Istanbul Cezve brewing coffee over hot coals. Let's Dü Istanbul!

Sipping the Soul of Istanbul.

Ancient brewing and modern roasts combine in delicious ways.

Our love of Istanbul and its glorious coffee house culture is enough to make us want to jump on the next Red Eye bound for the ancient city.

Come with us for a visual experience of all things Istanbul, including:

  • Chat with a shop owner and enjoy a historic coffee and a trip through the 560-year-old Kapalıçarşı Grand Bazaar.
  • Explore the back streets of Istanbul teeming with locals and travelers connecting over food, wine, and coffee.
  • Taste Istanbul's local interpretation of third-wave coffee and prowl in the cosmopolitan Kadıköy district in the Asian side of Istanbul.

So grab your ayakkabı (walking shoes) and let's start exploring!

Click the four-arrows to expand to full screen mode. For the best sensory experience, click the "four arrows" in the lower right hand corner of the video to expand to full screen mode.

 


Let's Dü Istanbul and save 30%!

TASTE ISTANBUL AS THE TURKS INTENDED.

It's almost like being there, the aromas and the flavors of Istanbul. Come taste and experience the ancient city's coffee culture right at home...and start planning your next trip! Try our Istanbul roast and save 30% on your first 12-ounce bag of Istanbul coffee, just use discount code ISTANBUL-5 at check-out.



TRANSCRIPT.

No time to watch? Dive right into the conversation with the transcript of our interviews with the Istanbul experts.

Güvenç Usta: [0:20]

They ask a Colombian coffee Q-Grader: “Can you define good coffee with a single word?” And he answers: “Good coffee is sweet”.

Bekir Tezçakar: [0:26]

You know what the heart says? “I don’t want coffee nor a coffeehouse, the heart wants a friend; coffee is just a guise!

Yiğit Tahtalıoğlu: [0:31]

Today the whole breakdown is basically café vs. coffeehouse. Nevertheless, it is just about such a great gain of an urban space.

You know what the heart says? “I don’t want coffee nor a coffeehouse, the heart wants a friend; coffee is just a guise!"

—Bekir Tezçakar

Yiğit Tahtalıoğlu: [01:10]

I start my day with coffee as many millions do in this city of Istanbul. But as a point of interest, coffee was introduced in the city for the first time in the 1550s. It all started here... perhaps some place not far from this very street where I am standing now. The very first coffee house that actually just opened up, introduced by two merchants and it turned into such a great enterprise. And it became such a great commodity of this city of Istanbul, which embraced it as a new idea, as a new beverage and as a great social space.

This part of the world, especially in and around the Golden Horn where lots of people traveled from all around the world, the all-known world which is very close to the Spice Market and all the many other market areas, quite a few consumers and things… It is not a chance, it is not a coincidence why the coffee house was introduced in this place in the 16th century.

Coffee changed lots of things in the city. And in the following decades to come, there were hundreds of those coffee houses, they kind of spread out in the whole city: This city of the Europe and Asia.

Istanbul is the only city in the world that divides the two continents situated on both Europe and Asia. And it seems to be that coffee’s travel and its journey seems to be started from here, as it came from the lands of the Ottoman Empire and the parts of Yemen, when the coffee did travel to the city with this new coffee house.

In that sense, as the earliest one, the first coffee house in the world, it changed the world so dramatically. And in the following century, it seems to have spread to quite a few places in Europe, continental Europe, where coffee houses were then introduced.

It was a non-stoppable kind of thing, that beverage that traveled all the way from here to the Western world.

Bekir Tezçakar: [03:26]

We are sitting in the middle of world’s first shopping center, the Kapalıçarşı (Grand Bazaar), a 560 year old masterpiece in the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

It is built as if the whole world should gather here, do their shopping here, finish their trade here… It remains standing, inviting everyone to commune with us and to understand us.

We are into coffee making. Coffee culture is one of the most important features of Turkish culture, starting in the Ottoman era towards the end of 1600 and continuing up to this day. It is enough to be known and named as "Turkish coffee."

Somewhere between the years of 1875-1880, my great grandfather came to the Grand Bazaar, to this exact location. This is exactly where he started this coffee business. Today, I am here now, trying to protect the 140 year-old tradition as the last generation.

I drink at least two coffees per the day with my friends. There is nothing more beautiful than a delicious, properly ground, fresh coffee during the day.

—Berfu Aydoğan

Yiğit Tahtalıoğlu: [04:32]

Coffee is a stimulator and it probably was consumed by the Sufi dervishes in Yemen, it's how they really extended their time, their tempo and extending their their daily activities into the night.

By the records and as the archival materials kind of mention, coffee was probably consumed by the ruling elite at first. Some of those top administration officials really just had some kind of a coffee as a great habit, this consumption of coffee.

