Tuğba Kuruyemiş Turkish Coffee with Gum Mastic – Damla Sakızlı 130g

This is Turkish coffee blended with gum mastic — in Turkish, damla sakızlı kahve — finely ground coffee carrying the aromatic resin known as damla sakızı. Mastic is the natural resin tapped from the Pistacia lentiscus tree and dried into pale, brittle "tears." It has been prized around the Aegean since Ottoman times, when the island of Chios — Sakız Adası, literally "gum island" in Turkish — was its famous source. Stirred into coffee along the Aegean coast, it turns an ordinary cup into something unmistakable.

The flavor is what sets this coffee apart. On its own, mastic is faintly bitter, then opens into a clean, resinous note often compared to pine and cedar, with woody, herbal, balsamic edges from natural compounds such as alpha-pinene. In the cup, that aromatic lift sits on top of the coffee's own roast and bitterness, leaving a cool, slightly sweet finish and a creamy mouthfeel you don't get from plain Turkish coffee. The grind is extra fine, almost powder, the way Turkish coffee is meant to be.

Brew it the traditional way in a cezve (the small long-handled pot). Measure cold water by the cup, add about one heaping teaspoon of coffee per cup, stir, and heat slowly over a low flame. Add sugar before brewing if you like it sweet. Let the foam rise but never boil it — lift the cezve off the heat as the froth climbs, then pour grounds and all into a small cup and let the sediment settle. It pairs naturally with Turkish delight (lokum), baklava, or a simple piece of chocolate, and a glass of water alongside is the custom.

Mastic-flavored Turkish coffee has a devoted following far beyond Turkey — across the Gulf it is sought out as قهوة بالمستكة, and Turkish communities keep the tradition alive in Europe and North America. This 130g pack is a fragrant, distinctive way to bring that Aegean coffee ritual home.