Water’s role in modern coffee preparation has been the subject of considerable inquiry over the last decade. Maxwell Dashwood and Christopher Hendon’s Water For Coffee is a seminal work on the topic, now in its second edition. Brands like Third Wave Water, Pentair, Lotus Water, and many more have changed how coffee lovers think about water at home and in the cafe. Reverse osmosis has gone from the realm of the super geek—or the barista competitor stage script—to becoming increasingly normalized at coffee bars and thoughtful home set-ups around the world.
But what if we told you the obsession with water and coffee’s delicate dance was nothing new at all? In a new feature for Sprudge Special Projects, writer and coffee professional Duygu Kurtuluş (of Meet Coffee Lab in Istanbul) takes us back to an earlier era of coffee and water, inside the palace of Topkapı in the 16th century Ottoman Empire. You thought you were a bit nerdy about your coffee water? You’ve got nothing on these folks.
For the palace, coffee was never merely something to drink. At Topkapı, coffee was a performance, complete with dedicated staff, protocol, and ritual. The kahvecibaşı (chief coffee maker) and the attendants under his command worked in seamless order: braziers, roasting pans, finely grinding bronze mills, elegant ewers, and cups housed in silver zarfs. And behind this entire stage—more decisive than one might expect for the era—one quiet element shaped everything: water.
From the beginning of the 16th century, it is thought that the main source of brewing water for the palace was Gümüşsuyu, in the Eyüp district. This was no ordinary spring. At its head stood a special corps of bostancıs known as the Gümüşsuyu Ocağı, tasked solely with drawing water there and delivering it to the palace. Water was filled into large leather waterskins, carried by boat to Sarayburnu, then delivered directly to the Coffee Room at the palace.
Read “The Secret Of Turkish Coffee? Since The 16th Century, It’s In The Water” on Sprudge Special Projects
Special Projects Desk is a hub for long-form original journalism and select archival features on Sprudge. Since 2009, Sprudge has been the world’s premier home for thought-provoking coffee journalism, evocative photo essays, design deep-dives, and cultural narratives. Special Projects Desk continues this tradition in 2025 and beyond, platforming exceptional works from the field of coffee journalism.
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