Mandabatmaz ★ 4.7
Mandabatmaz in Beyoğlu's Olivya Passage, a 1967 single-room Turkish coffee bar whose foamy cup is the standard against which the rest of Istanbul is measured.
13 cafe places in Istanbul we have eaten in, sorted by editor score. All cuisines in Istanbul | Cafe across every city.
Coffee in Istanbul holds two traditions at once: the thick, unfiltered Turkish cup and a younger speciality-roasting scene. For the old style, Mandabatmaz off Istiklal in Beyoğlu pulls a famously dense brew, while the modern wave gathers in Cihangir around Kronotrop and Geyik Coffee Roastery. Karaköy has become a roastery district of its own, with Karabatak set in a quiet courtyard, and Petra Roasting Co. carries the speciality flag up in Nişantaşı.
Karabatak Karaköy ★ 4.4
Karabatak in Karaköy, a high-ceilinged ex-metal-workshop cafe pouring Austrian Julius Meinl espresso and salep across two floors below Galata.
Kronotrop Cihangir ★ 4.5
Kronotrop in Cihangir across from Firuzağa Mosque, Turkey's first specialty micro-roastery, brewing Chemex and V60 on the La Marzocco Strada it imported.
Sade Kahve ★ 4.5
Sade Kahve below the Rumeli Hisarı fortress walls, where Turkish coffee gets brewed slow over hot ash and an all-day kahvaltı spread spills.
Privato Cafe ★ 4.2
Privato Cafe on a Galata side-lane, a mismatched-crockery breakfast hall with Galata Tower views, doing one of the city's better all-day Turkish breakfast.
Van Kahvaltı Evi ★ 4.4
Van Kahvaltı Evi in Cihangir, an all-day breakfast room serving the dense herb-and-cheese spread of Turkey's east, kaymak with honey and otlu peynir.
Kahve Dünyası Nuruosmaniye ★ 3.8
Kahve Dünyası beside the Grand Bazaar's Nuruosmaniye gate, the Turkish coffee chain's polished flagship where sand-brewed cups arrive with a square.
Kronotrop ★ 4.6
Kronotrop in Cihangir, the country's first micro-roastery, opened on a Firuzağa corner with the first La Marzocco Strada in Turkey and a tight East-African.
Petra Roasting Co. ★ 4.4
Petra Roasting Co. in Nişantaşı, a third-wave roaster set inside an art gallery hung with antique Mercedes parts, brewing single-origin pour-overs.
Karabatak Roastery ★ 4.3
Karabatak in Karaköy, a converted metal-workshop cafe-roastery pouring imported Julius Meinl beans alongside its own house roasts in the old port quarter.
Geyik Coffee Roastery ★ 4.3
Geyik on Akarsu Yokuşu, a Cihangir double-shift roastery doing single-origin specialty by day and a cocktail bar at night, run by Turkish barista champion.
Kahve Dünyası ★ 3.7
Kahve Dünyası at the Grand Bazaar's Nuruosmaniye gate, the Turkish coffee-chain flagship serving sand-brewed kahve, chocolate beans and house espresso.
Mandabatmaz ★ 4.6
Mandabatmaz, the 1967 family-run Beyoğlu coffee bar in Olivya Geçidi, whose copper-cezve Turkish coffee is brewed so thick the cup is said to hold a water.
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