Mırra

Mırra is a traditional type of bitter coffee prepared in the Hatay, Urfa and Mardin provinces of Turkey, as well as in some Arab countries like Lebanon and Syria, which is also sometimes correctly referred to as Arabic coffee because the name is derived from Arabic; mur meaning bitter. Since it is very bitter and dark, it is served in tiny cups without handles similar in size to Italian espresso cups. The coffee beans for Mırra are common coffea arabica coffee beans, which however are roasted twice in order to give it its bitter taste.They are ground so that they are still grainy, unlike Turkish coffee which is more like a powder. The coffee is put into a narrow-topped small boiling pot called cezve, and water is added, mostly accompanied by some cardamom in order to give it a more aromatic flavour.

Mırra is boiled a couple of times until a thickish dark liquid is left. In order to serve Mırra, it is put into another copper cezve and the person serving it fills the cup halfway and hands it over to the guest, who after drinking it returns the cup in order to be filled halfway again and hands it over to the next guest. So the cup is circulated among the guests. One is always supposed to hand back the cup to the person serving after finishing. Otherwise, one will have to fill up the cup with gold, marry the person serving, help her/him to get married or buy her dowry.