The research paper analyzes the spatial dynamics of traditional Turkish coffeehouses as a micro-public space in 1980s Turkey. Focusing on the gendered exclusion of women in the neighbourhood scale where coffeehouses are located, the paper examines the tactical presence of women in the micro-public spheres. Through the analysis of architectural plans, oral histories from my mother and grandmother, and photographs from my grandfather’s İzmir coffeehouse (1982–83) in the family archive, the article focuses on how the kahvehane’s interior layout, as well as its later expansion into street‐front space, established a public sphere that is male‐exclusive. The work foregrounds the consistency of women’s conditional presence; women were only present if they were subservient or had familial ties to the coffeehouse’s owner. The artificial boundaries created by the social norms regulated women’s freedom of movement inside and outside the coffeehouse. The article seeks to document the everyday tactics of women to show how the subtle and indirect negotiations contested patriarchal social norms. Ultimately, this work aims to reconceptualize coffeehouses as contested micro-public spheres where marginalization and subtle presence intertwine.