Ottoman Coffeehouse opened in Glasgow’s West End in 2015, by its own account one of the UK’s first specialty Turkish coffeehouses. Two siblings founded it, Irfan Akhtar among them, after a decade spent learning the roasting, grinding and brewing traditions of Istanbul. The room is modelled on the city’s 16th-century coffeehouses, with low light and warm textures, and it is walk-in only, with no reservations.
The ibrik is the signature: a long-handled copper pot in which finely ground coffee is brought to a slow simmer, never a boil, until a thick foam forms on top. The beans for the Turkish coffee are roasted in-house in small batches, and the coffeehouse works directly with farms in Yemen and Kenya. The rest of the coffee comes from roasters around the world and is brewed as V60 pour-over, on the siphon or as espresso. The retail shelf rotates those roasters’ coffees, each scored 84 points or more, sold whole bean or ground for ibrik, V60 or espresso.
The kitchen, led by head chef Bilal Yousaf, writes its menu to sit alongside a slow Turkish coffee or a single-origin filter rather than the usual sandwich and soup. There are gluten-free and vegan dishes, and oat, almond and soy milk. In 2025 the coffeehouse ran the Ottoman Coffee Omakase, a 90-minute tasting for eight guests from Ethiopian origins and ibrik brewing to espresso and modern methods, and head barista M Abubakr competed in the UK Barista Championships.
Photograph: Ottoman Coffeehouse