Savaya coffee

The Savaya Story

In 2015, Tucson was put on the map as the first city in the United States to be named a UNESCO World City of Gastronomy. In doing so, the rest of the world came to find out something that we Tucsonans have known for a long time:

In its charmingly subtle way, Tucson is a little-big city bursting at the seams with creativity, culture, and cuisine that rivals any community, anywhere.

The site of the oldest continuously farmed area in North America, Tucson is a living laboratory for constantly pairing the old with the new; rooted tradition with radical innovation.

It’s no surprise then, that Savaya Coffee Market calls the Old Pueblo home. Savaya’s story was made for Tucson and Tucson’s story for Savaya.

Come into any Savaya location, and you’ll start to hear a few things that tell that story.

"Taste Coffee For The First Time"

It’s a bold promise – you’ve never had coffee quite like Savaya’s. It is also a mantra that defines the heart and soul of a company launched from close to 500 years of family history, and locally owned and operated in Tucson.

As a young boy in Istanbul, Savaya owner Burc Maruflu grew up learning coffee from his grandmother, Neriman, an expert connoisseur of the craft. Ataturk, called the “father of the modern Turkish republic,” visited her town multiple times, and came away impressed each time with her skill in preparing coffee. He told everybody that she brewed the best coffee he had ever had. She was then called “the girl who brewed Ataturk’s favorite coffee,” and her tombstone carries that epitaph to this day.

Coffee runs strong through this family. His many-times-great-grandfather traded coffee and mastered the art of roasting in the mid-1500s, becoming the sole supplier to Sultan Solomon the Magnificent. When Burc moved to Tucson for his wife’s work in the medical profession, he brought this training and experience with him.

And yet, every morning when the doors of Savaya open, Savayans on both sides of the bar experience coffee as if it were for the first time. A variety of beans from 40+ different origins grown from around the world cycle through the stores season to season, innovative brewing methods and processes are constantly being tried out and perfected. Hang out around the roastery, and you’ll see people who have been tasting coffee for decades amazed by a taste they’ve never tasted before.

From the beginning, Savaya has been connected to some of the best minds in coffee, from research and development to farming and roasting. A love for a rich history is paired with this deep desire to constantly be innovating.