Coffee Station in Downtown Long Beach is a small skip away from all the Pine Avenue brouhaha, sitting on the famed arterial between 4th and 5th Streets. Yes, it’s a coffee shop and surely, you will find divinely crafted lattes and macchiatos—but you’ll also have coffee with the hefty waft of cardamom, the city’s best offering of Turkish delight, and a nice showing of baklava that almost competes with Ammatolí. It’s a beautiful amalgamation of Turkish culture with American business ambition.
And this is all thanks to Instanbul natives and brothers Alptekin and Engin Özkılıç. But in order to get to the coffee and treats, one must understand the very distinct, enormously unique story that sits behind the shop.
Coffee Station is birthed out of tenacity and, well, brutality.
“My family allowed me to do what I wanted to first—which was fighting. That is a very risky sport and I come from a good, pretty traditional family—and there are certain stereotypes people conjure up about fighters.”
These are the words of Alptekin—or “Alp,” as he is often referred to so American accents no longer butcher his name—who once graced the cover of magazines and lived quite the extravagant life as one of the most respected flyweight fighters after becoming the first person to represent Turkey in the UFC. His life in contact sports began in wrestling, where he was on the national team in Turkey and was All-American here in the States while attending college. (Yes, Alp was raised in private education his whole life—something often not expected in the realm of professional fighting.)
“I was expected to go home and find a good job, life the perfect life,” Alp said. “I was on the cover of GQ once and my father could not have cared less,” he said, laughing. “And I knew, especially for my mom, me entering something like fighting is terrifying. And that was a hard conversation: ‘Is this why we sent you to America? To watch you fight to the death in cages?'”
For Alp and Engin, like many American tales, the Capital-I Immigrant Story is at the base of the Coffee Station’s birth.
But Coffee Station is also an extension of the deep need to find new dreams.
Telling his mom he had set a timeline—if he didn’t reach the UFC in a certain period, he would find another path—Alp knew of no one better to watch over him than his older brother, Engin. And being an older brother, oftentimes literally in Alp’s fighting corner, yes, he was always supportive. But unlike their youth, when Engin could step in, he had to go through the brutal experience of only offering advice and counsel while many times seeing Alp take some vicious blows.
“I would get so pent up that Alptekin would have to calm me down after a fight,” Engin said, laughing. “I’ll always be his bigger brother. I’ll always protect him.”
When Engin talks about this… Or when Alp talks about his mom… Or when both exchange eye contact while reflecting, one can see the shift in Alp’s expressions. He is taken aback briefly and, in his own words, “battles those times because I was very selfish because it is a sport that requires you to be. I didn’t think much about the feelings of others. But I knew I had to get out at some point.”
And even with that—much like when military veterans are forced to take on civilian life—one can also tell Alp will never fully escape fighting. It’s embedded in him but he ultimately knew it couldn’t control him.
Even with success, every fighter has to face the charging reality of age and health.
Every athlete faces the looming reality of time. A by time, we mean age and the decline of our physical prowess. Fighters, however, face a slightly different reality: Their sport is the most brutal in the world—but they are also able to participate in it through various leagues for pretty much as long as they’re able. And many are often blinded by their own ego.
And this was something Alp refused to do.
“The last thing I wanted was to be one of these washed-up fighters that take on these fights to get by,” Alp said. “In fighting, your ego has to be balanced. You can choose to be an entire asshole or be empathetic, kind—switching between those modes is very hard. I am normally the one to make sure everyone is okay—but in fighting, many mistook my kindness for weakness. They learned otherwise—even though I was called ‘The Turkish Delight,'” he said, chuckling. And like fighting, I realized with this Coffee Station concept, I had to switch modes. I had to invest in something that invested in me in return.”
And for a Turkish man, there is little more communal and centering than gathering with friends and family for coffee.
Coffee Station is a true partnership between brothers—and a desire to better the Downtown community.
“We don’t drink,” Engin said. “And man, Long Beach loves to drink.”
Engin’s words are not remotely untrue: Long Beach’s love of the mighty cocktail and beer and wine runs thick. But that doesn’t mean that is what everyone is searching for. And for the brothers, Coffee Station was about a place that people could go outside a bar. Which is why Coffee Station tries to stay open later. (And they’re trying to stay open even later with the hopes of eventually bringing on a hookah bar. This is a smart move as it help activate the street in later hours and brings a presence during those very hours.)
“In Turkish culture, you can always find a little cafe in an alley that is open late and you stay up, drinking coffee and talking,” Alp said. “I think that would be a beautiful thing for Pine Avenue.”
Coffee Station harnesses Turkish culture and Long Beach’s love of coffee.
Until they can move on into even later hours, they stay open until 7PM on Saturdays and 6PM the rest of the week in the hopes that people will come for their perfect selection of Turkish sweets or wittily named coffee concoctions. (Like their Cereal Killer drink, a cold beverage that has the reminiscent flavor of milk that was used for a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.)
And when I say “perfect,” I mean it: From lokum (or what we call Turkish Delight) to helva to dondurma, Coffee Station offers the city’s best takes on these Turkish staples. There are ones filled with apple so powerfully that it honestly takes like an apple pie. A rose petal-covered, magenta square filled with pistachios and floral flavors. Hazelnut butter. Strawberry’n’coconut.
“I want people to experience the beauty of Turkish culture,” Alp said. “We have some of the most amazing desserts in the world—and no offense, but the lokum here in the States is not as good as what we have brought in from home. I love people so come in, come by, sit down, stop rushing your day. Have another cup of coffee, have another conversation.”
Ultimately, they want to harness Long Beach’s love of coffee and also introduce something new. And for that, can we get an amen?
Coffee Station is located at 440 Pine Ave.
