Calling Turkish coffee “just a drink” undersells it. It’s a ritual, a conversation and, as arguably the ancestor of all modern coffees, it’s a nearly 500-year-old piece of history, inscribed by UNESCO on its intangible cultural heritage of humanity list.

Coffee’s roots go back even further. Lani Kingston , adjunct professor at Portland State University, says a single coffee bean dating from the 12th century has been found at an archaeological site in the United Arab Emirates. By 1350, coffee-serving paraphernalia appeared in Turkey, Egypt and Persia.

The story of Turkish coffee begins not in Turkey, but in Yemen. In the 15th century, Sufi mystics are said to have consumed it to stay awake during long nights of prayer and devotions. When Sultan Süleyman, known in Europe as Süleyman th

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