ashraf AboArafe
Ambassador Salih Mutlu Şen, Turkish Ambassador to Egypt, invited Egyptians to celebrate International Turkish Coffee Day, which coincides with December 5th, as Turkish coffee was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. Since then, December 5th has been celebrated as International Turkish Coffee Day.
At the ceremony, sweets and salty dishes prepared by the embassy’s kitchen and chef were served.
Turkish coffee is usually consumed with (malban) sweets and water for Turkish delight.
Ambassador Shen added: The history of Turkish coffee dates back to the Ottoman Empire, from where it spread to Europe starting from Austria, and that Turkish coffee was originally made with coffee beans coming from Yemen, adding that since the mid-twentieth century, the Turkish people have been using Turkish coffee as the first drink they drink in the morning.
Ambassador Shen added that the term “breakfast” means eating light meals to fill the stomach in order to drink coffee, and that the main purpose of the things eaten in the morning is to prepare the human body and stomach to drink coffee.
Ambassador Shen stated that over the years, coffee has become drunk in traditional cafes with a hookah or “shisha” as it is called in the Arab world.
Ambassador Salih Mutlu Shen added in his speech, “Despite the development of tea cultivation in Turkey in the twentieth century and the widespread consumption of tea, Turkish coffee is still present in every home, workplace and cafe, and is consumed several times a day, even serving coffee to guests is still a basic tradition to this day.”
Ambassador Shen also said that it has now become an established and indispensable custom in proposing a girl to marry, for the prospective bride to offer coffee to the guests, i.e. the parents of the future groom. Even according to tradition, the coffee offered to the groom is slightly salty to gauge his reaction and anger as a joke!
Ambassador Shen explained that the way Turkish coffee is prepared is very important, saying: “The coffee is cooked in a copper pot on sand to reach sufficient heat, and this provides the best taste.”
Ambassador Shen pointed out that Turkish coffee seems to be more popular in Egypt than in Turkey.
Ambassador Shen said that he personally drinks two cups of coffee a day, and said that coffee is a way of life and a sign of hospitality that gives meaning to life, and that it is an integral part of conversations in solid friendships, and that a conversation without coffee would be meaningless, as it is said in the Turkish language “The heart does not want coffee, nor the cafe. The heart wants conversation, and coffee is an excuse.”
Ambassador Shen added: “There is another saying used in Turkey, ‘A cup of coffee preserves affection for 40 years,’” explaining that this means that when people talk face to face and drink coffee, this immortalizes a memory that will never be forgotten.
At the ceremony held at the embassy’s residence, Turkish coffee, Turkish pastries, and Turkish delight (malban) were served. For the audience of 50 high-level Egyptian guests and members of diplomatic missions. The ceremony was interspersed with Suzanne Saber’s viola performance and pieces of Ottoman Turkish music.
