coffee business – From Coffee With Love

January 31, 2024January 31, 2024

I WAS AT WORLD OF COFFEE DUBAI 2024

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the third edition of the World of Coffee Dubai, which took place from 21-23 January in Dubai, under the auspices of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). Sure. I’d been to the previous two and this year promised more excitement with a slightly bigger offering. Featuring much as before, with experts, coffee roasters, gadgets, coffee farmers, espresso machine and coffee roasting manufacturers and more, I thought I’d go, meet fellow coffee nerds, drink lots of coffee and attend a few lectures. Well, I did most of that and more, but sadly wasn’t able to attend any of the lectures, BUT, all was not lost, as I learnt a lot on the one day that I attended. So, here’s a quick summary;

First stop was at Harvest Belt, where I learnt about the Link small batch coffee roasting machine that you can programme to roast espresso, filter, etc and even fine tune it for different coffee processes like natural, washed, etc. If I was going to start roasting, I think I’d get this machine.

Just next to them was one of my fave Dubai roasters, Grandmother (I still don’t know where that name comes from ), but their head roaster, Freddie, offered me a delectable Ethiopian anaebroic espresso – it really filled my lips – yum.

Then I was now on the hunt for my first milk based coffee of the day and when I saw Uber Milk, I thought what better place to stop than here. I had already witnessed their ultra automated machine when I visited Rosslyn Coffee in London in January 2023 and just wanted to enquire about their business in the GCC, as most cafe are not as busy as a typical central London coffee shop. Sure enough one cafe in Dubai has it but they have a few of them in Saudi already.

In conversation, I noticed this guy pouring beautiful latte art and they said, that’s the head of coffee at WatchHouse – startled, I walked over and placed an order for a cortado – incidentally, it was Ethiopian beans again.

Never one to miss out on an opportunity to learn from an expert, I chatted with Flavius for about 20 minutes and this is what I learnt;

➡️Brew Ethiopian beans at a higher temperature for both filter and espresso – so much so that for espresso, try 97C – the reason Ethiopian beans have a a higher density.

➡️Store your coffee beans in the freezer in dose batches – so store 18g of beans for your espresso, etc, as opposed to just storing the whole bag to avoid moisture.

➡️WatchHouse shop at Hanover Square (which I wrote about a few months back) is their flagship store for experimentation, so much so that the head barista won a recent competition.

➡️In 2020, the UK Brewers champion was Matteo D’Ottavio and he was head barista at their spitalfields branch and WatchHouse use his winning recipe, which for using 15g of coffee and 250ml water is;

50ml, wait 30 seconds, bloom

50ml, wait 30 seconds, pour

Walking around I saw the famous Dritan Asela – of instagram fame – had a brief chat with his wife.

I noticed that he was at a stand, Toga Coffee of Sharjah that were offering this delicious coconut balls wrapped around white chocolate and fresh raspberries – I boldly asked for 3 and the owner was so kind and hospitable he duly obliged. However, I noticed their strange description of coffee beans with hints of coconut and asked for a piccolo.

wow! even before I drank the coffee I could smell the coconut (one of my fave fruits). I met the roaster, Pirates of Coffee, all the way from Canada and asked where I could buy a bag – he said here and he only had one bag left – destined for me I guess, praise God.

After lunch, I saw the that the Nordic Approach were hosting a coffee tasting session, so off I went.

There were lots of exciting coffees and I must confess I can’t remember which one stood out – was it the Panama Geisha or the Kenyan ? In any case, Nordic Approach are famous for their lighter roots and the tables were set top across continents, Africa, the Americas and Asia.

Still up for more tasting, I passed by quickly to Janson Farms – another famous coffee farm from Panama – saw they were brewing their coffees on a Hario V60 and thought why not – during my experience I bumped into the Indonesian barista champion.

Where to next?

