Tasseography in the oriental Turkey – The art of Turkish coffee cup reading (Published in Multicultural Guide Magazine 4th issue)

Even though you only set foot in this country very recently, chances are you have already been exposed to this very acute aspect of culture – Turkish coffee and the mysterious fortune telling by reading the remains or residual coffee at the cup.

Little do we know is that Turkish coffee drinking is actually a tradition with deep root and history.

Tasseography (Kahve Fali), is a divination or fortune telling methods that interprets patterns in tea leaves, coffee grounds, or wine sediments.  "Tasse" is a French word for cups, "graphy" means the "study of".

The earliest documented coffee drinking was from Yemen in the 15^th century, where it was later on spread through to Cairo and Mecca in the 16^th century.  The first coffee house was opened in Istanbul in year 1640, documented by the Ottoman Chronicler Ibrahim Pecevi.  While it is best to be served with Turkish delights (Lokum) or pistachios, the potential of having the gateway into future is unquestionably the most attractive trait of it.  With a good diviner ("Diviner" is the term used for a talented cup reader), the gastronomical experience can easily be augmented to a Back-to-the-future experience.

Coffee cup reading is sometimes  a social event – I have personally experienced that after having lunch with a group of zealous locals, where it ends up with a good cup of Turkish coffee (served according to different taste: Sweetened, moderately sweetened, or non-sweetened), there often is a session of mutual reading.  If you wish to bond well with the locals, I'm sure instead of "Sorry, I really have no idea", if you make an effort to chip in one or two comments by your imagination and inspiration, you will see this little "skill" carry you very far.

Here is how it is done:  after having finished your coffee, swirl the cup few times in swift motion, and then position it upside down by turning the cup with the saucer in the direction towards yourself.  Once the cup is completely cooled down (which means the liquid is properly drained and the remains are solidly set), you are set to go!  Then, the question is: "What are we looking for?  And what do they mean?" 

First of all you hold the cup by the handle.  Turn it so that the handle is on the top of the cup, and that you can read the cup from the present to future by starting along the handle in a clockwise direction.  The Gutenberg Project[i] provides a rather exhaustive list of symbol and its interpretation but the following is a glimpse of the most used interpretations I have encountered:

• Flying birds – good news to arrive
• Apple – a sign of achievement, good fortune, long life
• Boat – a trip to be expected from a friend from afar
• Circle(s) – the coffee drinker may expect to receive a sum of money of present
• Kite – a sign of lengthy voyage
• Triangles – a sign of good luck and unexpected legacies
• Ladder / spaced lines – a sign for travels (long lines symbolic to long travel)
• Peacock – happy marriage

The list goes on forever, for deeper investigation please refer to the Gutenberg project for a more exhaustive list.

Why am I so excessively interested in this interesting culture?  It goes back to my first visit to a Café here in Ankara where a woman voluntarily approached me and offered to read my coffee cup.  I did not order a coffee actually; I was not going to drink one.  Upon her offer to read my cup, I had one and was wondering what she was going to say. 

She mesmerized me by giving me delicate detail of occasions happened in my life in the past, and even was spelling out part of the name of people involved.  She recounted successfully the challenges I faced at that time and told me her interpretation of the result (which, to my very surprise, was very much coherent with the facts afterwards)!  So my fellow aliens, be ready for such shocks in Turkey!

Until the next issue, enjoy your cup of coffee, whether you are interested to read, or to be read at the end, you are acquainted with the basics of it now.

Stephanie Tse

22 October 2012, Brussels

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[i] For more information, please visit e-book online http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18241/18241-h/18241-h.htm#3

Turkey in the eyes of an alien - The vegetable and fruit markets...

Published in the "Multicultural Guide Ankara - June/July issue"

The hot summer months are around the corner!  A lot of aliens have made comments about Ankara like  “There is no sea”, “There is no nature”, etc.  But hey, let’s look at the bright side, none of us have actually complained about the weather in Ankara, have we?  The weather in Ankara, except the last long winter spells across Europe and Balkans, has been always very pleasing and rarely disappoint. 

Another best thing to enjoy in Ankara during the summer months apart from the nice sunny weather should be the wide selection of fruits and vegetable.  Watermelons, strawberries, apricots, the “permanent members” apples and oranges;   not only have we got a wide selection, you will also notice the abundance of it. 

I would like to share with you my experience with fruit and vegetable shopping.  If you have lived in a country which is akin to Europe, the United States or some South-eastern Asian countries like Hong Kong, Japan in terms of food price, you will immediately feel the resonance. 

