{"id":123950,"date":"2026-02-26T09:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T09:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/123950\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T09:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T09:36:09","slug":"keeping-it-turkish-in-terms-of-coffee-the-lafayette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/123950\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Keeping it Turkish in terms of coffee\u2019 \u2013 The Lafayette"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vera<\/a> <\/p>\n

Photo by Brea White<\/a> for The Lafayette <\/p>\n

Vera Cafe\u2019s owners pride themselves on the shop\u2019s long open hours.<\/p>\n

A recently opened Turkish coffeehouse is bringing refreshing combinations of traditional blends with unique signature flavors to downtown Easton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nice thing about owning your own spot is you do what you like,\u201d said co-owner and Easton native Eren Bala.<\/p>\n

Vera Cafe works with local vendors \u2014\u00a0Mad Catter Coffee Roasters from Allentown and pastries from local bakeries \u2014 to create its own unique blend. The menu boasts both standard coffeehouse fare and unique signature drinks, including seasonal specials.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a Dubai chocolate mocha drink that I\u2019m really obsessed with,\u201d said frequent customer Dylan Frendt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has a unique selection of different coffees,\u201d said Thomas, a customer who was on his second visit. \u201cThere are a lot of coffee shops in Easton, but that gives a unique vibe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cafe is looking to expand to a small food menu for its official grand opening in April. The space itself is intimate, but the outdoor patio will be more accessible during the warmer seasons.<\/p>\n

Vera Cafe\u2019s owners pride themselves on the cafe\u2019s hours: open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an Easton native, and somebody who lived downtown, one of my biggest complaints was a cafe that wasn\u2019t open on the weekends,\u201d Bala said.<\/p>\n

Bala travelled to Turkey and Egypt for his education before deciding to return home to expand his business past catering, with the cafe opening in mid-January.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born and raised here, my family lives here, so this was always home base,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The business\u2019s other half, BJ Gumus, moved to the United States five years ago to change professions into the food industry. His goal: to bring a taste of Turkish authenticity to the United States with coffees and teas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I visit places in the United States that have Turkish coffee, those are not that good and not that authentic,\u201d Gumus said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when people choose to come to America, start a business, take such a huge risk in a different place, and I find that so brave,\u201d Frendt said. \u201cI can\u2019t recommend this place more fully to people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vera Cafe offers a 10% discount to Lafayette College students with the presentation of their student ID.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Brea White for The Lafayette Vera Cafe\u2019s owners pride themselves on the shop\u2019s long open hours.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-123950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}