Electric Cezve

An electric cezve, or Turkish coffee machine, makes Turkish coffee at the touch of a button. It heats cold water, powder-fine coffee and sugar in a small pot, just like a cezve on the hob, and uses sensors to stop as the foam rises, before it boils over. That takes away the hardest part of making Turkish coffee by hand: watching the pot every second. Here’s how they work.

The short version

• An automatic cezve: a small heated pot with sensors.
• Same ingredients: cold water, powder-fine coffee and sugar.
• Stops as the foam rises, so it can’t boil over.
• Around a minute for a normal brew on some machines.
• Consistent, but with less hands-on control over the foam.

How does an electric Turkish coffee machine work?

1. You fill the pot with cold water, coffee and sugar, just as for a cezve.
2. A heating element warms it from below.
3. Sensors detect when the coffee is about to foam over, and the machine stops heating, often with a sound or light to tell you.
4. You pour, or on some models, the machine pours straight into the cup.

How each brand’s sensor works isn’t usually published. Arzum describes an anti-overflow brewing sensor on its Okka machines.

What can the Arzum Okka do?

Arzum’s Okka range is one of the best-known. According to Arzum and retailers, models include:

• Anti-overflow sensing and an audio-visual alert.
• Altitude detection: Arzum says its system detects “the ideal cooking temperature at your point”, so the coffee tastes the same anywhere in the world.
• A slow brewing mode, which Arzum likens to coffee cooked slowly on low-heat cinders.
• Direct-to-cup pouring on the original Okka, which Red Dot describes drawing water from its tank, brewing slowly and pouring into the cups, with three cup sizes. Arzum gives about 55 seconds for one cup and about 2 minutes for two.
• Pot models such as the Okka Minio, which makes 1 to 4 cups, and the Minio Duo, which makes up to 8.

These are the maker’s descriptions, so treat them as claims rather than tests.

How do you use one, step by step?

1. Measure cold water with the cup, one per person, or to the markings.
2. Add about 7 g of powder-fine coffee per cup, and sugar to taste. Stir.
3. Start the machine.
4. Pour into small cups, sharing the foam, and let the grounds settle.

Machine vs cezve

	Electric machine	Cezve on the hob	On hot sand
Boiling over	Prevented by sensors	Up to you	Up to you
Control	Modes and buttons	Full	Full, very fine
Time	About a minute on some models	3–4 minutes	A few minutes
Skill	None	Some	Most

General guidance only. Follow the maker’s instructions, never immerse the machine’s base in water, and take care with hot coffee and the pot.

Electric cezve vs other methods

• Turkish coffee: the full guide to making it in a cezve.
• Turkish coffee on hot sand: the traditional way of heating a cezve.
• Greek coffee: made in a briki, ordered by sweetness.
• Moka pot: strong stovetop coffee by steam pressure.

Explore every boiled method in the boiled chapter.