But when the very first coffee house was introduced into this city, it changed things, it democratized the use of this great beverage. This habit of this particular drink and how people actually consumed it, there are similar patterns to it. Even the etymology of the name itself: The Turkish word for breakfast [kahvaltı] actually is some kind of a meal before the coffee [kahve].

So what does that tell us? People probably just had some kind of an early meal and then they had their coffee afterwards. So for certain people this is still the same kind of a pattern, but quite a few people, just like the rest of the world, actually start their day with coffee.

Berfu Aydoğan: [06:13]

Coffee is my motivation to get out of the bed in the mornings. When I have to wake up early, I dream about drinking a delicious coffee and it helps me to get on my feet.

As we all know, İstanbul is a very crowded city. I always feel this need to take a coffee break somewhere in between errands, especially when I am running from one place to another within the city.

I drink at least two coffees per the day with my friends. There is nothing more beautiful than a delicious, properly ground, fresh coffee during the day.

Güvenç Usta: [06:53]

Coffee Manifesto is located in one of Kadıköy’s oldest neighborhoods, in the Yeldeğirmeni district. We are surrounded by a historic environment but also facing the new generation at the same time.

There is an intense interest in coffee and we have a guest profile in Yel Değirmeni who is also interested with the quality aspect of it.

Our story is to bring the "qualified coffee" and the consumer together. Actually, "third-wave coffee" is a word-for-word translation from the English language and it is losing its meaning. As a matter of fact, we started to use the phrase “qualified coffee” instead.

The position of the coffee plants in the plantation, its place of growth, the type of aroma it has, clarity, pureness, process method… I mean, even the processing method has an impact on roasting, and even on the cup.

In the end, we can use the term “third-wave coffee” when all these come together. In fact, it is a process which finally ends by how the coffee is treated by a barista in a coffee shop. Nowadays, this whole process has begun to receive serious attention from the coffee consumers here.

Our story is to bring the "qualified coffee" and the consumer together. Actually, "third-wave coffee" is a word-for-word translation from the English language and it is losing its meaning. As a matter of fact, we started to use the phrase “qualified coffee” instead.

—Güvenç Usta

Koray Erdoğdu: [08:17]

I am a Barista trainer at Coffee Manifesto. At first, I trained in how to prepare Turkish coffee and the Barista championships.

Then in 2014, I became the Turkish coffee champion and Barista champion, in both classes.

I followed this by asking myself, “What else can I do? What could be better?”

Actually, being a Barista is not only about making the coffee, but it also it also is about knowing how that coffee is roasted, how it is packed, and how it is processed.

Today, coffee bars are now very open and transparent [about their coffee and preparation methods]. In fact, it is the best part of being a Barista because people can watch you working directly. It is an enjoyable environment, and working in an open bar enables conversations to build up nicely. You follow the current trends perfectly and engage in conversations with very diverse people. The more positive you are, the better product you can produce at the bar.

Güvenç Usta: [09:05]

Coffee shops are social places. Especially in our culture and society, coffee means sitting down and chatting with friends. People also come to these places to work. I believe that coffee is the best accompanying thing to work. And yes, coffee shops have become a business meeting place, a chatting place and a working place. A kind of network is created between the people here.

Coffee shops are social places. Especially in our culture and society, coffee means sitting down and chatting with friends. People also come to these places to work. I believe that coffee is the best accompanying thing to work.

—Güvenç Usta

Güvenç Usta: [09:36]

Urban people did not historically have a very conscious approach to coffee before these days. Even if they had a good coffee, mediocre coffee or even bad coffee, they sort of took it as a way to start the day, waking up and benefiting from the caffeine effect.

But as time passed, people started to think: “How many coffees will I have after all, and why would I want to drink a bad one? I’d rather have a good coffee.”

Eventually, this quest ends up in training people’s taste. That is, we all learn to train our taste for coffee, in a way. Eventually, drinking bad coffee starts to become less pleasurable.

Koray Erdoğdu: [10:13]

Of course, the taste of coffee is what matters the most. Here, we work to make sure that the taste of coffee is presented to the end-consumer in its best condition. I don’t want to serve something that I don’t enjoy myself.

We serve espresso-based coffees, new generation Chemex, V60, Aeropress, and filter coffee versions. But filter coffee and Turkish coffee are most preferred. We also consume a serious amount of tea as a nation because we grow and process tea. Therefore, we also have an ongoing tea culture. In fact, Turkish coffee and tea are the first two items that come to mind here in terms of hot beverages.

Today, as the quality of the qualified coffee that we use started to improve, people’s choices started to shift from tea to coffee. The reason behind this is the fact that the aromas and the taste of coffee become more attractive and tempting as the quality improves.

Especially for Turkish coffee preparation methods, we provide brewing with various recipes and levels. Unfortunately, there is a very conventional Turkish coffee taste [that differs from modern coffee tastes]. We received so much criticism in the beginning. My goal here now is to serve high-quality Turkish coffee to people and to gain back the old taste of classical Turkish coffee.

