Mırra is a traditional type of bitter

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

prepared in the

Hatay Hatay Province ( tr, Hatay ili, ) is the southernmost province of Turkey. It is situated almost entirely outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province of ...

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana Province, Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart ...

Urfa Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa () and in ancient times as Edessa, is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80 km east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features e ...

and

Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on ...

provinces of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, as well as in some Arab countries like

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, which is also sometimes correctly referred to as

Arabic coffee Arabic coffee is a version of the brewed coffee of ''Coffea arabica'' beans. Most Arab countries throughout the Middle East have developed distinct methods for brewing and preparing coffee. Cardamom is an often-added spice, but it can alternative ...

because the name is derived from Arabic; ''mur'' meaning bitter. Since it is very bitter and dark, it is served in tiny cups without handles similar in size to Italian

espresso Espresso (, ) is a coffee-brewing method of Italian origin, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water (about ) is forced under of pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans and ...

cups. The coffee beans for Mırra are common

coffea arabica ''Coffea arabica'' (), also known as the Arabic coffee, is a species of flowering plant in the coffee and madder family Rubiaceae. It is believed to be the first species of coffee to have been cultivated and is currently the dominant cultivar, r ...

coffee beans that are roasted twice to increase the bitter taste. They are ground so that they are still grainy, unlike Turkish coffee, which is more like a powder. The coffee is put into a narrow-topped small boiling pot called

cezve A cezve ( tr, cezve, ; ar, جَِذوة, also ibriki/briki; gr, μπρίκι briki) is a small long-handled pot with a pouring lip designed specifically to make Turkish coffee. It is traditionally made of brass or copper, occasionally also silve ...

, and water is added, usually accompanied by some

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are rec ...

to give a more aromatic flavour. Mırra is boiled a couple of times until a thickish dark liquid is left. Mırra is served in another copper cezve. The person serving it fills the cup halfway and hands it to the guest, who drinks it and returns the cup to be filled halfway again and handed to the next guest. As the cup circulates among the guests, each hands it back to the server after finishing. Otherwise, according to tradition, one must fill the cup with gold, and either marry the person serving, or help them get married, or buy (if a woman) their dowry.

References

External links

Gourmet Coffee Beans
Turkish words and phrases Coffee drinks {{coffee-stub