Istanbul Trip, April 2007 - Hanging around in cafes!

Coffee has its origin in Ethiopia and Yemen. By the late 15th and early 16th Century, it had spread to Cairo and Mecca. Yemen, Cairo and Mecca used to all be part of the Ottoman Empire and there was a strong coffee drinking culture across the empire.

By the mid-17th century, 'kahve' (Turkish coffee) has become part of elaborate ceremonies involving the Ottoman court. During this period, men would socialise in coffee houses to discuss politics and to play backgammon. Women, on the other hand, would socialise with each other over coffee and sweets. Ottoman women also received intensive training on the proper technique of preparing Turkish coffee. Perspective husbands would judge a woman's merits based on the taste of her coffee.

As the Ottoman Empire faced with its decline, it lost Yemen, which was its key distributor of coffee. The alternative was tea, which has now became the national drink in Turkey. These days, you can have 'çay' (Turkish tea) on every occasion and every time of the day. It is served at home, at the restaurants, at offices, at the shops, and even in the street, at bus stations, and many many other places - basically ANYWHERE!

Istanbul is a place which offers loads of possibilities to have a coffee or tea in a nice atmosphere (Pierre Loti being a very good example).

Turkish tea and 'elma cayi' (apple tea) at the Grand Bazaar. It was an interesting spot to watch the world go by.

Turkish tea is typically served in small tulip-shaped glasses, with 3 sugar cubes on the side. In touristy spots, the going price for tea is around 2-3.5 YTL.

Sweets with your tea or coffee! In Istanbul, you have lots of choices!

Kahve (Turkish coffee). In touristy spots, the going price for coffee is around 2.5-4 YTL.

Apparently, Turks are quite superstitious. After drinking the coffee, they would try to read the future through shapes that form in the bottom of the cup from the coffee powder.

SP had a go at the narghile (water pipe). The set is made of a jar fitted with a handle and a pipe, containing water.

It is common for people to play games while drinking tea. The most popular is of course backgammon. We didn't know the rules for backgammon, so we played a chess game invented by SP. The game didn't work out because his rules created a deadlock in the chess pieces! As you can tell from the photo, I wasn't impressed at all! :P

A street cafe in the alley! Can you find me?