Coffee-loving woman collects Turkish coffee cups
ÇANKIRI
Turkish coffee, one of the indispensable elements of Turkish culture, has captivated the hearts and taste buds of generations, infusing flavor and meaning into the social experience equally. But for some, the traditional drink has become more than a daily passion.
Living in the Central Anatolian province of Çankırı, storyteller Arzu Çetin Akyol was so fascinated by the Turkish coffee culture that she decided to collect Turkish coffee cups.
For the last five years, Akyol has managed to collect nearly 150 Turkish coffee cups in different shapes and sizes, some of which are antique.
Akyol’s collection features new types of coffee cups as well as those more than two century old.
Impressed by a cup collection she saw in a museum she visited in neighbouring Kastamonu province, Akyol made it her mission to collect coffee cups of different colors and designs from all over the country.
She started to collect cups from cities she visited, from her relatives, auctions and people she contacted through social media, achieving a collection of 150 pieces in five years.
Akyol said that her love for cups started with stories that began with an old Turkish apothegm: “A cup of Turkish coffee has a memory of 40 years.”
Noting that she hopes to get a cup from 81 provinces in the country in the future, Akyol emphasized that opening a cup museum is also among her dreams.
Emphasizing the importance of coffee in Turkish culture, Akyol added that her cups are very precious to her and that she cleans them carefully.
With its unique brewing and cooking techniques, the traditional Turkish coffee was inscribed to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013.
