The Yunus Emre Institute welcomed four guests for its 6th edition of the Turkish Coffee Happy Hour. The Turkish Coffee Happy Hour is designed to give the guests the chance to relax after their long day of work with a cup of Turkey’s famous coffee. The Happy Hour is capped at a small handful of guests to create a comfortable setting that will foster easy conversation and new friendships. The institute is proud of the continued success of this flagship program.
The Turkish Coffee Happy Hour is divided into four parts to teach visitors why coffee is so important to Turkish culture. Guests start in the Misafir Odası, the guest room, to learn more about Turkish coffee’s history and its place in Turkish culture. The second part takes place in the Mutfak, the kitchen, where everyone learns how to brew authentic coffee with traditional Cezve pots. Sohbet, chat, allows our guests to transform from strangers into new friends. These new friendships are cemented with a Hediye, a gift, which is a postcard with a polaroid photo of the recipient with a cup of coffee. The institute has a goal to collect over 200 photos to create a collage of these happy memories.
The guests were welcomed into the institute by Jocelyne, Yunus Emre Institute’s Office Manager, and Casey, the Public Relations Director. Once everyone sat down and felt comfortable in the Misafir Odası Harper, one of the Public Relations Assistants, introduced their Turkish coffee experience by highlighting the unique aspects of the ancient tradition like how it was listed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The history of Turkish coffee was explained by Matt, the other Public Relations Assistant, such as how it was established as a cultural tradition under Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Great. Once the informational session was over the guests were led into the Mutfak to learn how to brew the coffee. All of the guests brewed their own cups of coffee in their own cezve with the assistance of Matt and Harper. Everyone chatted over their freshly brewed cups and enjoyed a Turkish delight once they finished their coffee. After Sohbet, Matt and Harper led the guests back to the front desk for Hediye and helped them make their postcards. The guests expressed their gratitude for being a part of such an authentic cultural experience. Some guests even stayed afterwards to get their fortunes told by Matt and only time will tell if they come true.
The Yunus Emre Foundation is a public foundation formed to promote Turkey, Turkish language, its history and culture and art, make such related information and documents available for use in the world, provide services abroad to people who want to have education in the fields of Turkish language, culture and art, to improve the friendship between Turkey and other countries and increase the cultural exchange. If you are interested in learning more about events, please email washingtondc@yee.org.tr or follow @yeewdc on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.