Couple aspires to establish museum for celebrating Turkish coffee culture

ANKARA

A coffee collection of a Turkish couple is known to be one of the largest private collections related to Ottoman and Turkish coffee culture in the world, and they now aspire to establish a coffee museum.

Turkish coffee combines steps and stages of serving and brewing techniques with a rich communal tradition, while the tradition itself is a symbol of hospitality, friendship, refinement and entertainment, said Nihal and her husband, Murat Sungur Bursa.

Their collection contains thousands of rare items displaying the refined coffee culture that emerged in the Ottoman geography and spread to other parts of the world.

The couple started their collection with three exquisite porcelain coffee cups around three decades ago.

Their interest in coffee culture has grown into a collection, built piece by piece that they acquired during travels worldwide, auctions, street bazaars and antique shops over the years.

The wide range of more than 5,000 items in the collection covers traditional equipment and vessels for preparing and serving coffee, the oldest pieces dating back to the 17th century.

All these equipment and vessels show the ceremonial character of Turkish coffee and its decorum.

Recently, some items from the collection have been hosted in an exhibition organized by the Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem, comprising one of the three major sections of the exhibition that display the Ottoman and Turkish coffee culture.

Historical objects from among the coffee collection were selected and moved to Jerusalem with exactly the same idea the couple had.

Aiming to establish a coffee museum of their own, the couple said that the basis of their desire is to share what they are very excited about with others.