Today at The Coffee Shop, we'll talk about the role of coffee rituals, specifically the interpretation of Turkish coffee. Not only individual rituals but also social ones are related to its consumption. Just think of the wonderful drinks enjoyed during friendly conversations, coffee breaks at work, or coffee tastings. Religious ceremonies come less to mind, although there are places in the world where coffee also plays a role in religious life.
Coffee is considered a mystical beverage with supernatural powers in many cultures. For example, one of the most popular fortune-telling techniques, coffee cup prediction, originated from Turkish coffee, while members of the Ethiopian Oromo tribe believe coffee is a gift from God, which is why it is an important ingredient in religious ceremonies.
Coffee cup prediction is a traditional divination technique dating back several centuries and extremely widespread in Turkey, the Arab world, and the Middle East. When the Turks arrived in Europe in recent centuries, coffee and the related prediction method also became popular in European countries. According to beliefs, Turkish coffee is particularly suitable for divination because after drinking it, we can draw conclusions about the future from the symbols emerging from the remains left at the bottom of the cup.
When searching for information on coffee divination, the first thing we learned was that divination for coffee, tea, or wine is called tasseography or tasseology. The word itself is derived from the French word "tasse," a cup, and the Greek suffix "graphia." People have always been curious about the future, but when tea and coffee became more widely available to the masses, so did a way to predict their future. The first written document in English on the subject is "Reading the Tea Leaves" (1881), in which the anonymous author describes how to read tea leaves. It also describes very specific preparations for the cup before the reading, such as turning it in certain directions three times, etc.
The coffee is not filtered at all, and dregs are left at the bottom of the cup; the coffee drinker must stop before the end of the cup to avoid consuming the coffee dregs. With the saucer still covering the top, the cup is held at chest level and rotated counterclockwise several times. After this, the cup is turned upside down on the saucer and allowed to cool. Sometimes, a coin may be placed on top to cool the cup faster and to dispel any bad omens that might be read in it. When the coffee cup is sufficiently cool, someone other than the person who drank the coffee opens the cup and begins interpreting the shapes for divination. There are many tips on how to read cups, and you can do it yourself, but there are also professional fortune tellers who specialize in reading people's cups.
Coffee cup reading is a widespread and popular divination method that speaks to both the past and the future. For divination purposes, the coffee cup is considered to be divided into two horizontal halves. The shapes on the bottom half speak of the past, while the shapes on the top half speak of the future. Shapes appearing on the right side are generally interpreted positively, while shapes on the left are interpreted as signs of bad events, enemies, illness, trouble, and the like. According to another belief, the coffee cup can tell the past, but it can only predict 40 days into the future.
Hence, the practice of coffee cup reading cannot interpret the future beyond forty days. Furthermore, if, at the reading stage, the cup and saucer are firmly stuck together and the person has trouble separating them, it is believed that this particular cup should not be read. This is a case of "prophet divination," where the person who has drunk from the cup is assumed to be lucky and does not need their fortune told. Similarly, if a large piece of coffee grounds falls onto the saucer while separating the cup, the interpretation is that the owner of the cup will soon be freed from all troubles and sadness. According to another standard interpretation, if coffee drips onto the saucer when the cup is opened, the person who drank from it will soon shed tears.
Coffee reading seems like a superstitious thing to do, but it's popular in some parts of the world. It should provide some answers or comfort to those who practice it. And if you don't take it too seriously, it can also provide something extra for those moments when we enjoy coffee, so if you want to know your future, give it a try.