Journal — November 2022

This month's feature is personal for me. The first time I visited Istanbul, I met Orkun Üstel, who at the time was a barista at a great speciality cafe called Kronotrop. He was preparing to compete in the Turkish Barista Championship—a competition he has since won several years in a row. We became fast friends and explored Istanbul's coffee scene together for a few days. On subsequent trips, I'd hear about his dream to open a roastery of his own. But when I stopped traveling in 2020, we sort of fell out of contact.

A few months ago, I was chatting Michael Butterworth, a coffee and wine writer (and creator of the fantastic Etkin Dripper) who also lives in Istanbul. He told me about Kafein Kültür, a new roasting project Orkun started. I was thrilled to hear that it had opened (and a little guilty that I was just hearing about it then). Anyway, a few WhatsApp messages and a few weeks later, I was trying samples, and was super impressed.

This lineup is delicious. The Fruit Bomb, a natural Honduran coffee (from the Caballero Family, world famous producers in Marcala) is delicious. Producers Marysabel and Moises are featured with Orkun in the photo below. Our Cafe Box subscribers will also get to try the washed version of the same coffee, a much more subtle, delicate offering. Duromina and Ichuga AB are both super tasty as well, and I can't wait to hear what you think of them.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating. I hope you enjoy a bit of down time as we enter the holiday season. This year has been long and intense for almost everyone I know. So take some time to breathe, relax, sip some coffee and enjoy some tatil, the Turkish word for holiday.