I had heard that my new coffee friend, Antonio Orria, whom I had met in Dubai airport in September, had just joined Victoria Arduino in Dubai and was showcasing their latest espresso machine, the Black Eagle Maverick, so off I went. Lucky for me, he was by himself and I got a quick demo about the machine, which in essence brews both espresso and wait for it….. filter coffee on their Pure Brew system. To quote them,

“PureBrew technology is a revolutionary, three phase, extraction method that uses pulsating frequencies of water pressure to release the purest flavour from your coffee bean according to its freshness, region and type.”

In essence they have a different basket for filter, with a cone shape and for which Antonio kindly brewed for me using 12g of coffee – I can see the advantage for playing around with different brew recipes and of course reducing the time for a barista in a busy coffee shop. It can also brew tea. I’m looking forward to visiting their newly opened outlet to learn more.

I was already having an Ethiopia coffee bean filled day, so why not go over to Boon Coffee, headed by the friendly Orit Mohammed. She got her head baristi to brew me an espresso, using Ethiopian beans of course and very kindly gave me a bag of their premium blend to try at home.

No more coffee!

Well, not quite. I stopped over at Three Coffee, one of my fave Dubai coffee roasters and couldn’t say no, when they offered me an espresso using Yemeni coffee beans.

Then I bumped into my fellow coffee geek friend Shehzeen and she roped me into a latte art competition, which she won with some help but which one do you think was the best?

Incidentally the UAE BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIP was won by Michaela of Typica coffee (one of my faves) again for the fourth time I think

Before I left I popped over to the SCA stand and bumped into an old acquaintance, Stephen Morrissey, Deputy Chief Commercial and Community Experience Officer (plus WBC 2008) like I did last year, had a brief chat about the state of coffee in the UK and perhaps globally – in short, he shared my concern that many coffee roasters tend to roast quite light these days. Don’t get me wrong I like medium light roasting for filter based coffees but for espresso…. NO!

I still reminisce about espresso coffee from like 10 years ago. It was such that whether you had an espresso or flat white the body wrapped around your tongue with chocolate and dark berries, caramel and nuts and the taste lingered for an hour – not to mention the latte art contrast with milk that was delectable to look at, but nowadays, I think espresso is too bright and in milk, it is almost like flavoured milk. I’m not sure what your thoughts are, but when I launched my coffee brand two years ago, I tried to bring that back.

Also, we felt that the customer experience is beginning to diminish. Again, I recall when I was in London recently, not naming any cafes, I felt like the baristi were not that approachable like the ones in Dubai. I recall trying to film a barista pouring latte art and she abruptly told me to stop. I know that as specialty coffee has grown, you will loose the essence of that coffee nerdy experience, when I used to got to a cafe and just chat with the baristi about the coffee and the art of coffee making, but I miss those days and with so many companies investing in specialty coffee now, perhaps those days may never come back.

But you know what, I still dream about having another cafe in the future and perhaps I will be able to make a difference in bringing that back as after all this is…

FROM COFFEE WITH LOVE.

August 31, 2023August 31, 2023

I was at Q-LaB, Dubai

I recall a few years back, pre-pandemic, when I read that there were a few restaurants opening in Dubai on a weekly or perhaps a monthly basis. It seems the coffee shop entrepreneurs or what I like to call the coffeepreneurs didn’t want to be left behind…. Enter a new coffee concept, Q-LAB, located in Jumeriah.

Now to be honest, Q-Lab is not a new coffee shop as such but more a new concept born out of the company DXB Blends (DXB is the acronym for Dubai airport, just like you have LHR for London Heathrow Airport). In short, DXB blends have been around in Dubai for a few years, and I first heard of them when I moved to Dubai 3 years ago. I must confess, although I had only been once, I was never tempted to visit any of their shops until now, when I saw another Dubai coffee nerd duo post about them. Intrigued, I arranged for my friends and I to have our regular Saturday morning coffee meet up there.

In short, Q-Lab will be the new hub of DXB Blends, where their roastery will roast coffee and prepare blends for their other outlets, with a stronger focus on quality, so the coffee on offer at Q-Lab will be a higher specialty coffee offering. As you enter the coffee hub, there are lots of chairs, with the roastery on the right-hand side.

