Childhood friends Ria Neri and Eylem Ozkaya, both from Chicago, opened the first Four Letter Word on Burgazada on 27 June 2014, in a room designed by Kevin Heisner of Heisler Hospitality. A Chicago roastery followed in 2015 inside The Plant, a vertical farm in Back of the Yards, then a café in Avondale in 2018.
Istanbul roasts on a Giesen G6 and Chicago on a Probat P12. Every coffee is a single origin, from lots such as Ethiopia Shoondhisa, Burundi Ninga Hill and Colombia Sidra de Luz.