Copper Turkish Coffee Pots (Cezve)

Hand-hammered copper cezve

Our cezve are made in our own workshop in Kahramanmaraş, by hammering a single sheet of copper over a form. The faint hammer marks on the body are absent from machine-pressed pots; no two pieces are exactly alike. The interior that touches the coffee is tin-lined, the traditional method that keeps copper from contacting the brew.

We start from sheet of about 1 mm, sometimes 1.2 mm on the larger pots. That thickness matters more than it sounds. Below roughly 0.8 mm the base flexes on the burner and the coffee climbs unevenly; much thicker than 1.2 mm and the pot stops answering the small changes in heat that Turkish coffee is built on. A finished 2-cup cezve usually weighs between 200 and 300 g.

Which size should you buy?

Turkish coffee is measured in cups. A 1-cup cezve holds roughly 90 to 120 ml (3 to 4 fl oz), 2-cup 150 to 200 ml (5 to 7 fl oz), 4-cup 300 to 350 ml (10 to 12 fl oz) and 6-cup 450 to 500 ml (15 to 17 fl oz). A cezve is never filled to the brim, room is left for the foam to rise. Most households use a 2-cup pot daily and keep a 4 to 6 cup one for guests.

One thing buyers get wrong: capacity is not the same as servings. A 4-cup pot brewed full gives four 70 ml cups with foam on each. Brew two cups in it and the coffee sits too shallow to build a proper head. Size the pot to how you drink day to day, not to the largest gathering you might one day host.

Brewing

• One heaped teaspoon of very finely ground coffee per cup, and cold water measured out with the cup itself.
• Stir the sugar and the coffee into cold water before the pot goes on the heat, never after.
• Low flame, four to five minutes. A high flame boils the foam away.
• Lift the pot when the foam reaches the neck, share the foam between the cups, then return it to the heat for a moment.

Use and care

Copper conducts heat quickly and evenly, so the coffee brews over a low flame without catching. Never put a cezve in the dishwasher; wash by hand in warm water with a soft sponge and dry it straight away. The outside darkens naturally over time, that is patina, not a fault. When copper colour begins to show through the lining inside, the pot can be re-tinned. In daily use that comes round every few years and it is a normal service, not the end of the pot.