Does the title of my post sound audacious (bold) ?
Perhaps, but although I don’t travel as much as I did during my regular trips to Africa, working for the UN, transiting through Dubai and London, as well as Johannesburg, I can tell you that I never had a pleasant coffee experience to the level of what I am accustomed to in specialty coffee shops and in my home.
It was always painful for my palate after working tirelessly for a week in a foreign country and rushing to the airport either in the early hours or late evening where all you wanted was just a good cup of “specialty” coffee – no, not just coffee, but specialty.
So, late last year, after speaking at an international conference on land degradation in Riyadh and avoiding hotel coffee, I noticed that I was dropped off at the new Terminal 4 at king Khalid airport. As I walked into the gate area, after security, I noticed a huge Starbucks right in front of the departure gates area – my heart sank – but before I could scream, I looked to my extreme right and noticed a familiar sign…
Camel Step
A smile came across my face
Yes, you may have heard about them as I blogged about them when I highlighted the best ten places to drink specialty coffee in Riyadh back in 2021.
I ran there as fast as I could to get my specialty coffee fix, which was I needed after an early start (my flight was at 9am, so I left the hotel before 7am).
Camel Step, Riyadh terminal 4 airport
Camel Step have been a mainstay for specialty coffee in Saudi Arabia for a while and source good coffees. They use a Dalla Corte espresso machine for their espresso-based coffees and sell snacks, pastries, cakes and coffee beans too. On my second visit,
On my first visit, I ordered a flat white.
Unicorn latte art
Wow! Look at the latte art here.
I’m not sure about other specialty coffee shops in international airports but based on the above, I’m willing to bet that this is the best latte art at an airport, as not many baristi I have come across do this on a daily basis.
On my second visit, I also ordered a flat white too.
I also couldn’t resist picking up some Kenyan arabica beans, which I have been brewing on my Hario V60 recently and its delicious. I should highlight that if you buy a bag of coffee beans, they will give you a complimentary cup of black coffee (not a milk-based – I asked and they said no.
There’s also a small sitting area, which gets occupied quickly.
So, if you happen be transiting through King Khalid international airport, Riyadh and are lucky to be in terminal 4, I strongly recommend that you pop over toe Camel step for your specialty coffee fix and I think you won’t be disappointed.
What a great way to start your journey and day, good coffee.
It always gets bigger and better in Dubai when it comes to events and the World of Coffee 2025 Edition followed suit. I only had the opportunity to attend one of the three days but still didn’t get to experience all the halls, perhaps that’s because I over COFFEE’D myself and lost count after my tenth cup – The emoji of distress 😫 comes to mind. In summary WOC Dubai is truly becoming a global coffee even and is here to stay by the looks of it, featuring all the coffee tools, suppliers, coffee farmers you can think off together with world champions gracing the stage and preparing coffee for you. Nevertheless, here’s a quick round up of my adventures;
Meeting Martin Wolf
Martin Wolf in action
Crowned recently as the World Brewers Champion, Martin used to make coffee for me at my fave coffee shop in Vienna, Austria, Balthasar, so not only was I pleasantly surprised to learn that he would be visiting but that I bumped in to him (pic with him at the top of my post) but that he got to brew coffee, which I got to taste again. What did I learn? That he uses the WDT for filter coffee (post on my Instagram).
Geisha Coffee from Hacienda La Esmeralda Coffee Farm
Hacienda La Esmeralda
The first time I tasted coffee from this world-famous coffee farm in Panama, which was award the most expensive coffee back in 2011, I had my café in Cape Town. The memory of that cup still lingers with me – jasmin earl grey blue flowers – sounds crazy but what an impression. So, I was happy to see the farmers brewing coffee at the Espresso Lab Stand and got to taste not 1, but 3 cups of coffee between naturals and washed…. YUM!
Bluewater
Blue water coffee station
Wandering around near the competition stage, I bumped into Alexander from the company, who is based in Dubai and can be seen at Roast Trip in al Quoz. In summary as over 90% of coffee is water, getting the water right is paramount, so I was happy to chat and learn more about their new technology, which removes impurities, adding Swedish minerals, allowing you to alter TDS amongst other things when brewing your coffee. For example, you can alter the minerals for espresso or filter. As you know, with more water being used for filter, the water quality is very key. They also offer their device for the home too (tempting once I get a bigger pay cheque). Incidentally they won best new product of the year.
