Coffee reading (kahve falı), tasseography / fortune-telling method, is a kind of ritual for many years in Turkey. As we regularly drink Turkish coffee during the day, we sometimes look at the cup to find out some hints for the future as a favorite pastime. When we are done drinking, we leave the sediment to settle, then we turn the little cup over upside-down on the saucer, swirl the cup and saucer 3 times clockwise, at the same time we make a wish. To make the coffee drain down the cup and saucer, we wait for a few minutes. Then, the coffee-reader picks up the cup and interprets the patterns and symbols in coffee sediment both in the cup and on the saucer. If the saucer sticks to the cup, then the wish will come true. If most of the coffee sediment drains from the cup onto the saucer, it is interpreted as the person who drink the coffee will relieve from the worries. Some typical symbols appearing in coffee sediment are interpreted as follows: Fish represents “kismet” meaning fortune; road represents journey; little bird represents news; elephant represents prosperity; wedding ring represents marriage; horseshoe represents luck; full moon represents a very positive start, etc. Sometimes, the interpreter sees numbers in the coffee ground, and says for example “3 vakte kadar”, which means the expected event will happen in 3 days, weeks or months.

Well actually, we, the local, do not take anything seriously in coffee reading, we do it just for fun. Turkish coffee reading is very entertaining, so we do recommend you try it at least once.