In just five years, Kevser Atmaca has gone from her first hesitant cezve brew to becoming one of Turkey´s most respected coffee professionals. She is the 2023 Turkish Cezve/Ibrik Champion, 2024 World Cezve/Ibrik Runner-Up, 2024 Turkish Roasting Championship Runner-Up, and a coach to multiple national titleholders. Her background in nutrition, paired with relentless discipline, has shaped her approach to both competition and education.
In Gaziantep, she co-founded Niji Coffee Co., a specialty roasting and training space that supports entrepreneurs entering the coffee market. Alongside it, she runs Cezve & More, the city’s first specialty café, inviting guests to explore both traditional and modern brew methods in an open, hands-on way.
Kevser’s work blends heritage with innovation, from reintroducing cezve as a precise and expressive brew method to training the next wave of competitors and coffee enthusiasts!
Kevser, what is your first memory with coffee?
My first memory with coffee dates back to my university years, during an internship. One of my professors asked me to make a cup of cezve/ibrik coffee. I had no idea how to brew coffee at the time, so it turned out terribly. My professor told me never to make coffee again. Ironically, here I am now, fully immersed in the coffee industry.
What inspired you to pursue a career in the coffee industry, and how did you get started? What did you do before coffee?
I studied Nutrition and Dietetics and later moved to the United States for my master’s degree and language training. During that time, I helped my father, who was working in the coffee import business, by translating academic and technical articles for him.
After returning to Türkiye during the pandemic, I initially focused on my professional expertise: working with patients with celiac disease and SMA. However, I quickly realised that I wouldn’t be able to pursue that field in the way I wanted in Türkiye. That’s when I truly discovered coffee through my father’s business.
With the arrival of Alireza, my future business partner, in Türkiye, I had the opportunity to learn from his extensive experience. Together, we began our journey of specialty coffee education.
Tell us a bit about your projects.
Niji Coffee Co. is our roasting and training facility located in Gaziantep. We created this space not only to roast high-quality coffee but also to provide consulting and education for entrepreneurs entering the specialty coffee market in Türkiye. We offer hands-on training, from green coffee selection and roasting profiles to sensory evaluation and recipe development, helping clients build a solid foundation.
Our café, Cezve & More, opened eight months ago and is the first specialty coffee shop of its kind in Gaziantep. It’s a place where guests can explore different brew methods – like cezve, filter, and espresso – using beans they select themselves. We also introduce them to signature drinks from competitions and offer guidance on how to enjoy specialty coffee at home. It’s all about making quality coffee approachable and personal.
What kind of experience do you want your guests to have when they visit your place and try your coffee?
For me, speciality coffee is not just about high-quality beans or beautiful cafés – it’s about the person behind the bar being truly hospitable, knowledgeable, and intentional in everything they do. I want our guests to not only enjoy a delicious cup of coffee but also understand the story and science behind it. Whether it’s talking about green coffee sourcing, roasting profiles, colour and moisture analysis, or sharing the aroma of freshly ground coffee, we aim to make each step visible and approachable. By involving our customers in the process, from grind to wet aroma to final cup, they gain a deeper appreciation and a more memorable coffee experience.
What is your favourite part of the day at work, and why? Which duties do you enjoy the most?
I love brewing the first coffee of the day – it’s our way of calibrating ourselves, not just the equipment. Sharing this moment with my team and making sure we’re all aligned gives me a real sense of joy and connection. In our roasting space, we have a new team member who has no prior experience. Every morning, she brews coffee as part of his learning process, and seeing how beautifully she has progressed already makes me genuinely proud.
At the café, one of my favourite moments is when a guest comes back after their first coffee experience and asks to try a different processing method. It opens up space for conversation, curiosity, and a deeper journey into the world of coffee.
What kind of community do you hope to build around your cafe, and how do you plan to foster that sense of community?
Building a local community is deeply important to me. In Türkiye, coffee is a highly respected and deeply rooted daily ritual. However, most people experience it through a limited range of flavours and preparation methods. At Cezve & More, I aim to introduce the diversity of speciality coffee, especially through cezve brewing, with a wide variety of beans.
I want to help people discover that even the most traditional methods can reveal new flavours and stories. I hope that this will create a new wave of coffee lovers from our local neighbourhood, grounded in curiosity and cultural appreciation.
How do you stay motivated and inspired to keep improving your coffee-making skills?
My team – without question. Working with Alireza, Gökhan, Erdem, Sümeyra, Harun, Çınar, and other passionate coffee people constantly inspires me. Each person brings a unique perspective, and when we come together, we see coffee from entirely new angles. This shared energy motivates us to keep researching, exploring, and applying what we learn, especially in competition settings. No matter how experienced we are, there’s always something new to discover. My team is the biggest driving force behind my growth.