Coffee here is a culture. Coffee is a treat. We do not see coffee as a means of taking in caffeine. We see it as a way of communicating and being gracious through coffee.

—Bekir Tezçakar

Bekir Tezçakar: [11:32]

Turkish coffee is not really a beverage. All of the teas and machine-made coffees are beverages. Although today you have access to all kinds of food and beverages in the social places called “café”, starting from machine-made coffee to classical Turkish coffee or from various tea types to various  beverages and food from our culture and others, coffee happens to be at the center of all these.

Coffee here is a culture. Coffee is a treat. We do not see coffee as a means of taking in caffeine. We see it as a way of communicating and being gracious through coffee. We see it as means of providing a sudden comfort or relief from the daily tiredness, or a moment to forget all distress or to catch one’s breath, and to liven up with a nice chat.

Turkish people use coffee in all of their important occasions. Coffee wakes you up in the mornings, it enables you to digest well after meals and to give meaning to the food you ate, it lets you share your troubles with a friend over a cozy talk in the afternoon, it even provides you the hospitality to make your request for the approval of her family to marry your future wife, and it even serves as the final signature in a business deal when both parties end the negotiation by saying “let’s drink our coffee now”.

Coffee is powerful enough in our own culture to be part of our proverbs, such as “a cup of coffee has forty years of sake”. How can a society load so many features onto a drink over the past 500 years, protecting it at the same level and making it a part of their lives?

Travelers [to Istanbul] know this and, rather than just wanting to taste the coffee, they start coming with the question of: “What kind of beverage is this to carry such a high value and turn into an important cultural feature? I want to taste it”.

Güvenç Usta: [13:32]

Turkish coffee is so much a part of daily life in Istanbul and in Turkey. We have spent so many years trapped in a coffee type from a single origin, a single country. We have perceived that taste as the unchangeable and defined taste of "Turkish coffee."

However, Turkish coffee is not a coffee type, it is only a type of brewing method. That is, it is a unique method which goes from cold to hot and where the extra ground coffee is brewed in water in its own special pot [a cezve, see photo at top of this article] together with the coffee grounds.

But Turkish coffee cannot be confined to just a single coffee type. I think coffee beans coming from every origin have the right to be converted to Turkish coffee. That is, Turkish coffee has this right. In other words, Turkish coffee also deserves to be "qualified coffee." It deserves to be part of third-wave coffee. This does not mean that the traditional coffee making rituals will be obsolete. I believe that we should preserve Turkish coffee rituals and definitely not avoid them.

Bekir Tezçakar: [14:28]

We made special coffee brewing heads for our stoves. We make coffee in copper pots placed on top of these heads. All of this process is handcrafted.

We cook our coffee over low heat, adding cold water and the required amount of sugar while mixing it with wooden spoon. As for the presentation… It is not enough just to pour the coffee into an ordinary cup. It should be done according to a ritual.

Coffee should not be drank quickly; you should take your time and drink it slowly. You should let it cool slowly. You serve it on a small tray where you've placed the coffee cup in a coffee cup holder with a lid, with the coffee pot and a glass of water.

So, the consumption of coffee is not just about drinking a coffee, but it is also about the space. Coffee really has created some kind of urban space for the people, [we] received such a great gain, and coffee just made it all possible.

—Yiğit Tahtalıoğlu

Yiğit Tahtalıoğlu: [15:22]

There are different types of coffee houses today, but it seems that when people did consume coffee in the past, they did so in a place that was actually called "coffee house." Even that term implies that people feel so comfortable, it's like an extension of their houses. There’s got to be a reason why it is actually called a "coffee house." In a different sense, it is actually pronounced “café” in the rest of the world.

But let's just say for the sake of our argument: There are two different types of these coffee environments: a coffee house and a café, much like there is a very near Eastern world versus the Western world.  Turkey and this particular city of Istanbul actually have both. So, for any kind of coffee, there are all kinds of places that are welcoming, all kinds of environments… When it is comes to coffee, there's always some kind of relevance to the place it's consumed.

So, the consumption of coffee is not just about drinking a coffee, but it is also about the space. Coffee really has created some kind of urban space for the people, the urbanites received such a great gain, and coffee just made it all possible for them.


CREDITS.

This video is the creative work of videographer, editor, and our friend Barış Kılınç. He's based in Istanbul.

We extend our thanks to the many gracious people and coffee shops of Istanbul who kindly made this video possible, including:

Coffee Manifesto
Kahveci Ethem
Karabatak Karaköy
Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi
Mandabatmaz
Pera Muzesi
Tarihi Moda Çay Evi

Batuhan Tunçer
Feride Demet Gökhan
Gökay Gökulu
Mahmut Genç
Müge Aral
Pınar Kılınç


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