Turkish Coffee Happy Hour 7th Edition
Updated: Mar 5, 2020
The Yunus Emre Institute welcomed seven guests for its 7th 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.
A fresh cup of Turkish coffee is the perfect way to get warm and cozy during the Fall season in DC. Before enjoying a fresh cup of coffee, however, it is important to understand the heritage behind the tradition of Turkish coffee. Guests began their coffee experience with some background information on Turkish coffee’s history and cultural significance in the Misafir Odası, the guest room. Harper and Matt, the Yunus Emre Institute’s Public Relations Assistants, explained the origins of Turkish coffee and what separates it from other kinds of coffee. The guests were then guided to the Mutfak, the kitchen, where they learned how to brew Turkish coffee with cevzes, traditional Turkish coffee pots. Sohbet, meaning chat, is what solidifies the friendship between all of the guests as they sip the delicious coffee they each made themselves. New friendships were celebrated with the Hediye, meaning gift, where they received polaroid portraits of themselves and a postcard commemorating the event.
Once each guest began enjoying their own cup of coffee, they all commented on how delicious freshly-brewed Turkish coffee really is. They also discussed how they were impressed by the 500 year-old legacy of Turkish coffee. Some of the guests were Turkish and had never brewed coffee in a cezve before because they usually use modern coffee pots. They also enjoyed using the traditional sand machine, kum makinası, for the first time. A handful of guests stayed behind after the Hediye session to have their fortunes told by Matt. This tradition is as old as Turkish coffee itself and is always a fun and exciting way to end such a one-of-a-kind event.
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.