sean connery from russia with love james bond coffee turkish

In the movie from Russia With Love, James Bond responds to Kerim Bay’s invitation for coffee by saying, ‘medium sweet’.

As a stiff ass Brit this has always been the cause for much confusion. What is medium sweet? Naturally I’ve always used this response myself when asked how I take my coffee, despite not having the foggiest. It just sounds sexy doesn’t it?

It was only when I stumbled across a Turkish Coffee bar on Edgware Road, that I found out the true meaning.

turkish coffee

You have 3 tiers of sweetness.

SWEET, MEDIUM SWEET, NOT SWEET AT ALL.

Pretty simple really.

In the above picture you’ll see I’ve turned my coffee cup upside down once finished. In the below picture you’ll see some tracks and valleys made by the residual coffee, apparently these can be read/interpreted much like tea leaves.

reading turkish coffee

The main ingredients you’ll need for making Turkish Coffee Medium sweet are:

  • Ground Coffee
  • Maple Syrup, 2,3 healthy tea spoons
  • cezve  (a small long-handled pot with a pouring lip designed specifically to make Turkish coffee).

A Cezva is readily available on Amazon and other places.

Please find a video of me making James Bond Turkish Coffee in the link below.

Further connections

For more information on Turkey and Istanbul I recommend you connect with Thomas who is Fleming Never Dies on instagram.

Thomas has appeared on the podcast before to talk about his background being stationed out in Turkey and the ethics of Military wear.