Introduction
Hello all! My name is Leonidas Pollakis. As my name suggests, I am Greek-American.
I am currently studying for my Master's in Instructional Design and Technology at George Mason University.
This site was created as a final project for my EDIT 526 class entitled "Web Accessibility and Design." The purpose of this project is to demonstrate my knowledge and skills in developing a fully accessible website using HTML and CSS. Since we were tasked with creating a website which could be used to teach others about a topic or procedure, I chose to focus on "How to Make Turkish Coffee." This site not only aims to teach its visitors how to make Turkish coffee, though, but also to un-pack the various terms, tools, and traditions surrounding Turkish coffee.
For a succinct summary of the purpose of this website, please download and view the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (DOCX Download).
Background
As a Greek-American, I have been surrounded by Greek culture all of my life, and have been drinking and making Greek/Turkish coffee ever since I was a teenager, when I would watch my aunts make it whenever I would vacation in Greece during the summers.
Later on in life, I moved to Turkey to become an English language teacher. It was there that I learned more about how Turks make their version of the same coffee that I had been making for my entire life. I came to a newfound appreciation for the drink, and perfected the way I made it while there.
This type of coffee, however, is not just a Greek or Turkish product, even though the two countries continue to fight over who can actually claim the rights over it. The tradition of making this fine-ground, boiled coffee spans most of the Middle East and Balkan countries, seeing as this coffee was first introduced to these areas of the world during the 16th century under the influence of the Ottoman Empire. It is purported that this coffee originally came from Yemen, and thus is also known as "Arabic" coffee - though Arab countries, such as Lebanon and Jordan, add more ingredients to it as well, such as cardamom and cloves.
The taste of this type of coffee is bold, dark, and rich, and smells divine. The defining characteristic of this coffee is the velvety froth that is made at the top of each cup. Indeed, it is said that without the froth, there is no coffee. And indeed, having let my coffee come to a rolling boil several times throughout my life, I can attest to the accuracy of that statement. The taste is completely different - burned even - when that froth is missing.
Of all the coffees that I have had the honor of tasting throughout my journeys, this type of coffee is still my favorite. It is also, in my opinion, stronger than other types of coffee. It is my opinion that this is why it is traditionally served in such small cups. This is also the reason why I prefer to drink this type of coffee when studying. In my experience, it keeps me astute and awake for a much longer period of time than other types of coffeee. It is also probably due to this strenght that it is traditionally served with a glass of water. Your body can start to get a bit hyper-active if you are drinking it by itself.
Throughout the remainder of this website, I will refer to this coffee as Turkish for simplicity's sake. This does not mean that I do not recognize it by any other name. Indeed, I go at lengths throughout this website to detail the various different words that I know that the coffee and its various implements are called.
If you are only interested in how to make Turkish coffee, though, you can simply go to the How to Make Turkish Coffee section of this website. Otherwise, I would suggest visiting each of the pages of this website using the navigation bar above sequentially, from left to right.
For more regarding this website's accessibility, please download my ACCESSIBILITY TESTING SUMMARY (DOCX Download).
If you would like to reach out, you can email me.