SC - Brazier? was Mortar and pestle illustration?

[Decker, Terry D.]

> The question was asked recently about coffee ... we're having a Turkish
> event.. and arguments aside as to whether it was drunk or not.. how did
> they
> heat beverages? Stove?? Charcoal Brazier?? What did such a thing look
> like?
> 
> Corwyn
> 
The traditional coffee maker is the ibrik, a tapered cylindrical pot made of
copper, wider at the base than at the neck and having a short lip with
reverse taper above the neck to provide a funnel for pouring liquids in and
out of the pot.  A relatively long handle extending perpendicular to the
neck allows the user to manipulate the ibrik over a fire.

The ibrik is designed to retain heat and to bring the contents to a boil
over a minimal heat source.  In a coffee house, a charcoal brazier or stove
would have been a likely heat source.  In the desert, it would probably have
been a dung fire.  It is alleged that the ibrik can be heated in the desert
by partially burying it in hot sand and letting the sun do the cooking.

Ibriks are available from most fine coffee dealers.  If you want to fake it,
use a small sauce pan.

The traditional coffee roaster is a 4 to 8 inch diameter concave plate
drilled with small holes and having a handle.

As for making the coffee itself:

"Qahwa" can be made from the husks, the berries, or both.  Coffee was most
likely first brewed from the husks as a medicine.  The "al-qahwa
al-qishriya" produced from the husks is still used in Yemen.  "Al-qahwa
al-bunniya" or coffee brewed from the berries or the berries and the husks
probably came from trying to strengthen the brew.   

To make "qahwa al-bunniya", the berries could be roasted or unroasted.
Roasting improves the flavor of the coffee, and came into regular use early
in the known history of the beverage.  The berries would be crushed to a
fine powder in a mortar.  For each cup, about five ounces of water would be
placed in an open pot and brought to a boil.  A teaspoon to a tablespoon of
the crushed coffee powder is added per cup.  The coffee would be returned to
the fire and allowed to boil up a second time, then removed and allowed to
cool slightly.  The boiling process would be repeated two or three more
times.

The Arabs soon added powdered cloves, cardamom, or cinnamon at the third
boil to sweeten the taste.  Sugar was first used as a sweetener after the
Turks took up the coffee habit, causing the thick, sugar-sweetened coffee to
be referred to a Turkish.  Modern Turkish coffee uses two teaspoons of sugar
per cup added with the coffee at the first boil.    

Modern Arabian coffee uses a heaping teaspoon and modern Turkish coffee uses
a tablespoon of coffee powder per cup.  This may be a matter of taste, or it
may reflect the availability and value of coffee when the habit was
originally adopted.

Bon Chance 

Bear

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