How would you like your Turkish coffee? Tourist experiences of Turkish coffee houses in Istanbul

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine and understand the experiences of tourists in the Turkish coffee houses in Istanbul, Turkey. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, a qualitative case study method was used to analyze tourists’ comments with user-generated content technique by analyzing tourists’ comments. The data used in the study was collected through TripAdvisor, which is considered one of the most famous websites with tourist reviews and comments, between 20 May and 10 June 2020 from tourists’ reviews (n:219). Findings – The findings show that Turkish coffee house experiences are heterogeneous based on the dimensions of coffee characteristics, place, satisfaction, recommendation and revisit intention, value/ price and value-added experience. Moreover, value-added experience includes some sub-themes such as a memorable experience, authentic experience and culture learning experience. Originality/value – There are some studies on Turkish coffee and Turkish coffee culture in the literature, but there have been no empirical studies investigating the Turkish coffee house experiences of tourists. For this reason, this study aims to examine and understand the experiences of tourists in Turkish coffee houses. Therefore, it is believed that this study will fill the current gap in the literature on tourists’ experiences of Turkish coffee houses.