Balat roastery opened in 2014 by an accountant who quit tax work for coffee.
Metin Benbasat spent five years in transfer pricing and had just earned his Turkish CPA licence when a coffee shop on a 2013 trip to the US changed his plans. He put his savings into the business, trained from scratch, and opened in Balat in 2014, drawn by its narrow streets and low rent. Customers asked for five years before he opened a second shop in Nişantaşı, the neighbourhood he grew up in.
The first roaster, a 1.5kg Probatino, stood in the middle of the Balat shop, and Story Coffee Roasters later began roasting on one bought from them. Roasting now runs in Balat and Reşitpaşa, and lots have included Venezuela's Aprocandes cooperative and the Alvarez family's El Borbollon in El Salvador.