As you walk further in, you will be greeted by a friendly Barista, Ace (I told him that with a name like that, he will have to ace it every time he brews coffee…pressure) – we chatted coffee for several minutes as I got there ahead of my friends. Ace has been working in coffee for over 5 years and hails from the Philippines, but he shared with me his desire to keep learning about coffee so that he can compete for the national barista championships and perhaps more. He even has a tattoo on his hand with the Hario V60 and coffee beans.

Pleased to see the Mod Bar, I opted for the espresso blend for my cortado as the description hinted of Brazil.

My friend, Naveed opted for an Ethiopian and got a beautifully poured unicorn latte art… hmmmm! I thought because this was Ace fave coffee.

Walking around, you will see their coffee on display in different sizes of the standard 250g and a smaller version at 100g. I think they do this because they have some expensive lots, and it might be easier on your pocket to try a 100g coffee. As I walked around, a Yemeni Lot 22100 with notes of cacao nibs, dried figs and vanilla caught my attention.

So, after downing my cortado, followed with some conversation, I knew that I had to try this special coffee brewed on a Hario V60, who wouldn’t?

I shared it with Naveed and it was definitely worth AED55 ($15) – their normal price for filter brews are AED30. I picked up dried fruits, hints of light cacao and vanilla spice, yum.

As we were leaving, the staff gave me a complementary 100g bag of a Colombian Anaerobic Java coffee, so kind.

Q Lab are located at 118 Al Hadiqa Rd – Al Safa – Al Safa 1 – Dubai.

I plan to revisit as they will soon be offering breakfast and lunch too.

February 14, 2023February 14, 2023

I was at the World of Coffee Dubai 2023

I can’t think of a wonderful way to start 2023 than attending a full-blown coffee event in my city, Dubai. This was the second edition of the World of Coffee (WOC) event in Dubai but there was no comparison to the 2022 edition, as the 2023 was on a much bigger scale.. perhaps about 6-7 times the size. Kudos to Khalid Mulla (president of SCA UAE) and the top brass of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), whose president Yannis Apostolopoulos, attended too.

However, it wasn’t just about the size of the venue but the buzz too, created by coffee geeks, like moi who crave learning, talking and speaking about coffee but to be usurped in an environment where you got to witness coffee professionals who work hard to ensure you enjoy your daily brew wherever you are in the World, share their passion and love for the bean. So, what else?

We had the latest tech on display from the espresso machine kings like La Marzocco, Victoria Arduino, Synesso, Slayer, Rocket and more –

We had other equipment highlighting the latest tech to roast, sort, filter brew and store coffee – we had coffee from coffee roasters not just from the GCC region but from India (Subko, Blue Tokai), Australia (Stitch Coffee) and Denmark (April) too.

We had the inventor of Cafec showing us how to brew coffee on his invention differently from what I had seen previously.

There were also talks on all aspects of coffee and I got to meet famous coffee podcaster, Lee Safar too. Dubai powerhouse, DMCC had a large booth showcasing their service offerings from a business perspective and their head, Saeed gave Naveed and I lovely gifts.

What else?

We had award winning coffee growers, coffee art, young baristi serving coffee from Panama, other coffee growing regions showcasing their coffee, UK and European coffee specialist – a special evening hosted by Garfield of Mokha 1450, where I met former WBC champ, Stephen Morrissey – I wrote about him here in 2008…

The list goes on and I met too many people that I won’t list so as not to offend anyone, BUT it was all about coffee, coffee, coffee – the title of my Instagram post that went viral. However, a major first was the UAE National Barista Championship, which was won by Mariam Erin, now of Cosmic Garden Coffee. I wrote about about her here when she was the UAE coffee brewers champ.

Organised across three days, I went twice with fellow coffee nerd, Naveed (blogger) and met other coffee geeks too – pic at the top.

