Turkish coffee

My friend Cagla, exchange student from Turkey, introduced me to turkish coffee today, and it was amazing. Love at first sip. I've already decided to buy a little Turkish coffee maker so I can bring it back to the states, which means that next year at Wellesley I will have a French press, an Italian style espresso maker, and a Turkish coffee maker. plus a ton of tea. epic.

Cagla told me about cute custom that they have in Turkey while we enjoyed our coffee. When a man and woman decide to get married, the man's family all go with the intended groom to the family of the woman and have coffee. The girl has to prepare all of the coffee, and make one cup with salt instead of sugar. She then offers this cup to her fiancé and he has to drink it and still be able to compliment her on the coffee. If he doesn't, it's a sign that they shouldn't get married, since it shows that his devotion to her wouldn't get them through the tough times of married life. Of course, every groom knows that he is expected to drink the awful coffee and fake it, nowadays it's just a beloved custom. I think it's really sweet.

Cagla also had me flip my cup onto my saucer once I drank all of the coffee to do the traditional reading of the grounds:

I'm standing on a cliff holding out my heart to someone.
(this was the first thing cagla saw)

a lion, courage?

Clara saw the state of Texas.

So in total, does this mean that I have the courage to risk it all for love in Texas? I was considering applying for grad school at Rice....feel like I really should now, ha ha!

-lab