The Bosnian Coffee Ceremony at a Sarajevo Kafana

Bosnian coffee is not Turkish coffee, as any Bosnian will explain with patient intensity if you make the mistake of suggesting otherwise. The method differs: Bosnian coffee is prepared by adding ground coffee directly to a small copper pot (dzezva) of hot water, allowing it to rest rather than boil, and serving it undiluted in a small cup (findzana) alongside a separate small pitcher (ibrik) of hot water, a sugar cube, and a piece of Turkish delight (ratluk). The drinker controls the dilution and the ritual is deliberate and unhurried.

The kafana — a traditional Balkan tavern with Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian heritage — is the setting for this ritual. The kafana serves coffee, rakija (fruit brandy), beer, and simple food; it opens in the morning, stays open until the last customer leaves, and functions as a neighbourhood social institution. The Bascarsija district in Sarajevo, the Ottoman-era bazaar quarter, has dozens of kafanas where Sarajevans have been conducting business, romance, arguments, and reconciliations over small cups of coffee for five centuries.

Sarajevo is one of the most historically layered cities in Europe — the site where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914, the city that survived a three-year siege (1992-1995) that was the longest siege of a capital city in modern warfare, and a city that has been simultaneously Orthodox Christian, Catholic, Muslim, and Jewish in its various neighbourhoods for centuries. The Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, the Orthodox Cathedral, the Sephardic Synagogue, and the Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral are within walking distance of each other. The pastries at Bosanska Kuca are extraordinary.