Ligre Espresso Machine
Ligre espresso machine
The owner, Lina Gronbach, reached out to me prior to WOC to ask me to visit their stand and check out their Ligre Youn espresso machine with a difference. She introduced me to their slick design, made with satin-finished anodized aluminium and which one could easily be mistaken as an automatic coffee machine, but the sleek wooden handle portafilter gives it away. Brewing can be done with just a few lever buttons at the top with options for both manual and automatic on offer and an “uber” style milk technology that froths perfectly micro foam too. A very aesthetically pleasing espresso machine costing just under EUR5,000 with its patented technology, and grinder to pair. Lina showed me how to use the machine and prepared an Italian style espresso. Growing in popularity in Germany amongst serious coffee snobs, it has already won gold at the German Design Award and the iF Design Award – no surprise there.
Coffees galore
I was happy to meet Khaled the Siphonist, whom I follow on Instagram and who was on hand to brew coffee using …. You guessed it a Siphon.
Khaled the Siphonist
I also stopped over one of my fave coffee roasteries, Cypher, where I had their Palestina Coffee as my first milk based coffee.
Cypher La Palestina flat white
I invited a friend of mine who is thinking of opening a coffee-based business to enjoy the atmosphere, which he did.
We wandered across many stalls including Kiss the Hippo, Grandmother, Subko and many more.
Kiss the Hippo from London
By far the largest stand was a coffee brand from Saudi Arabia, The Black Knight, where I met the CEO, who gave me not one, BUT 4 bags of coffee to take away. Very generous and customer focused no doubt.
Black Knight Coffee Saudi
So, that’s my round up of WOC2025 and I am already looking forward to the 2026 version, where I hope to attend more than one day insha’allah.
Wow! do you know the last time I attended this event? 2008 – 16 YEARS Ago. That sounds crazy BUT it’s been a while since I’ve been in London during this event.
Okay let’s rewind to 2006, when this event was launched. Back then it was the first and only coffee business event of its kind, where all businesses involved in setting up a coffee shop attended to show case their products from espresso machines, grinders, cups, spoons to tea suppliers, latte art classes and even cakes, plus there were lots of lectures on setting up and running a café. It was also the place that I met not one but TWO WBC champs, James Hoffmann (before he started Square Mile) and Stephen Morrisey – read more here. In fact, it was during my attendance at these events that I got the encourage to show my LOVE and set up my first and to date, only café – ESCAPE CAFFE, back in 2010 in Cape Town. So, you can say that this event has a special place in my Coffee heart.
Kiss the Hippo coffees
Fast forward to 2024 and upon arriving in wet, rainy and cold London on 1 October – international coffee day – I knew that even with just 4 hours sleep on the plane I had to attend. So, off I went to the Business Design Centre in Islington. First up, the venue was a lot smaller than the original venue at Kensington Olympia, so when I walked in, I was a little underwhelmed, thinking where the people at …… Secondly, there were not that many world renowned espresso machine suppliers like before – I saw Rocket and Dalla Corte but I’m guessing this might be a sponsorship thing as before, there were a few brands on display. Thirdly, not many stands had people trying to give you coffee bags or free coffee like before.
Cupping session
However, they still have lectures by top experts and I missed the key ones like the one on “the 5 pound cappuccino” – we already have this in Dubai but for the UK it will be a shock.
However, all was not lost, as I met some coffee people and had some deep conversations as follows;
Barbara of Goldbox Roastery and Goldbox Dubai, who I had seen recently in Dubai and also here son, Luca, who won the UK brewers championship twice.
2. Kanye, Head Roaster at Kiss the Hippo, whom I had met earlier this year in Dubai. We chatted for a while and he made me two delicious coffees using their Fruitopia blend on the Eversys (a very expensive automatic machine made famous by Blank Street). Wow! the coffee really tasted like peach, yummy!
3. Tim Ridley, who interviewed me for a job in coffee in London way back in 2012 and started the now discontinued Department of Coffee and Social Affairs (the best name for a coffee shop). When he saw me he said “now here comes someone who knows how to taste coffee better than me…. Hmmm!). Tim knows a lot about the coffee business scene and so I was really intrigued to learn a few secrets from him…. Shhh!