Leaving my palate free for both days I ensured that I often started with an espresso-based milk drink – after all there were tons of people offering to make you free coffee using the Victoria Arduino Eagle One (I guess they sponsored the event). On my first day, I have to confess I lost count on how many coffees I tried – having been coffee fatigued on day One, I promised not to be drowned in coffee again on day Two but although I know I was a bit more reserved, I still lost count.

WOC was held in the venue of all Dubai venues, the World Trade Centre, which was apt for one of the first major events of the year. You could easily get lost and in fact there were few people I had wanted to meet and some booths that I wanted to visit that I found out were there after the event, but such is life.

Nevertheless, it was good to hang out with Naveed, talk coffee and then veer off to learn more about coffee from other specialists. It got me thinking about how far the coffee industry has gotten in the last 10-15 years since I fell in love with it. Back then, the focus was on the God Shot of expresso brilliance – talk about filter coffee let alone single origin was completely alien as filter methods like the aeropress or Hario V60 were not either invented or ignored – it was all about espresso and batch brew machines.

Now in 2023, even I was completely blown away by the type of coffee equipment not just for commercial outfits but for the home too. There are now so many options that I must confess, would be very overwhelming for a newbie or even someone that wants to start. Perhaps next year they could hold on the first day, a guide to brewing coffee at home, where the manufacturers display some of the items to break you in gently into brewing coffee based of course on your budget.

Other topics worth venturing in may be to do with sustainability – where climate change will affect how coffee is grown and eventually coffee farmers and all those that depend on it, for their livelihoods. I’m really passionate about this and plan to get involved somehow, so anyone reading this that has ideas, please send me a message.

As I sign off, I was touched by how some visitors to Dubai and the GCC in general were amazed by the quality of coffee on offer in the region. Again, I recall coming to Dubai many times before I moved here in 2020 and it wasn’t until Raw Coffee started about 10 years back did specialty coffee start its momentum – to see it get adopted so quickly and to see how people have become passionate about it, obviously brings a smile to my face and a warm comfort for my palate as I’ve always wanted to live a in a coffee focused city.

So, don’t wait until WOC 2024, visit Dubai not just for the sun, beaches, shopping and amazing buildings, but for the coffee too.

Ciao!

November 30, 2022November 30, 2022

I went to the Dubai Coffee Museum

One thing I love about Dubai is that it never fails to deliver on experiences. Now, I’m very aware that there’s a lot of media, some good and some suspect about Dubai but a city dating centuries with over 4.5m residents is a lot more diverse than the glitz and glam of what the media wants to portray.

So, off we went to the Al Fahidi district in old Dubai and yes, there is such a thing – it’s the place where it all started -where old building were built to capture cool air, where abrar (water taxis) transported people across the creek to trade in spices, cloths, carpets, gold, pearls and more – and where the old shops/merchants that built Dubai and foreign embassies are housed too.

In fact, I’d heard about the Coffee Museum for years but never ventured there and I must confess stumbled across it when my family and I were discovering the old city a few weeks back – we initially found it on a Friday but it was closed – so never visit on a Friday. That day, we went to another famous old city hub, the Arabian Tea House, just a minute away – another must go for traditional Emirate/Lebanese food and of course tea and Emirati style coffee (qahwa in Arabic).

Still craving that experience and when asked what should we do today… I replied, “let’s got to the coffee museum, which is also close to some shops for you babe (my wife)”. So, off we went last Sunday but we got there a bit late, just after 4pm – they close at 5pm.

Opening in 2014, the owner and purveyor of the Coffee Museum, Khalid al Mulla, had been collecting coffee related trinkets for years and decided to open up what is now the largest coffee museum in the Middle East – there are only 16 in the World. We paid an entry fee of AED10 (just over $3), which included complimentary qahwa (arabic coffee) with dates and another cup of coffee made the Ethiopian way using the Jebba. The museum is housed in a traditional Emirati home with low ceilings and narrow walkways, so mind your head as you enter.

