[MR] Turkish Coffee?

[Garth G. Groff]

M'Lady Genevieve, Good morning.

I checked the British Museum, V&A, Brahma Coffee and Tea Museum, and the 
National Museums of Scotland to see if they had any physical items in 
their collections that would help you. Sadly, none do, at least as 
listed on line. Likewise, I went to Turkish Museums, but found the sites 
poorly organized and with virtually no information. I suspect the Brahma 
museum has great stuff in its collection, but their web site is poor, 
and the museum is currently closed for renovation.

However, the beans were likely of the arabica species, and were 
cultivated in Yemen and nearby areas. I think we can also accept that at 
your time of interest grinding was usually done with a mortar and 
pestle, except perhaps in the richest households where mechanical 
devices might have been available.

Beyond those conclusions, I am stumped. I think you will have to turn to 
printed resources.

Kind regards,


Mungo Napier, The Caffeine Fiend

Jennifer Dobyns wrote:
> Thank you.  These are a start.  I at least have the basic bean type to 
> track down and confirm.  Too bad there isn't a bibliography listed for 
> the last article, that had lots of potential.
>
> I suspect I'll have to dig around in the archaeological community for 
> some of the information, like what was used to roast and grind the 
> beans.  Somewhere someone has unearthed an early coffee house (or 
> maybe not) from the 16th Century Ottoman period.
>
> Sadly, there are way too many anecdotal, secondary and tertiary 
> sources out there.  What I really need is primary documentation of one 
> sort or another.  The forum in which I intend to use this will not 
> tolerate anything less.
>
> Thanks again, everyone!
>
> Genevieve