New Turkish Coffee Shop Opens On Upper East Side

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Cabuc Coffee, a Turkish coffee shop, is opening this July on Lexington Avenue near East 82nd Street with a menu of aromatic coffee and pastries, its owner told Patch.

Cabuc, which means "shell" in Turkish, is a family business, Elif Maden Simsek, the owner of the cafe, said. Her coffee-loving in-laws roast coffee beans and run two coffee shops of the same name in Turkiye.

"Once I saw their shop, something sparked in me," Maden Simsek, a Brooklynite who has worked in retail in Manhattan for the last 10 years, said.

"So I said, 'Why don't we put in what I know and what I love with the city of New York, and your beautiful, unique, and amazing coffee, and why don't we open a shop in the States?'"

The coffee shop, which will have its soft opening on Tuesday, will serve all the regular espresso-based drinks and drip coffee, as well as a special Turkish coffee, which will be brewed with aromatics like cardamom and cinnamon and served with a complimentary piece of Turkish delight.

The cafe will also have lemonade and tea-based drinks, and blended iced coffee drinks for summer, Maden Simsek said.

The cafe will stock pastries with a special emphasis on gluten-free and dairy-free options, Maden Simsek said. In the pastry case, the cafe will also serve Turkish classics like pogaca, a flaky breakfast pastry.

Maden Simsek said her cafe will follow in the footsteps of her in-laws, especially when it comes to coffee-roasting best practices.

"We're going to be roasting our own coffee, and we're not going to be adding any additives, and so it's going to taste freshly roasted. We're going to do a medium roast, so we're not frying or, like, flattening our coffee beans, which will be 100 percent Arabica beans," Maden Simsek said.

Maden Simsek said that if all goes well with the soft opening, the cafe will hold a grand opening on July 13.

The cafe is taking over what used to be a smoke shop and transforming it into a sunny cafe with white marble and exposed brick.

Though Maden Simsek lives in Brooklyn, she chose the location because it is near where her husband works as a hair stylist, she said.

"I love the neighborhood," she said. "There is a great community here that I wanted to be a part of."

Cabuc Coffee is located at 1211 Lexington Ave.

Know of a business opening or closing in Manhattan? Email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.