Virtual Turkish Coffee Happy Hour, a regular program for the Yunus Emre Institute in Washington D.C., kicked off its 4th edition in February with over a dozen guests who arrived curious about the origins of this delicious drink. Guests joined us from all around the world to learn about Turkish coffee, with a few of our Turkish language students joining as well. Public Relations Assistants, Matt and Harper, walked the group of guests through the virtual program, which was finished off with a fun game of trivia.
Virtual Turkish Coffee Happy Hour has several different sections that are integral to the process of understanding Turkish coffee. Our guests were first welcomed into the Zoom meeting with an introduction from their hosts on how the program will proceed. From there, the guests joined us in the virtual guest room, known as the misafir odası. In this section they learned about the centuries-long history and social significance of Turkish coffee before transitioning to the mutfak, or kitchen. In the mutfak section of the program, guests were able to authentically learn about the traditional brewing process to make a delicious cup of Turkish coffee. Guests were able to ask their questions before trivia during the sohbet session, which means to have a chat in English. Guests finally finished their Virtual Turkish Coffee Happy Hour with an exciting game of trivia and a group picture to remember their time with.
During the program a lot of our guests had some great questions and even some funny comments. Guests wanted to know more about the small piece of candy that gets served with coffee, known as Lokum, which is a cube of flavored corn flour covered in powdered sugar. They also asked about making Turkish coffee at home, which is very easy to do on a kitchen stove if you have a cezve, which is the Turkish coffee brewing pot. The guests also had an extremely competitive match of trivia, where our grand prize winner will be mailed a Turkish coffee set.
The Yunus Emre Foundation is a public foundation designed to educate the public about Turkey and its language, history, culture, and art. The Foundation makes such related information and documents available for use in the world. Facilitating cultural exchange between Turkey and other countries is a central objective of the Foundation. If you are interested in receiving more information, please email washingtondc@yee.org.tr.