4. Last but not least, Maxwell Colonna-Smalls, former UK barista champ, coffee expert extraordinaire and owner of Colonna Smalls. He was selling his latest book on “the business of specialty coffee” at a discount and signed, so I grabbed a coffee of course and got an espresso from his stand too.
Espresso
What else did I do?
I got a flat white from a special dairy farm, Brades, where they produce milk with 4% fat content – now that’s rare and if you don’t believe me, next time you buy full fat milk, look at the fat content.
I also got some coffee bags from Dark Wood coffee owner/director, Paul Meikle-Janney, who has a long list of accolades, who has been involved in the World and the UK Barista Championships from the very start, as a Head Judge for both the World Latte Art and the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championships (after being a competitor and coming third in the World in 2006). As a board member of World Coffee Events in 2011/2012, he helped to organise the World Barista Championships. (source: darkwoods coffee website).
After about 3 hours, it was time to leave and get something to eat as I was all caffeineD up and had had some great conversations too.
In summary it was great to be back after 16 years and to see the evolution of the event but I think with so many coffee events like the London Coffee Festival, Caffe Culture has evolved to be a space for coffee B2B but still draws some coffee nerds too.
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.
Cortado by Flavius
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
50ml, wait 30 seconds, pour
50ml, wait 30 seconds, pour
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.
Coconut 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.
Photo: courtesy of Liana
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.”
Victoria Arduino Black Eagle Maverick
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.
Boon coffee: espresso
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.
Yemeni espresso
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?
Guess mine?⬅️
Incidentally the UAE BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIP was won by Michaela of Typica coffee (one of my faves) again for the fourth time I think
Photo courtesy of Lyndon, her husband
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.
Photo: courtesy of Naveed
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…
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.
The Q Lab seating area
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.
The roasters
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.
I love coffee tattoos
Pleased to see the Mod Bar, I opted for the espresso blend for my cortado as the description hinted of Brazil.
The Mod Bar
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.
Yemeni coffee
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?
Delicious
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.
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 –
Synesso ES1
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.
April Coffee from Denmark Blue Tokai from India
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.
Cortado by Typica
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.
Espresso number ?
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.
Roest small batch roaster
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.
Yes, you read that right and before you get the geography books, Riyadh is the capital city of Saudi Arabia (aka KSA). About a year ago, I started a job there as a Director of a Think Tank, which I did for 9 months – now why wouldn’t you take a job entitled Director of Think and where you are asked to think about how to change the world leveraging AI and robotics to solve healthcare and environmental problems – well, I did. If you want to know more, check my LinkedIn profile here for all the other serious stuff I talk about.
Before I delve into coffee, you’d be amazed to learn that KSA has got fantastic scenery, with the famous “edge of the world” a few hours outside Riyadh, a must go see. Here I am at another location.
As this is about coffee and love, you’d be amazed to know that the coffee scene is thriving in the heart of Arabia – after all, the Arabs named the best coffee variety “arabica” after themselves. Reportedly, the Saudi population spent an estimated US$300m in cafes alone in the first half of 2021 – now, that’s a lot of coffee – US$1.6m per day in a city of over 8m people – you could have lots of fun with these facts. Before I move on, I should add that Saudi Arabia have their own coffee culture too. After all, the first officially recognised coffee shop in the World was in Mecca. Now, here’s a summary of what I saw for myself based on what I should say “third wave” coffee;
there’s a coffee shop almost on every corner or shop cluster
people queue for coffee shops even at 10pm at night
people go to cafes to drink coffee even at midnight and beyond
the La Marzocco distributor must be happy as these machines are in the majority of coffee shops
there are many speciality coffee shops, serving hard to get Yemeni coffee
Saudi’s love Ethiopian coffee, importing three times more than the UAE (industry insight)
Even one of the local chains pays a great attention to detail in preparation
Yes, cold coffees are very popular, after all in the summer, 45C is normal for weeks
I visited one of the largest coffee shops in the World
So, here’s a quick summary of my coffee shop experience – drink on….
BREW 92
Brew 92 Riyadh
I’m starting with probably my favourite. You may easily get distracted by the impressive muriel but the coffee on offer is also quite impressive. First up, you can order their normal selection of coffees, which range from espresso based, cold brew and filter too, BUT upon close inspection at the till, you will be ecstatic to learn that they offer Cup of Excellence (CoE) coffees too. Yes, CoE are highly rated by world experts and naturally these coffees cost a lot more but if you want to treat yourself, you can pick up a really special coffee for about $65 for a 250g bag of coffee.