It was a sunny Sunday I ventured to the local fruit and veggie bazaar – colorful, fresh, good quality fruits.  Little had I noticed the price!  I had not in mind what I really wanted but only knew I had to buy for one-week consumption, for two.  I did not know a lot of Turkish at the time but was just enough to understand that my brother there (because he called me “abla”, which means “sister” in Turkish) asked what I would like to have.  So I pointed to the apples, showed two fingers; pointed to the oranges, again two fingers; the plums, three fingers….

Of course, my fellow aliens know what happened – he handed me two kilos each of apples and oranges together with three kilos of plums.  I actually wanted to mean:  two apples, two oranges, and three plums!

 I told him then: “yok yok, iki..” (“no, no, two…”) he looked at me with his eyes sparkled in sympathy (which at that moment, I could not understand why).  One can also easily notice his softened voice while putting in a plastic bag my order.  He gently handed me the bag and said “Here you are!”.  The natural course of event would render me no other choice but to ask how much I owed him, followed by his answer: “no that’s fine, please take them as a gift”. 

I replied “thank you very much”, walked away, felt puzzled.

Surely the whole mystery went unraveled after I told my friends and colleagues about this.  A kilo of apple at that time was around 1.5 lira, same as oranges and plums.  While the norm of the bazaar is to buy with a unit of every two kilos, I asked for two individual fruit.  My “brother” there must have thought I was miserable and very humble to ask for the all together few pieces of fruit. 

Is this embarrassing or cute?  This I let you judge.

Of course I do not tell you my experience so that you order kilos of fruit and veggie even when you do not need it; I only wish to give you a glimpse of this country’s abundance of agricultural products.  This, in my view, is richness.  Aliens like us, should make the most of it and enjoy thoroughly.

Until the next issue, my fellow aliens, one more tip: If you wish to purchase a watermelon, you have got to buy the whole thing (in other countries you have the option to buy by the slice).  Make sure you have enough space in the fridge before you venture to the bazaar! 


Cheers! 


12 May 2012
Ankara, Turkey

Turkey in the eyes of an alien....

Published in the "Multicultural Guide Ankara - April issue"

A hearty greeting, my fellow aliens! 

Of course amongst us would be some who are well assimilated and no longer consider themselves an "alien"; some might have just set foot in this land, and glad to have discovered this nice freebies magazine which consists of a lot of useful information and tips for a new comer.

I would like to share my cultural experience with you through this page, with the hope that it provides a smidgen of insights for you to understand local practices and customs.  Not before long you will understand that interactions with the locals will make up a big part of your memories and legacy of Turkey, especially so if you would ever depart one day. 

Walking in the door of Turkey, we ought to firstly understand that individualism and the concept of personal space are both very different affairs here.  I recall the first time when I got on a blue minibus (Dolmuş), sat in the front row after handed the fee to the driver, and was much prepared for a mundane lonely journey from point A to B.  Little do I know about the practice of transmitting fare from all passengers to the driver were to be done via everyone in between.  I therefore had a tap on my shoulder (generally my right shoulder, as I was sitting at the aisle seat in the front row) every now and then, requesting me to transmit the handed fare to the driver sitting in front of me.  Same goes the other way of course, change from driver back to passengers.  See?  Locals are interactive! 

If you have an outlook that shouts "I'm not a Turk" (like myself, a rather ordinary Asian with the typical slit-eyes), you would have already encountered the question: "Nerelisiniz?" ("Where are you from?"), at least twice in the past 24 hours.  This is also a symbol of locals' friendliness, their free spirits and the lack of "personal space" convention in culture.  If you have not yet the proficiency of Turkish to elaborate, replying simply with the name of your country, accompanied by a sincerely smile will suffix to return the kindness.

Should you have the chance to travel within Turkey, you will be exposed to more opportunities to experience the well-known locals' hospitality.  It is very common that you will be offered a tea (Turkish style with the elegant glass of course, no English cups..), no matter summer or winter; whether you make a pause walking through a village; shopping in a bazaar and in the process of deciding whether or not to make a purchase ( more excitingly, while in a bargaining battle..); or in any occasions if you are at a lodging of a local.  This I have not personally experienced in other countries and is the element where an alien feels like home and welcomed.

