Tasseography
Divination from the shapes left by tea leaves or coffee grounds in a cup.
Also: tea leaf reading, tasseomancy, coffee cup reading, kahve fali
In tasseography, a drinker finishes a cup, leaving a little liquid and the leaves or grounds, which are swirled and tipped onto a saucer. The reader interprets the shapes and where they sit relative to the cup's handle and rim. Tea-leaf reading became fashionable in Britain and Ireland in the 1800s, helped by cheaper tea, and was often practised at home by women. In Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and the Arab world, reading the grounds of coffee is a family pastime, called kahve falı in Turkish. Readers say the images are signs of events, while others say it is a social occasion that offers talk and comfort. Shapes seen in cups are an example of pareidolia, finding patterns in random marks.