Turkish Coffee on Sand Workshop: Fortune Telling & Gift Set

The workshop with Adema was incredible. She shared the history behind coffee, explained the process of making Turkish coffee with great detail too! Fun, highly recommended!

We had a great few hours with our host Gaia (hope I have the correct spelling). She made us feel very welcome and was so knowledgeable about not just coffee making, but Turkish traditions, which brought the whole thing alive for us. It was nice to meet fellow holiday makers from other countries and enjoy the process of making coffee. Finally, Gaia read our tea cups. Go with a wish and she will tell you if it will come true! We visited on a very cold February afternoon and it was so nice to gather in a cosy room and talk and have fun.

My wife and I were both blown away by this workshop. Gaia is very good at what she does! Taking place in a lovely space in a trendy part of town very close to Galata Tower, we entered a beautifully prepared room for our workshop. Gaia regaled us with the history of coffee and its place in Turkish culture, all with characteristically excellent energy, humour and presentation style. She then walked us through the step by step process of preparing Turkish coffee before we had a go ourselves, including the less common and ritualistic brewing-in-sand method! We were also taught the followup steps to ensure a good pour, resting and clean up.

We were also taught the traditional way to consume the kahve (slurp first!) with or without Turkish sweets, or infused with cinnamon, or prefaced with a crunch of cardamom seeds. Then arguably the best highlight of an already excellent experience was Gaia's demonstration of fortune telling from the leftover sediment in each of our cups. If I had to guess, I would've assumed most if not all of us in the room were probably a little cynical about the fortune telling but happy to humour the process. However, I think everyone in the room was utterly blown away by the end of our readings! Gaia is very very good at what she does!! This is a highly recommended experience (oh, and there's decaf on offer for those who want the experience without the caffeine!)

This was an excellent experience! Davit was so knowledgeable and explained so much about Türkiye’s coffee history that I hadn’t known. This type of excursion wasn’t something I’d normally be interested in, but the fortune telling part sold me on the booking, and I was surprised with how enjoyable it really was. Davit even took photos of me when it was my turn to make the coffee (which is super instagrammable!) and chatted with me about other places to visit on my trip to Istanbul. Davit’s kindness and enthusiasm for the coffee making process was the best part of the workshop, and I would highly recommend anyone to try his classes :)

My only suggestion would be for the company to provide QR codes for tipping. Americans (as well as other nationalities, I’m sure) tip digitally and my bank card doesn’t work overseas so I had no cash. The company utilizes QR codes for customers to write reviews, so this can definitely and should be done!

Oggi is a great person and he explained the historical way for coffee.

We enjoy the time on this workshop…

Workshop was in a great room with all accesories

Nur was an excellent tour guide. I learned so much, plus there were moments that were fun and silly. I normally don’t love very touristy workshops but I loved this.

Our coffee-making class was fantastic! I would definitely recommend this activity. Our teacher was knowledgeable and friendly, making the experience even more enjoyable

Firat & Nur presented the Candlemakıng Mosaic Lamp and Turkish coffee classes. Aura and atmosphere superb. Guidelines & steps into and about preps were easy , understandable for my 10 year old. Will definitely come through again for the Perfume making & Ebru. Thank you for Turkish culture-Inspiring afternoon.

We learned so much and had tons of fun at this workshop. They teach you about the history of coffee and the process of making turkish coffee so you can feel confident doing it on your own later. Such a cool experience and everything was delicious. Our guide was also super fun and knowledgeable.

Thank you so much Metin; what a gracious and fantastic host you were for me and my family. We will take your stories and good fortune with us back home. And may your future be happy and clear, too.