Could your coffee be telling you something? According to Turkish tradition, there’s a possibility it might be.

This year’s Turkish World Festival at Chicago’s Navy Pier saw lots of traditional food and culture for all who attended. But one special attraction brought some foresight into the future for the hearty souls willing to step up and try a cup of Turkish coffee.

According to tradition, Turkish fortune tellers believe the grounds left behind inside one’s coffee cup can help predict their future. Much like reading tea leaves, Turkish “seers” believe shapes and patterns left behind in the bottom of a coffee mug have symbolic meaning.

“It’s just to motivate and encourage each other,” Sait Arat, 27, a professional musician who dabbles in fortune-telling told the Chicago Tribune. “Generally, you don’t say if you see something bad.”

Want to try it at home? Simply pour yourself a cup of Turkish coffee, sip until there’s no liquid left, place a saucer on top of the cup, and then flip the cup over. Designate a friend as your own personal “seer” and have he or she look at the grounds on the saucer and help you interpret the images in the grounds.

Here are some common coffee fortune images and their meanings:

Bird – news is coming your way
Tree – there might be a vacation or travel in your future
Heart – love is in the air
Dog – someone’s cheating on you, or it could also speak of someone’s loyalty
Apple – learning or education is in your future
Kite – wishes come true
Candle – signifies enlightenment
Cat – a deceitful friend or relative
Monkey – prepare for the unexpected

To see a video of Chicago Tribune reporter Noreen Ahmed-Ullah having her coffee ground fortune read, click here.

Not just any type of coffee grounds

Telling fortunes isn’t the only thing that makes Turkish coffee special. It’s a very thick, almost syrupy coffee that’s made from grounds that are so fine they feel like powder. These fine grounds settle to the bottom of each cup, leaving a thick trail behind to create the images where fortunes are found.

Turkish coffee is almost interchangeable with Greek or Armenian coffee. It’s just the places where this drink shows up that influences its name. Since there isn’t a specific variety of coffee or roast that makes it Turkish, it gets that texture from a special pot called a kanaka or briki (in Greek).

After the grounds are prepared, coffee and water are then loaded into the kanaka and boiled over a stovetop. Since this coffee is typically served sweet, sugar is sometimes added to the water.

There are four levels of sweetness when having Turkish coffee: sade, which is plain or with no sugar; az sekerli, a little sugar, about half a teaspoon; orta sekerli, medium sugar, about one level tablespoon; and cok sekerli, a lot of sugar or approximately two level tablespoons.

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