One more cup of coffee

Andrew Finkel looks at the role of the kahve and explains why it is still a vital institution today – even for those busy locals who don’t actually use them Yes, of course, Turkish coffee houses are at the very centre of community, the place to learn the latest gossip, find a plumber or when the need strikes, buy a cow. But do they have wireless? The answer is that while most of them don’t, a few of them do and the chances are that many more will follow as the years go by. Every society has its traditional places to congregate. Britain has pubs, the Continent is littered with cafés, and Turkey has coffee houses. They are called kahves after the cups of Turkish coffee that are meant to be consumed there, even though the infinitely more common drink is tea. Sometimes they are called kiraathanes – a place of recitation – and that is a misnomer, too. Occasionally, there will be a television on a stand in the corner, turned up when there’s a football match, but it is not the same as a story teller, whom people gathered round long ago. The nearest one gets nowadays to hearing tall tales of miracles and mighty rulers is at election time when politicians in many parts of the country will still stump from coffee house to coffee house in search of votes. One would not expect many British politicians to campaign at Starbucks. continue