In fact Turkish hospitality can be experienced most thoroughly when you are invited to a local home as a guest.  Host family takes the opportunity to display their delicate manner towards guests by presenting them a well-prepared feast table.  In this respect, I suspect that I have experienced its summit because of my close tide with the Black sea region (my daughter has half Black Sea pedigree).  Every time when I see the amount of food presented to me, I wonder if some sort of eating competition is taking place, only I realize every time there isn't.  It is the "normal affair" and guests' responsibility is to enjoy as much as possible.  Here, my dear aliens: What you need to do is, eat slowly!  Whenever you leave an empty spot on your plate, know that it will be refilled.  This is done anyway whether you use excuses such as you are on a diet (by the way, the answer to this is "not today, you can diet other days"); or you are already full (the counter argument to this would likely be "these are all very healthy food, it doesn't matter if you eat a bit more"), etc.  Therefore to eat slowly, believe me, is the best certified true solution, if you do not wish to challenge your or enlarge the capacity of your stomach. 

Until the next issue, please take care.  In the mean time, enjoy a minibus ride; enjoy a chat with a local stranger; and enjoy the cup of tea and the wonderful feast someone has to offer you.

12 April 2012
Ankara, Turkey

What is the purpose of life?

To ask oneself the question: “What is the purpose of life?” seems to be an unavoidable process in everyone’s existence.  Perhaps it happens in different stage of life: in deep frustration, amidst severe suffering, on the day of your retirement, of your graduation from alma mater, etc.  There is countless possibility of occasions.

The action of asking, though, is aligned with the human instinctive need to seek the truth, as there is a whole branch of philosophy named Epistemology devotes to such appetite.  In order to make sense of the world and our existence, human beings labor to develop logic, look for the truth, recognize reality, formulate beliefs, design and practice moral values, cultivate skill of arts. 

Was there any good answer?

Skimming through the list of prominent philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Cynic, Cyrene... one common characteristic in searching for the purpose of life is to look for the meaning of "Happiness".  Does the purpose of life entail therefore being happy?

Different schools of thought have their own recipe:  Plato encourages the pursuits of knowledge; Aristotle advocates virtue; Cynic is a believer of a life free of possessions; Cyrene thinks that pleasure is the final goal of life;  

Modern philosophers suggest that life is ultimately meaningless and absurd.  To seek for a meaning and purpose in this absurdity, naturally, again, is absurd.  They encourage therefore the "acceptance" of the absurdities and suggest that everyone should live and not opt for a suicide because of the argument: "Why is death any better than living?"

What do I think?

The word "purpose" is often associated with an object that is created for a specific use.  Why do we create a sofa?  So that one can sit there and relax, watch TV with their legs properly extended; what is the purpose of the Pythagoras theorem?  So that one side of the triangle can be ascertained when you know the lengths of the other two;  There is often a need or a problem, followed by a specific "creation" that aims to fulfill that need or to solve that problem (The purpose of X is because of or for Y).  To have a designated purpose, is a characteristic belongs to a derived solution to a problem or a need.

We human being are different.

Not any of us was "created" in this world because there were not enough people already.  Human beings' proliferation (assuming that we all live in an ideal world) is a by-product of love and the physical act of love.  Before anyone is conceived, there was a moment of intense feeling and excitement, and a sense of gratification of that excitement.

Any parent (again, let's assume that we are living in an ideal world) will understand the inner turmoil of having children.  On the one hand it is the most sensational experience to receive love and see the development and growth of your child from a helpless miniature human being to someone who possesses his or her own identity, preference and dreams; On the other hand any problems associate with parenting and education can create the counter balancing fear, worries, sadness or even sense of regrets.  One thing, however, is universal amongst all loving parents:  if they were to answer to themselves the question "What do I want most for my child?" they reply: "I want them to be happy, wildly happy".

The purpose of life is therefore, to be happy.  Agreement duly expressed to the list of philosophers above..

If all mortals are designed by nature to have the inescapable death as the final destiny, what is the meaning of a "purpose" anyway?  Life, therefore, is a journey similar to a holiday to Japan, or Cuba, anywhere in the world of your choice.  You know such journey would come to an end but yet it does not extinguish your desire to embark on one.  The purpose of having a holiday is to experience, to explore, to test limits, to try things that you had not tried before.....in order to be happy.  On return, we ask ourselves: "Did I have fun?” which should probably be the very question we ask ourselves at the end of our brief existence.

What constitutes happiness is totally subjective and individual.  Same as religion and sexual orientation, what makes one happy is a private business.  We only need to make up our minds and go after it.  May it be a happy family, a fulfilling career, to make contributions to a cause and make the world a better place, a tranquil life in the mountains, colors, music, beauty, dance...

There is no limit, which is one of the wonder of our world.  All is up to imagination and creativity.

Bon courage!

23 March 2012

Brussels / Belgium.