Serbian coffee

Before Yugoslavia fell apart and the situation in the Balkans worsened, the coffee was called "Turkish coffee."

Like in Italy, there is a way to order a cup in Serbia if you want to pretend you're a local: "Oj majstore, daj dve turske, molim te". Or even better, "Dve turske, molim te" if you order before being asked.

Otherwise, it goes like this: "Dobar dan, sta pijemo? Dve turske i dve sljive, molim te."

Like the Balkans, the naming convention, eventually, fell apart: Nowadays, Serbia has "Serbian coffee (or domaća kafa / домаћа кафа)", Greece has "Greek coffee", Bosnia has "Bosnian coffee" and Turkey has "Turkish coffee.Like the Balkans, the naming convention eventually fell apart: Nowadays, Serbia has "Serbian coffee (or domaća kafa / домаћа кафа)", Greece has "Greek coffee", Bosnia has "Bosnian coffee" and Turkey has "Turkish coffee." I don't know about Croatia, Slovenia, and the other countries. Some of the coffees differ slightly in how they're prepared. Is it enough of a differentiating factor to deserve a different name? It is open to discussion.

An urban legend tells how coffee - and the croissant - arrived in the West: When the Turks were defeated, they retreated, leaving their belongings: cezve (1 & 2), the rahat lokum (ratluk or Turkish delight), the coffee, and the crescent-shaped bread that Marie-Antoinette took back to Paris. Vienna kept the coffee and created cakes to accompany it, while the French perfected the crescent loaf and created the croissant.

Here is a link to a Turkish brand of coffee that I can vouch for.

And here is “a”, not “the” recipe:

Step 1.

• Add cold water to the cezve by using your cup as a reference.
• Add a big-ish teaspoon of coffee per cup, two if you like it strong
• Sugar is optional, but use one small teaspoon per cup as the basis. Add it during the preparation, not after.

Step 2.

• Put your cezve on the stove, medium-high
• Don't mix, stir, or be impatient. Let the coffee float on the surface, and once it starts sinking, stir it several times
• Put the flame on low

Step 3.

• Watch the cezva; it shouldn't boil and the top should look foamy.
• If it's getting too hot, move it off the flame

Step 4.

• Use the teaspoon to put a bit of foam in every cup, then serve.
• Let the coffee in the cup rest for the grains to sink.
• Serve with ratluk if you feel like having something sugary.
• Enjoy.