From Pier to Cup: The Journey of Coffee

Goats discovered it, Sufis brewed it, Istanbul gave it to the world. We meet in front of Sirkeci Station and hear how coffee travelled from Ethiopia to Yemen and on to the Eminönü piers aboard the Egyptian galleons. Near the street named after Ebussuud Efendi, the chief jurist who ruled against coffee, we tell the story of coffee ships said to have been sunk in the harbour.

At Doğubank we follow imported goods through Eminönü; at the Grand Post Office we hear how the news reached the coffee house by radio; and at the 4th Vakıf Han, long home to the Istanbul stock exchange, how London’s stock exchange was born in a coffee house. At Hacı Bekir, open on Hamidiye Street since 1777, we learn how Turkish delight replaced rose preserve beside the coffee cup; at the 1st Vakıf Han, how pious foundations kept the coffee hans running; and at Germania Han, about coffee’s Egyptian route and German roasting machines.

From the Spice Bazaar we continue to Tahmis, where coffee was roasted under state control and which is called the world’s first coffee street. We follow coffee’s chain through the Kurukahveci Han, built in 1912 for coffee importers; Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, who in 1871 began selling coffee ready roasted and ground; a coffee museum in a historic han where old roasting ovens were uncovered; and Nuri Toplar, still roasting over charcoal. From Balkapanı Han, where coffee from Egypt was stored, we pass the market of cups and coffee pots and the Rüstem Pasha Mosque to Tahtakale, where Istanbul’s first coffee house opened in 1554.

We end at a café with a view, over a Turkish coffee with its foam.

Private tour on request, 13:00–17:00, in English or Turkish: €250 per group of up to 20 guests. Children up to 12 free. Museum entry and coffee are paid by guests. Your guide is Osman Altay or one of our licensed guides. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start.