Coffee cupping gains momentum in Türkiye as promising profession

ISTANBUL

Coffee tasting in Türkiye is steadily gaining popularity as a promising pursuit among new-generation professionals with its modest number of practitioners for now.

Today, hundreds of coffee shops and boutique brands in the country demand their beans, imported from Colombia, Brazil, Vietnam or Indonesia, to undergo comprehensive and multi-stage testing by professional tasters before they are used.

“I entered the coffee industry in 2005, working with a major coffee chain in the Turkish market. At that time, I feared unemployment since coffee wasn’t consumed as widely in Türkiye except Turkish coffee,” coffee taster Yunus Çakmak said.

“For instance, I consult for companies that import 5 kilos or even a full container of coffee from Colombia or Guatemala. They want us to assess this coffee before they market it in Türkiye. We then proceed with a swift analysis, identifying and eliminating defects, and calculating the defect ratio,” Çakmak explained.

Tasters assign scores to coffee beans based on a 100-point scale, with a score of at least 80 required for a coffee to be deemed of high quality. Turkish tasters also provide price recommendations based on the score assigned.

“If the coffee scores below 80, it’s classified as commercial-grade. We then ask the client, ‘What were you told about this coffee?’ Often, the client responds, ‘I was informed this is a premium coffee, priced at $100-150 per kilo.’ We correct them by saying, ‘No, this coffee is worth far less, and you should not pay beyond this amount.’ That’s how we offer feedback.”

The evaluation process begins by assessing the beans visually. After grinding, tasters rate the fragrance of the coffee beans in separate containers. The beans are then brewed, and tasters conduct a secondary aroma evaluation as hot water infuses with the coffee. Using specially designed spoons, they break the foam formed on the surface of the brewed coffee and transfer it into another container. Çakmak meticulously rinses the spoons between tastings, ensuring that eight minutes after brewing and foam removal, the tasting process begins, from which the final score is determined.

Over the past decade, the profession has seen a surge in Türkiye, driven not only by the consumption of Turkish coffee but also by the booming demand for filtered coffee.

Droughts in Brazil, the largest coffee producer, and powerful typhoons in Vietnam, the second-largest, have disrupted global coffee supply chains, driving production costs higher and pushing coffee prices to $263.

According to industry representative Faruk Güzeldere, despite this price increase, Turkish consumers remain unwavering in their coffee consumption habits.

He noted the growing market, particularly for whole-bean and instant coffee, attributing the rise in coffee machine purchases for home use to the escalating costs of out-of-home consumption, which has naturally led to an increase in domestic consumption.