In Turkey, it is hard to imagine breakfast, social meetings or even business negotiations without drinking tea. The country is a major tea consumer and one of the largest tea growing regions in the world. Once, I heard folks from Sivas saying conversations without tea is like a night sky without the moon.

As all of you can guess, I come from a tea-drinking family like everyone else in the country. However, I have become an urbane coffee drinker. Drinking coffee is a habit of the new generation. We have a cup of coffee while studying or working. One way or another it is a part of our lives now. Therefore, it is important to know how to make good coffee.

Simply, we can say that making a good cup of coffee depends on the choice of beans, water and equipment. However, there are some other significant tips that can help make it better. Attending coffee workshops, which I find really interesting and entertaining, are good options in helping you make a good cup of coffee. In Istanbul, there are quite a few coffee shops that give workshops on coffee.

Petra Roasting Co. is such a coffee shop. It has a cafe in the Gayrettepe neighborhood of Beşiktaş. When you get close to the shop the first thing that draws your attention is its different sized tables. The decoration is so elaborate that when inside you feel like you are at a sanctuary. They also serve their drinks on small trays with a small flower vase. I have learned that the cafe also has a home-brewing workshop. In this workshop, you can learn basic information about quality coffee, brewing techniques and coffee tasting. They organize the workshop every Sunday at 11:30 a.m. for four people for TL 169. If you have a chance to attend, you will learn how to brew quality coffee for yourself at home.

The second one is Federal Coffee. Unlike Petra Roasting Co., Federal Coffee provides both professional barista training and workshops. As part of their barista training, you can learn how to become a barista and get the professional Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) certificate.

They have two workshop options: Home Workshop and Brewing Method. In the three-hour training of the Home Workshop you study about what a barista does, coffee farms, effects of weather conditions and soil types on coffee beans. After getting to know all about coffee beans you learn about aromas, recipes of espresso-based coffee, general technical information on espresso machines, making coffee on the machine and presentation techniques with milk. In Brewing Methods, you again learn about coffee. This time, you look at green beans and roasted beans and coffee tasting. Then, you learn what the differences are between brewing equipment. The best part of the training is that you learn about the V60, Chemex, Aeropress and Syphon machines and their history.

The last coffee shop that I want to talk about is MOC Coffee Roastery. They provide latte art, home barista and coffee brewing techniques workshops. In the latte art workshop milk components, pasteurization, the importance of fats and proteins, milk types, milk cream standards, pouring techniques and creating motifs are taught. Meanwhile, with the home barista workshop, you can learn general coffee information, coffee-growing countries, from tree-to-cup adventures, the definition of qualified coffee, espresso-derived coffee recipes and home-made coffee methods. Their coffee brewing techniques and interest in third-wave coffee workshop generally focuses on coffee tastings. They also have professional barista training if you are interested in this. To attend these workshops, you can follow the dates and learn the prices on the websites of the cafes.