Also called kahve falı, coffee cup reading, kafemanteia
After drinking a cup of Turkish coffee, the cup is turned upside down on its saucer to cool and the shapes left by the grounds are read. It is a sociable custom among friends, recognized in UNESCO's listing of Turkish coffee culture.
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
Take care: Let the coffee cool before drinking and keep the cezve handle turned away from the stove edge. Turkish coffee is strong, so skip it if you are sensitive to caffeine.
In Greece, cup reading is known as kafemanteia and readers as kafetzou. The method is close to the Turkish one, and readings often focus on love and money. It is usually done among women at home rather than as a paid service.
The British version uses loose tea leaves instead of coffee grounds, with the cup's handle marking the drinker. The two methods share the idea of reading shapes in what is left in a cup.
Coffee spread through the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century, and Turkish coffee houses became centers of conversation. The style of brewing finely ground coffee in a cezve leaves a thick layer of grounds in the cup, which made cup reading possible. In 2013 UNESCO inscribed Turkish coffee culture and tradition on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and its description notes that reading the grounds to tell the drinker's fortune is a common part of the custom.
Cup reading, called kahve falı in Turkish, is mainly a social pastime among friends, family and neighbours, though professional readers also work in cafés. Similar practices are found in Greece, the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East. There is no evidence that the grounds predict anything, but as a way to share worries and hopes over coffee, the custom has lasted for centuries.
A blue glass eye bead hung in the home or worn on the body so that envious or admiring looks are caught and reflected before they can do harm.
Melting a little tin (or wax) on New Year's Eve, tipping it into cold water and reading the year ahead from the shape it freezes into.
Drinking loose-leaf tea, swirling the dregs and reading the shapes the leaves leave on the cup. A kitchen-table way to ask about the weeks ahead.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