Split into many rooms across two floors, housing international antiques (mostly from Germany ), coffee origins room, middle east antiques, a literature room, a majlis (traditional Emirati room for drinking coffee and talking), as well as a kids corner and media room, you will have time to satisfy your curiosity. In short, the rooms host anything from old coffee grinding machines, dating centuries to the first ever roasting devices as well as beans and posters too. Luckily for us, we met Kay, whom I had met at an event promoting the UAE Aeropress championship, gave us a personal tour.

For speciality coffee, head upstairs to their mini shop, which houses a Victoria Arduino Black Eagle espresso machine and of course filter brewing options. I couldn’t help myself and went for two options, a cortado

and a filter coffee using THREE Coffee (Dubai based roaster) Colombian filter beans prepared by Kay.

As we were walking down we saw this…

The Victoria Arduino Venus – yes it looks very plush but the great thing about this machine is that although it looks very antique from the outside, inside is a modern take on espresso machinery. This was their espresso machine before they recently introduced the Black Eagle.

As a tribute to all the coffee growing countries in the World they have these flags but they now have to add more (Nigeria grows coffee too).

All in all, a wonderful experience, which I highly recommend when you visit Dubai. Sure, you’ll want to visit the tallest building in the World , Burj Khalifa and the largest shopping mall, Dubai Mall but take time out to visit the old district, which houses traditional souks (that’s why my wife likes coming here… LOL), the Seef district with quaint hotels/restaurants and a murder mystery hunt, the museum of illusions, the Arabian Tea House, old

style mosques and of course the coffee museum. After all, after all that walking and eating you’d want to finish off with some good coffee right?

For more info see here

March 6, 2022

When I had a coffee shop

So how much do you love your #coffee dream? 🤔 Here’s a quick 🎥 #video, where I share my thoughts and daily routine when I had a cafe 11 years ago in Cape Town, South Africa.

In summary, when you have a dream, go for it as you might learn a few things about your life and aspirations and even lose weight – well I stood up for about 5-6 hours a day serving customers and chatting too. Plus, and I hesitate to add, I’m not a biologist BUT I think the excitement of running your cafe or chasing your dream might have a positive impact on your physical, mental and spiritual health too.

Before I go and perhaps I’m getting a bit philosophical here, I sincerely believe that when you chase your dreams, not forgetting the stress of getting customers, the enjoyment will out last the pain points. In fact 4 years after I sold my cafe I was still on a high of chasing my dreams. I’m not sure why BUT perhaps a study needs to be done. As I quest for another coffee dream, this euphoria feeling I must say is addictive but in a good way.

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021

Launching My Espresso Blend

I’m so excited to let you know that on 2 March 2021 I launched my first ESPRESSO BLEND coffee in collaboration with Sippy Beans of Dubai, UAE. I always believe that if you are really passionate about something and try your best to persevere with faith and determination to live your dream, you will experience it in some way. This isn’t my first journey of living my dream as you know, because back in 2009, I moved to Cape Town to open up my first coffee shop, called Escape Caffe, which I eventually sold for multiple personal reasons in early 2013.

So, when in October 2020, upon just moving to Dubai, I met with Shehzeen of Sippy Beans (a Dubai based online coffee retailer) I was asked, after talking about coffee for hours, she asked how we could work together, I dared to say, because I had dreamt about it and wanted to articulate it for REAL, that “can we launch a coffee brand using From Coffee With Love”, she said YES almost immediately. Now, who said that dreams don’t come true.

You may be wondering why I have called the espresso blend the “drink of the escapist”, so check my video here to experience my excitement.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lameen The Coffeepreneur (@fromcoffeewithlove)

In short, we worked with one of Dubai’s premier coffee roasters and after having tasted about 10 different blends, I knew that just one sip of what would be become my first espresso blend was all I needed. It just hit the spot, it was so unusual for me and I knew it was a bit unconventional, like LOVE of course, something that cannot be easily explained.

As I usually drink my espresso based drinks with milk, you’ll find hints of chocolate, spicy vanilla, with medium/low acidity and a long lasting caramel taste – so you’ll be looking forward to your next cup.

