1917- Smell of Coffee on Ermou Street
It all began when Derviş Tahmis (great grandfather) started roasting coffee in his house for his own use. The smell of his coffee overwhelmed the surrounding neighbors which then turned into his and his family’s passion. This earned him the name ‘Tahmis’, meaning ‘coffee roaster’ in old Turkish.
Dervis Tahmis was the first person to sell ready roasted and ground Turkish coffee in Cyprus. Since then, our coffee roasting journey has evolved and has been industrialized reaching until the 4th generation.
1932- Farewell to the First Generation
Upon our great grandfather ‘s death, his son Hasan Ozerlat took over the coffee business, introduced the first electrical coffee grinding machine in a business in Cyprus and started selling ground Turkish coffee to local markets. He brought mechanization and modernization to Ozerlat’s industrial processes for the first time.
1932- Keeping the Passion Alive for the Next Generation
Hasan’s uncle, Mehmet Erlat and his aunt, Fatma Derviş Özerlat started working together with hiö to keep the founder’s passion alive and pass it to the next generation. This was when they decided to form stronger brand identity and coined the brand name as ‘Hasan Derviş Özerlat Turkish Coffee’ since the business was poised to expand to a bigger market.
1956-58: Migration from Ermou and Otto Swadlo
The negative political conditions in Cyprus prevented Hasan Derviş Özerlat from advancing in his career life. He made a sudden decision to move his shop in Ermou street to Kalliobi street (known as Hürriyet Street today) with a brand new Austrian roasting machine, Otto Swadlo. Our coffee roasting and selling shop was in this street along with many culturally nostalgic items in the minds of the Cypriot people.
1958-1965: From Apprenticeship to Mastery
Between 1958 and 1965, Hasan Özerlat started to have serious health issues and his son Derviş Özerlat (3rd generation) embarked on this decades-old journey, at the age of 7, with his mother’s help.
1972: Hasan Özerlat’s Early Death
After Hasan Özerlat's death, Fatma Derviş Özerlat (aunt) started transfering her knowledge and skill on roasting coffee to young Derviş Özerlat . It is an indication of how important the female figure is in our 100 year old history of our company.
The value of women in family history is reflected by using a figure of a women on the company logo.
1980-82: Moving to Arasta Street
Derviş expanded the business further in their shop in Arasta with his wife İmren’s contribution to the company and modernized and modernized the brand name to ‘Özerlat Turkish Coffee’. In those years roasting and selling was done in the same small roastery we had back that time in Arasta.
1990s - Quiet Period on Arasta Street
The route of the buses to Arasta Region changed as they starting arriving to Nicosia Bus Terminal with a new regulation, making it difficult for people to come to the marketplace. In 1995 İmren and Derviş decided to take the business to a higher level by acquiring an industrial production facility in Nicosia Industrial Zone. This is when the roastery in Arasta was turned into a Cafe.
2000s- Our First Probat Roasting Machine
It was always our family culture to invest in our business and Derviş was a man of much initiative, inventiveness and passion for his work. He discovered the different origins and characteristics of the plant, the coffee and studied the art of blending to satisfy the tastes of his customers.
It was in 2000 when Derviş introduced 50kg Probat Roasting Machine. This greatly imrpoved the consistency of the aroma of Ozerlat coffee.
2011s- 4th Generation Ozerlats
With the addition of the new generation of family to the business, work was underway to expand beyond Cyprus. Daughters of Derviş and İmren, İley Özerlat Gündüz and İlke Özerlat took up the challenge to work together to provide the unique taste of Ozerlat coffee to the world which was once borne in a small street, Ermou.
2013-2014- Export to London
After completing their education; İley Özerlat Gündüz and her husband, Asım Gündüz, launched Özerlat UK Ltd in London at Taste of London in 2015 and have since acquired over 20 stockists in the hospitality and retail sector in and outside of London.
2017- 100th year old company
Özerlat celebrated its 100th anniversary with a leap towards the future. By Ilke Ozerlat completing her professional coffee expertise training abroad and as a result of her initiatives the company achieved to launch new specialty Filter and Espresso blends along with new coffee equipments available for sale. The company's brand image was also modernised on such a meaningful year!
