Espressolab

Espressolab is Turkish: one shop on an Istanbul university campus in 2014, and now more than four hundred of them across about twenty countries. This is the Almaty one, inside Dostyk Plaza.

The thing worth knowing before you order is that there are two beans on espresso. The house blend is the default; the other one is +500 KZT on the board, listed alongside oat milk and an extra shot as if it were a modifier rather than the only real decision you get to make. Ask what the second bean is that week — nobody will volunteer it.

The coffee is roasted by the chain itself, at its own roastery in Istanbul. That puts it in a strange spot for this list: not a local roaster, but not a sack bought in from one either.

The pastry counter is the honest reason to come. Croissants at 1200, mum’s pastry at 1000, levain cookies, a lemon poppy seed cake, and a shelf of things that are really lunch — a stuffed pizza, a hot dog. Two cases of it, and the prices are on the cards in front of every tray.

The room is a mall room and does not pretend otherwise: high ceiling with the ducts left showing, a long chipboard counter with stools, screens over the till. It works better than it sounds, and it is open from 8am, which is early for that end of Dostyk.

Which brings me to why I go at all. Above Al-Farabi the options thin out fast, and this is a reliable cup within walking distance of the mall car park. 7.5 is exactly what that means: you will not be disappointed, and you will not remember it either.