I always believe that you should follow your passion and pursue your dreams with perseverance as you never know who God will place in your path to make that dream a reality.

Thanks to my wife and my kids for believing in me and being patient when I went to cafes and grilled baristas about their coffee preparation. Thanks to Sippy for putting their trust in launching this blend with me. Looking forward to developing the filter blend soon God willing.

At present the coffee can be ordered using this link https://sippybeans.com/products/lameen-abdul-malik-custom-espresso-blend?variant=39251631931495

October 3, 2020October 3, 2020

I was at The Espresso Lab, Dubai

The experience was even more exhilarating as I had my #dailycortado using #kenyancoffee

In honour of International coffee day on 1 October 2020, I decided to treat myself at one of Dubai’s iconic specialty coffee shops, The Espresso Lab, located at Dubai Design District. In fact this was my second visit, as I had visited them at the previous location in 2016, read here.

As you enter, you are greeted with a brew bar, featuring a Synesso espresso machine and many filter brew options ranging from cold drip, Hario V60, khalifa wave, etc and more, see pic below.

What was unusual for me, was the number of staff present. Let me explain; following the pandemic , I’ve noticed that most food and beverage establishments have cut down considerably on staff. I’ve always been in two minds about this because I always believe that this compromises on service delivery. Can you really provide the same level of quality customer experience ( I prefer this to service) with less people? Well, I don’t think so.

So, back to espresso lab. For me, with this amount of staff, it gave the impression that they were very focused on the customer and that each staff had clear guidelines on their job, so well done espresso lab.

Now, to the coffee. I love that they don’t serve espresso to go and don’t offer sugar, yay!

I knew I was craving espresso based coffee as I had to leave my espresso machine in Vienna until it is air freighted. On offer were 3 single origins; India, Yemen and Kenya. Now, if you know a bit about coffee origins and taste profiles, you’ll know that these choices are very unusual, especially for espresso. In case you are wondering, it’s very rare to brew Kenyan coffee on an espresso machine mainly because of the typical profile of bold, berry and citrus flavours. Although very uncommon at the moment, I must say since I’ve moved to Dubai, I’ve had close contact with Yemeni coffee, so, I decided to try the Kenya coffee. Check out the latte art pour by barista Wael below.

Pouring my cortado

And wow! I wasn’t disappointed, as this was for me, one of the best milk based espresso drinks of 2020, a true treat, praise God. Well done to the barista Wael, who I quizzed endlessly before I placed my order. I salute his patience.

After that delightful experience, I knew I needed something sweet, so here comes the mini double layer carrot cake, topped with rose petals, another delicious treat. To compliment this experience I had a short black, americano with less water and discovered a book, “the monk of mokha“, which a friend mentioned to me a few years back, that I would like to buy and read.

Their menu is different and I plan to visit their newly opened roastery with another coffee nerd soon in order to learn more.

So, when in Dubai, I highly recommend a visit to espresso lab, located in building 7, Dubai Design District.

August 24, 2020

Coffee and Philosophy: Podcast Interview

A few weeks back, Nick Baskett of bar talks contacted me to say that he really enjoyed my blog (yay!) and that he would love to do an interview with me. I found it very easy to talk with Nick and we really hit it off. After a couple of conversations, we decided that we needed to capture our chats about life and coffee for his bar talks podcast/ website.

We decided to name it Coffee and Philosophy as Nick is really into philosophy and I’m into coffee and life too. We had a really great chat and in fact the interview didn’t feel like an interview but like a great chat with a friend about life, coffee and more. So much so that we had to limit our time artificially because we know people get bored after about 30 minutes listening or watching an interview.

The full podcast is about 50 minutes and you can listen here whilst driving or commuting. Alternatively, here’s a summary of the highlights of my first ever podcast with Nick Baskett where we talk about my life story and how to find your purpose chasing your dreams and using ancient philosophies like stoicism and more.