What is the Arzum Okka?
The full-size machine at the top of the Okka range, and the one that pours for you.
Arzum publishes automatic brewing and pouring directly into the cup, an auto altitude detection system that adjusts the boiling temperature, a one-touch self-cleaning function, a slow brew option that extends the brew to about five minutes, a choice of one or two cups, a Red Dot Honourable Mention and a Plus X Award, and UL approval at 120V. It measures 10 by 8 by 12 inches.
Why altitude detection is not a gimmick
Water boils lower up a mountain, and Turkish coffee lives or dies on the temperature just below boiling.
Turkish coffee is brewed by bringing the pot slowly to the point where foam rises, then pulling it back before it boils over. That point is not a fixed temperature: water boils at 100C at sea level and around 95C at 1,500 metres. A machine that assumes sea level will overshoot at altitude, boiling the coffee and collapsing the foam, which is the failure mode this whole category exists to prevent.
Detecting altitude and adjusting the target is the difference between a machine that works in Istanbul and one that works in Denver or Mexico City. Nothing else on this site does it, and for a buyer above about a thousand metres it is the reason to choose this machine over any of them.
Brewing and pouring are two separate problems
Most machines here brew into a pot you then pour. This one delivers into the cup.
Pouring Turkish coffee well is a real skill: you want the foam distributed between the cups rather than all of it landing in the first one, and the grounds left behind in the pot. Done badly you get one cup with all the crema and one with none, plus a mouthful of sludge.
Automatic pouring removes that. Combined with the slow brew option, which extends the cycle to five minutes for more extraction, the machine is doing both halves of what a person does at a hob.
The Okka Minio is the smaller sibling and the Rich Spin Pro the one with the frother; this is the plain full-size machine and the one to choose if Turkish coffee is all you want it to do.
Arzum Okka vs Karaca Hatir
Two flagship machines, and they solve different halves of tradition.
The Karaca Hatir has an ember mode, which imitates the slow heat of coffee brewed in hot sand, and holds five cups against the Okka's two.
The Okka's answers are the altitude compensation, the automatic pour and the self-cleaning cycle. For a household serving four or five, the Karaca. For one or two people who want it right every time and no washing up, the Okka.
Is the Arzum Okka worth it?
Worth it if you drink Turkish coffee daily, and especially if you live high up.
It is a specialist machine that does one drink and does it with more automation than anything else here. Self-cleaning matters more than it sounds: fine coffee grounds set hard in a brew chamber, and a machine you have to dismantle gets used less.
Arzum publishes no wattage, no capacity in millilitres, no warranty term and no weight on this listing, and this listing carries only 80 reviews. Two cups is its ceiling, which rules it out for entertaining. It also has no milk frother, which the Rich Spin Pro is for.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Buy it for one or two people who make Turkish coffee every morning.
It suits somebody who wants the drink without the attention, who is tired of cleaning a cezve, and anybody living at altitude where an ordinary machine overshoots.
Do not buy it to serve a table of five. And do not buy it if you want to control the brew yourself, in which case a stovetop cezve or the electric cezve is the honest instrument.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does altitude detection do on the Arzum Okka?
Adjusts the boiling temperature to your elevation. Water boils cooler at altitude, and a machine set for sea level will boil the coffee and kill the foam.
How many cups does it make?
One or two, chosen at the touch of a button.
Does it pour the coffee itself?
Yes, it brews and pours directly into the cups.
Does it clean itself?
Yes, a one-touch automatic cleaning function.
Does it work in the US?
Yes, it is UL approved and runs on 120V.