What are some common misconceptions about our industry that you’ve encountered, and how do you address them?
One of the biggest misconceptions I’ve encountered is about cezve brewing. Even within the coffee industry, many baristas and roasters don’t realise how precise and expressive cezve can be. They often assume it’s outdated or limited, without knowing that it offers as much control over the flavour profile as any manual brewing method, sometimes even more.
That’s exactly why I named my café Cezve & More. It’s a tribute to one of the earliest brewing methods in coffee history, dating back to the 15th century. Today, we have the opportunity to reintroduce cezve as a tool not only of heritage but also of innovation and flavour exploration.
What are the current trends in cafes in your region? Are there any trends you promote yourself and would like to see more often in other places?
After the pandemic, we saw a significant rise in automatic espresso machines and home brewing setups in Türkiye. As a result, many of our customers now prefer espresso-based coffees. To meet this growing demand, we created our “Fully Automatic Espresso Blend” series, designed specifically for ease of use without compromising on flavour. In recent months, I’ve also noticed a rising interest in matcha-based drinks, which seems to be becoming a strong secondary trend in both cafés and at-home consumption.
What do you think is the most important quality for a barista to have, and why?
For me, the two most essential qualities are curiosity and discipline. Curiosity leads baristas to keep learning, questioning, and exploring new methods, origins, and flavour profiles. But without discipline, curiosity can lose direction. Discipline ensures that knowledge is applied consistently and that skills are developed through practice and repetition. When these two come together, they create a barista who not only knows more but delivers better coffee every single time.
You have some amazing achievements while competing in coffee championships. Can you tell us about them?
We entered the 2022 Türkiye Brewers Cup just five months after founding Niji Coffee Co.—not to win, but to learn. With dedication and discipline, Alireza became the national champion. Despite facing visa issues that kept us from several world championships, we never stopped training.
In 2023, after a devastating earthquake forced us to live in our car, I trained for the Türkiye Cezve/Ibrik Championship with Alireza as my coach. We practised every day- often in the car – and I became the national champion. I chose cezve because of its deep cultural roots, and I wanted to explore its full potential.
In 2024, Alireza and I both competed in the Türkiye Coffee Roasting Championship. He won first place; I came second. He later placed third in the Barista Championship. That same year, we represented Türkiye at the world championships in Copenhagen – Alireza in roasting, and me in cezve. It was our dream to compete together on the world stage. I became the World Runner-Up, and Alireza placed in the Top 8.
In 2025, I coached Alireza and our friend Gökhan in the Türkiye Brewers Cup. Both advanced from the first round. Sadly, Alireza wasn’t allowed to compete in the finals, even though he followed all the rules. Gökhan became the national champion. That same year, we went to the World Brewers Cup in Jakarta, with the support of Janine De Laar, our team, and international friends. Alireza reached the finals.
All of this was possible through teamwork, discipline, and a shared love for learning.
Nowadays, do you prefer to compete yourself or coach?
This year, I focused on coaching, and sometimes, taking a step back is necessary. But I truly miss being on stage. I love sharing ideas, inspiring others, and bringing innovation to the coffee world. Competing gives me a unique platform to express that, so I know I’ll return when the time is right.
If there were one piece of knowledge about coffee you’d like everyone to know, what would that be?
I wish more people understood the complexity behind each cup of coffee, especially how processing methods and brewing techniques like cezve can highlight a coffee’s true potential. Beyond the cup, it’s essential to recognise the hard work of coffee farmers and the growing impact of climate change on their lives and crops.
Every choice we make – from bean to brew – matters.
What are your passions and hobbies apart from coffee?
I love photography, hiking in nature, and reading books. But lately, with the intensity of work and competitions, I haven’t had much time for them. Right now, my full focus is on coffee, but I hope to reconnect with those passions soon.
What coffee challenges are you looking forward to? Any new projects or collaborations?
We’re currently working on several ongoing projects, and education remains at the heart of everything we do. These continuous updates and new trainings are essential for our growth. While running our courses, we also dedicate time to research and development. One of our biggest goals is to make knowledge more accessible within the cezve coffee industry and to support the emergence of more competitors from our region. We believe that sharing what we learn is the key to building a stronger and more innovative coffee community.
Quick Fire Questions for Kevser Atmaca:
Filter coffee or espresso-based?
Filter coffee.
Milk coffee or black coffee?
Black.
The most underrated coffee drink?
Cezve coffee!
The most underrated coffee brewer?
Cezve!
The number one place in Europe that every coffee geek should visit?
7-öğütücüler, Terres de Cafe, KB Coffee, Supremo Coffee, Wildkaffee, Plot Coffee.
Favourite city outside your own for a coffee tour?
Istanbul and Krea Coffee Shop – because their baristas are genuinely hospitable and knowledgeable, and the owners reflect the same passion and openness.
