Turkish Coffee Grinders

A man of Armenian origin who made a coffee grinder during the Ottoman period. His full name is Hadji Artin Movsesyan. These mills made of brass are sold under the category of antiques both at home and abroad. I think there is a hand-stamped Hacı Artin writing on the mill. For many years, he made and sold his products in Uzun Çarşı no: 282 in Istanbul. These mills are assumed to have been built in the 1930s.

Device: coffee grinder | Date: 1925s | Brand: Haci Artin Movsessian and son

Its shape, unusual in our region. The crank can be removed from its axle and can also be folded up to take up less space. The top comes off to allow the introduction of coffee beans. The middle uncouples to allow access to the ground coffee.

The documents accompanying the machine. Namely, the plate which presents the manufacturer and the cardboard box which contains it. These are unusual documents and you may notice one thing: The text is written in several languages including French but not English. Mr. Haci Artin. 

Coffee grinder usually made of bronze, usually having the shape of a 20 to 30cm cylinder which can be held in the hand and used to grind coffee beans. It is most often used at home. The crank can be removed and stored under the cover. [...] The best known of the great producers of such manual bronze coffee grinders was Haci Artin who kept a shop on avenue Uzun Çarsi (in French, Ouzun Tcharchi, more precisely at n° 282) until the 1970s when he not only made new mills but also repaired broken ones. source

Mavi Boncuk |

Coffee is thought to have its origins in Ethiopia, spreading by the 15th century to Cairo and Mecca. From there, this hot beverage was adapted and spread throughout the Middle East. What is thought of today as Turkish coffee has its origins in Arabic coffee with the Turks learning the methods of preparation during the reign of the Ottomans.Coffee as a beverage became so ingrained in Turkish culture that the word for coffee, Kahve is the root of the word breakfast, or kahvalti meaning the meal is to be served "before coffee". While regional differences affect the coffee recipes used throughout the Middle East, the careful grinding and preparation that goes into every cup remains the same.

 When the coffee beverage was introduced in Arabia after the year 1200, a few beans were roasted at each meal and ground between small millstones. Later, wheat mills used by Romans were adapted for grinding larger amounts. They were hourglass-shaped carved stones that fit over a cone-shaped grinding piece and dropped beans from the upper bin. It wasn’t until the 15th century that the use of mortar and pestle for coffee began to fade. The reason mortar and pestles began to become less popular for coffee grinding is that in the 15th century, the first spice grinders were invented.

In the 1400s in Turkey and Persia (Iran), individual bean servings were roasted in small round perforated metal saucers and then ground in cylinder-shaped mills.

 At the same time, a hand-cranked spice grinder standing on four legs was invented and adapted for grinding coffee above a bowl.

In the 1700s, a drawer was added to catch the grind below the blade. However, innovations were not widespread. As late as 1620, settlers brought a specialized mortar-and-pestle coffee grinder on the Mayflower to the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts.

A coffee grinder-boiler design from Damascus, Syria, in 1665 featured a folding handle and a cup-shaped bean bin. In 1905 a Coffee Mill patent designed by William Bussinger was registered by the United States Patent Office which consisted of a novel means for mounting the grinders and a bucket for catching grounds.

Turkish coffee was first introduced into Turkey around 1540 or so. History tells us that it was introduced by the Turkish Governor of Yemen - Ozdemir Pasha. He discovered a new beverage in his region, you get three guesses for what it might have been (hint, it was coffee). Wisely, he made sure to bring it to the attention of the Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent.

The Sultan’s staff decided to try a new method for preparing the drink. They used mortars to finely ground the coffee and then brewed it using a special pot called an Ibrik. It was immediately a big hit in the palace and actually became an integral part of Turkish history and culture. The mansions of the elite were the first to get to try this great new beverage. Later it was consumed by the masses and eventually the whole Ottoman Empire.

 It was soon being prepared by coffee professionals known as “Kahveci Usta”. They were employed by many palaces as well as by high-ranking officials and wealthy citizens. Perhaps a prelude to modern day baristas. Many of these professionals also went on to open their own coffee houses serving Turkish coffee and other fine beverages.

 In 1656 the Ottoman Grand Vizier Koprulu issued laws to shut down the coffee houses. This act came as a shock to the people of Turkey who frequented them. Punishment for breaking the law was extreme and ranged from beating to drowning. It was believed that they served as meeting places for discussing politics and even ways to take down the Sultan. Those in power viewed the coffee houses as a threat and tried to preemptively snuff out the flames of rebellion.

 Changing gears to a less intense topic, there are even marriage traditions that have evolved with Turkish coffee. A potential new bride will make coffee for the mother-in-law as a test of her worthiness, with failure risking shame and being gossiped about in public. Also the bride will add salt to the normally sweet drink as as a measure of how interested she is. A lot of salt means your chances don’t look good whereas very little salt means that things are shaping up nicely. If a man can pound down a whole cup of salty coffee, he proves his manliness and also is saying he is ready to marry her.

 What makes Turkish coffee “Turkish coffee” is the grind. The idea is to extract maximum flavor from coffee beans. How do you do that? By grinding the beans into a powder. Just to give you an idea about the size, single coffee bean yields 45,000 particles of Turkish coffee ground, verses espresso at 3,000 particles and filter coffee at 100 particles! More particles and the greater the extraction and thus the flavor. This is the secret to the Turkish coffee! 

(pictured: An American Patent for a coffee grinder)

The Turks invented the type of coffee mill and the Greeks copied the design of such hand made mills (i.e. the Alexander Company – 1977 to the present – website: brasspeppermill.com ) which markets their products under the Atlas, and Karyatis names, they have made a few noticeable minor improvements, and refinements to production of what they classify as their “Traditional Mills” in comparison to the original basic Turkish mill design they emulate that is currently still being hand produced for the most part by the various original, and still top family owned Turkish manufacturers of the mills, like Sozen, Zamak, and Acar.

The first step of preparing a delicious Turkish coffee starts with the extraction of coffee beans. For this, instead of electric coffee grinders, a manually driven coffee grinder made of brass is required. The hand grinder is the only and most important tool that allows the coffee bean to be held together in powder form instead of being crushed and dispersed, without losing its pleasant smell. We should know that when we put the coffee beans from the top and turn the upper handle arm with rhythmic movements and start to smell the pleasant smell of that coffee, we have started to give the first flavor to the coffee. After the coffee grinding process is finished, the coffee that accumulates in the chamber at the bottom can be prepared in the copper coffee pot.

TURKISH COFFEE GRINDER USE AND TIPS

Place your coffee beans into the hopper and close the lid.

Unfold and attach the handle to the rod in the center of the grinder.

Make sure to have some coffee or spices in the hopper before you start turning the handle.

Turn the handle clockwise and hold it below your hand/wrist so that you are pushing down on it while turning the handle – this will make sure that the handle does not come off. The handle conveniently folds in half for easy storage in the upper hopper.

On your first use, it will take several turns before it starts to grind; because the burrs are empty.

Adjust the coarseness by the screw/bolt at the bottom only when it is empty. The screw on the side of the grinder

You should not wash your coffee grinder. However, if you must, make sure to dry it thoroughly to prevent any rusting.

Never use steel wool or abrasive pads to clean your grinder.

You may use the commercially available cleaning materials for metallic surfaces to clean the outside.