Mehmet Efendi is a coffee with unique taste and aroma.

Mehmet Efendi is made out of carefully selected sorts of Arabica coffee. Unlike other kinds of coffee, produced by first deriving extract through heat treatment to make instant coffee, and then adding plant oils to the beans, Mehmet Efendi is made following an authentic recipe. The beans are roasted and grinded. This way the natural aroma and ingredients of the coffee are best preserved.

By the end of the 19^th century Turkish coffee was sold as raw beans and used as a drink. This was up to the moment when the son of Hasan Efendi—Mehmet Efendi, took over his father’s shop for spices and raw coffee.

Mehmet was born in 1857 in Istanbul and after graduation he began working in his father’s shop.

Mehmet Efendi took over the shop in 1871. He began selling roasted and ready-grinded coffee to his customers. The raw coffee is roasted, grinded and packed and only then offered at the market. This way the rich aroma of freshly roasted coffee fills in the Tahmis Sokak in Istanbul. It was the first time coffee was offered ready-grinded and due to this innovation, Mehmet Efendi got famous by the name Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi.

Becoming a brand name

The family took "Kurukahveci" as their last name in 1934. After the death of Mehmet Efendi his eldest son Hasan Selahattin recognized the importance of the international market. This way he began promoting and trading Turkish coffee both on domestic markets and abroad.

It was Hulusi Bey (1904-1934) who paid attention to the development of technology at the time and introduced mass production. Moreover the shop in Tahmis Sokak in Istanbul was replaced by an Art Deco building, designed by the famous architect Zühtü Baþar and used to this day. In the same period the company began to package its roasted-ground coffee in parchment paper and distribute the packages to groceries and corner stores all over the city via automobile. This turned out to be another innovation in Turkey. A branch of the company on the famous Istiklal Caddesi was opened.

Third generation

After Hulusi Bey the company passed into the hands of the youngest brother, Ahmet Riza Kurukahveci, who got educated abroad. Ahmet Bey watched closely the development of global trends all over the world and that is why he concentrated on advertizing and modernization of the company. In 1933, he commissioned Ihap Hulusi Bey, one of the best graphic designers of his time, to design a logo for the company and it is still in use even today. Moreover, the company’s adverttizing approach was quite innovative for its time and included promotional posters and calendars. This is also the period when Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi began to distribute coffee within the domestic market via company’s own automobiles. Another branch of the company on Sahne Street in Galatasaray was opened.

Today Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi is run by Mehmet Efendi’s grandchildren, who took over the company after the death of Ahmet Riza Kurukahveci. After nearly a century, the company finally replaced Mehmet Efendi’s mortars with coffee machines. What began as a small family business on Tahmis Street in 1871 has now grown into a global brand.

Although Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi has become a global coffee producer, it remains a family business, albeit one that uses modern technology to maintain the high quality that has been its hallmark since 1871.

The Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi coffee is distributed to 25 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Australia and is offered to the consumers in modern packages.