Best Specialty Coffee Shops in Istanbul
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Updated on Aug 17, 2025
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When pioneers like Kronotrop’s Çağatay Gülabioğlu, Turkey’s first Q Grader, started pushing third-wave coffee around 2014, they faced a city deeply attached to its traditional Turkish coffee and çay culture. Economic constraints meant sourcing top-tier beans was a constant puzzle. Yet somehow, in Karaköy narrow alleys and Kadıköy’s historic buildings, baristas began pulling shots that could rival Melbourne or Copenhagen. Here’s where to find world-ranked baristas at work, and third wave culture brewing.
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Çağatay Gülabioğlu, Turkey’s first Q Grader and founder of pioneering Kronotrop, operates Probador Colectiva as education laboratory rather than commercial café. The space functions as incubator for Turkey’s next coffee generation. It is not rare to be served by coffee champions.
Metal meets tiles in eclectic industrial aesthetic – every surface a potential teaching tool. As authorized SCA trainer and Q grader, Gülabioğlu brings international certification standards to the Turkish market. Sourcing coffees from Cafe Imports’ regional projects, Probador bridges global specialty networks with local market realities. Economic constraints force creativity, like exceeding in finding exceptional quality within Turkey’s purchasing power.
In Yeldeğirmeni, where century-old buildings and community art bring the neighborhood to life, Coffee Manifesto operates at a cultural crossroads. World-ranked barista Koray Erdoğdu serves specialty coffee to an evolving neighborhood. Artists discussing projects over Ethiopian naturals, elderly locals discovering new flavors with familiar brewing methods like the Cezve.
The space mirrors this duality: industrial fixtures against painted walls, traditional copper vessels brewing unconventional beans. What emerges is distinctly Istanbul, neither purely traditional nor blindly modern, but something uniquely its own.
Named after the German word for Monday, Montag easily transforms the week’s worst day into the best coffee experience. Follow roasting aromas up a narrow staircase past a repair shop, and you’ll find it sitting on the second floor. Operating since 2014 as pioneers of Istanbul’s third wave movement, they’ve chosen invisibility over street-level presence. Since establishing their own roasting facility in 2016, they’ve refined this minimalist approach.
The balcony overlooks Kadıköy’s busiest intersection – urban theater from above while sipping Ethiopian naturals. Inside, black and white minimalism frames a dreamlike wall mural. The disconnect between chaotic street and serene coffee space feels intentional, like finding calm inside the storm.
Beyond standard espresso offerings, Homestead operates in rarified territory with beans scoring 90+ on specialty scales. La Cabra, founded in 2012 and now globally recognized supplies the core range. The space speaks before the coffee arrives. Santa Fe’s desert palette – think terracotta, sage and sand – meets a Mediterranean feel. Neither aesthetic dominates; instead, they create what design theorists call third culture spaces – environments that feel simultaneously foreign and familiar.
After three years immersed in Melbourne’s world-renowned coffee culture, Good Coffee’s founders returned to Istanbul with a clear mission: recreate Australia’s uncompromising quality standards on Turkish soil. The execution feels authentically Australian: flat whites with microfoam silk, single-origins on Kalita Wave, nitro cold brew dispensed from taps like craft beer. The interior is super smooth, accentuated by a pastel color palette and plenty of natural light.
Within Kadıköy’s Ottoman-era buildings, Story Coffee occupies history. Exposed brick remembers centuries, wooden floors creak stories, while a Probat P-series roaster anchors the contemporary operation. Beyond coffee, Story operates as full-spectrum hospitality experiment. American breakfast classics, think buttermilk pancakes or California burritos, create familiar comfort for international residents.
Founded in 2020, this Karaköy roaster approaches coffee with scientific rigor. No wonder head roaster and co-founder Parsa Abedini won the 2025 SCA Türkiye Coffee Roasting Championship. It is the perfect place for pour over enthusiasts. For hand brew you can choose from three different sets of cupping scores, the highest 90+, and an array of brewers, including V60, Kalita, AeroPress, Origami, Siphon, Clever and Chemex. The olive-green walls, worn wooden counters, and soft natural light give the space a grounded, almost library-like calm.
Since 2014, Old Java has operated from Galata’s steep alleys ever since. In over a decade, they have seen street art multiplying, international residents arriving, and traditional businesses adapting to changing demographics. Old Java bridges these transitions, serving both Turkish regulars seeking the familiar and expatriates searching for third-wave experiences. Working directly with farms applying sustainable agricultural practices based on fairer trade balance, each bean carries stories of soil conservation, water management, and economic stability for farming communities. Visually, plants overflow from corners, softening industrial edges and framing the The Modbar systems.
Actor and entrepreneur Canberk Kadıçeşme’s journey through various cafés as barista before founding PEGGY with partner Sertaç Özdar represents Istanbul’s new breed of career-pivoting coffee professionals. The 2023 opening brought espresso-based drinks, cold brew and filter options to Fenerbahçe’s residential area.
Thoughtful reduction defines PEGGY’s aesthetic. Dark blue tiles punctuate neutral palette, creating visual anchor without overwhelming. Nordic wood furniture – clean lines, functional beauty – establishes calm against urban chaos outside. The beans are roasted beyond Istanbul’s immediate coffee circuit in Izmir.
Operating since 2015 from Karaköy, Kava runs a clever three-location strategy : Karaköy near ferry terminals captures commuters. Kadıköy serves Asian-siders, and Şişli transforms coffee into nightlife. Each location partners with La Fiancée Bakery.
Kava’s Şişli outpost ventures where few Istanbul establishments dare: coffee cocktails. Irish Coffee and Espresso Martini appear on menus across global capitals but remain rare in Istanbul. Here, baristas double as mixologists, understanding extraction’s role in both espresso and alcohol infusion. A mute color palete creates a neutral stage for amber liquids, cream layers, and garnish.