and mapped them by city and region. The paper also sets out a standard preparation, cup and service, and the regional differences in grinding, ingredients and serving.</p>\n<p class=\"meta\">Journal of Ethnic Foods 10, 32 · <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1186/s42779-023-00200-8\">doi:10.1186/s42779-023-00200-8</a></p>\n</div>\n\n<div class=\"study\">\n<p><strong>UNESCO, 2015 – Arabic coffee, a symbol of generosity.</strong> The committee decision on the joint nomination by four Gulf states. It describes roasting, pounding and boiling, the order of serving and the number of cups, and the role of coffee in hospitality.</p>\n<p class=\"meta\">Decision 10.COM 10.B.32 · <a href=\"https://ich.unesco.org/en/decisions/10.COM/10.B.32\">ich.unesco.org</a></p>\n</div>\n\n<div class=\"study\">\n<p><strong>Morris, 2017 – Tastes, rituals and waves.</strong> A historian traces how coffee drinking took different forms in Arabia, the Ottoman Empire, Europe, Scandinavia, Italy and the United States. He argues that “just a coffee” meant different things in each of these communities.</p>\n<p class=\"meta\">In: Folmer (ed.), The Craft and Science of Coffee, ch. 19 · <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00019-0\">doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00019-0</a></p>\n</div>\n\n<div class=\"study\">\n<p><strong>Grill – The Viennese coffeehouse.</strong> A bibliographic commentary on the Viennese coffeehouse as a subject for literary and memory studies. It records the listing of Viennese coffeehouse culture in Austria’s national inventory in 2011 and quotes the inventory description.</p>\n<p class=\"meta\">Brücken 27/1, Charles University, Prague · <a href=\"https://bruecken.ff.cuni.cz/wp-content/uploads/sites/56/2020/10/Markus_Grill_91-110.pdf\">bruecken.ff.cuni.cz</a></p>\n</div>"
}