IN 2013, Turkish Coffee entered UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Holding an essential place in Türkiye with its cultural aspect, not to mention its taste, Turkish Coffee offers a new touristic route to coffee addicts with Istanbul’s oldest coffee roaster. The coffee roaster in Beta Han at Eminönü houses the coffee roaster known to roast coffee in the Ottoman land and awaits its visitors with the Turkish Coffee Museum it hosts.

YEARLY 500 TONS

The Beta Han houses the roaster, formerly the Tahmis (Coffee Roasting) Han, and is one of the roasters that paved the way for the emergence of the Turkish Coffee brand. The roaster started to operate in the 1500s upon the coffee’s entry into Ottoman land. In those times, it was a roaster commonly used by Istanbul’s coffee tradespeople. Coffee from Yemen was roasted and distributed to Istanbulites in this roaster in Tahmishane (Coffee Roasting House). According to the historical records, the coffee processed in this place amounted to 500-600 tons yearly.

COFFEE PREPARATION FACTORY

Turkish coffee differs from other coffees, for it is the only coffee cooked over a fire in the world, and its traces can be traced to this historic roaster. A landmark record dated 1838 reveals five roasters that roasted and processed tons of coffee in the region, yet only one has survived. The same record proves that 450 people worked in Istanbul’s coffee roasting houses and that coffee was ground in 150 mortars by coffee grinders. Thanks to such hard work, the Inn functioned as a coffee-preparing factory.

RESTORED

An essential station for people wishing to trace the coffee’s steps in Istanbul, this roaster went under restoration and opened to visit in 2019. The Turkish coffee museum in Beta Han takes visitors on a coffee journey in time. The museum hosts numerous objects related to Ottoman coffee culture. Old coffee cups, mortars, coffepots and coffee grinders are accompanied by the uniforms worn by the people working in the coffee rituals in the palaces.

Second roaster in Damascus

Though the first known Ottoman coffee roaster was opened in Istanbul, the roasters were opened in different regions in the advancing years. According to the Presidency’s Ottoman Empire Archive, the Ottoman Empire’s second roaster was opened in Damascus in 1616.

The coffee ritual

Beta Han, which houses the historical roaster four days a week, hosts a coffee ceremony to revitalize the coffee culture. At the beginning of the ceremony, the coffee maker and his assistants walk around with the censer, burning rosewood incense. Rose water, jams, and Turkish coffee with rose aroma and Turkish delight are offered to the vis