I, on the other hand, opted a for a special Yemeni coffee for about $24 for a 250g. Also on offer is food but the main reason that Brew 92 is one of my faves is the quality of coffee on offer and their attention to selecting coffees and preparation.
CAMEL STEP
Camel step entrance
Another one of my faves, recommended by my former colleague, as it’s his fave is Camel Step. They have a few locations but I only went to one – it was after dinner and I really wanted my after dinner coffee, so I opted for a V60 Ethiopian. To continue the experience at home, I bought a bag of coffee for my travels and to take back with me. Wow! I really enjoyed brewing this coffee at my hotel room every night during Ramadhan and upon my return to Dubai, where I shared it with my friend, Naveed. In short, the coffee was roasted in a way that really showed their attention to detail in their selection process and their roasting profile.
SULALAT
A bit difficult to pronounce but before I arrived in Riyadh, this was top of my list as a friend of mine had visited and said I had to go there. It was a bit far from my hotel but worth the wait and I’m grateful for my friend who took us there at night. As I entered, I couldn’t believe the size of the place, not to mention the number of La Marzocco espresso machines they had, including the latest, LEVA – see below.
It was like a factory. I’m sure if they were in the middle of any major city like London or NYC, they would be able to serve an espresso based drink very quickly with a lot of baristi to work the machines like clockwork. Watch video below to grasp the size of this place.
As soon as you pass the la marzocco gallery, you can spot a very large Loring coffee roaster to your right – definitely the biggest coffee roasting machine I’ve seen in my life. As you walk to the back, there’s tons of tools galore, right from the entrance on your left, all the way to the back with la marzocco linea machines, brewing gadgets and of course coffee. There’s also a little sitting area at the top. Again, definitely the largest coffee space I’ve ever been and a must if you visit Riyadh.
8OZ
Now, this is unusual for me, as I hardly ever feature a coffee chain BUT this was my go to every morning or at lunch time, as one of their shops was located within my work vicinity at the digital city. Of course, the first time I went, I was skeptical but once I tasted the depth of the coffee flavours packed with cocoa, berry, caramel and a long lasting finish, not to mention exquisitely poured latte art, I thought, “this is actually good”. It is no wonder that I went there often not just for my daily cortado or flat white fix even in 45C but to hang out with my former colleagues too – and yes they too used a La Marzocco Strada machine. I have to say, 8OZ may be my fave coffee chain in the World to date.
BREW BAR
Located at the bottom of the Panorama Mall, I first heard about the place from Dubai as the owner of this space called HUNA (it means here in Arabic), also owns one of my fave cafes in Dubai, Qahwaty. However for Brew Bar, he invited Huda, who was already famous in Saudi for developing a unique secret recipe for her home made cold brew coffee. Ahmed invited Huda to open up a cafe in Riyadh, serving coffee from Cypher of Dubai as well as other roasters. What you have here, is an unusual arty and intimate spot, stacked with Arabic literature, coffee, history and self help books. I went a few times and met friends here because I knew that the coffee would be good.
MID-SAJJ
Newly opened in June 2021 but with a keen attention to detail, is this new spot, near the new King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD). My friend took me here as I was craving specialty coffee all day and we just beat the crowd, as literally once we entered, a queue of about 10 people formed. Now, I knew that people queued for coffee in Riyadh but at that time of the day I was lucky that I didn’t have to, as I was literally “coffee” starved.
Other spots I visited and worth mentioning
ELIXIR
Very well respected with coffee lovers and winner of some awards is Elixir. They’ve got many locations too and I bought a really good but rare to find Democratic Republic of Congo arabica coffee here, which I brewed at home to the delight of my taste buds.
EQUAL
Situated opposite the very popular U-Walk, is Equal, where they serve Sulalat coffee, have a selfie mirror that attracts instagrammers and cool decor (top of the page).
THOUGHTS
Yes, I know that the name doesn’t sound very creative, but if you happen to visit U-Walk, which hosts some international restaurant brands, and you are craving coffee, then here’s my to-go- spot – I usually avoid chains. For coffee machine enthusiasts, you’ll be glad to see that they’ve got one of the most advanced espresso machines ever made, the San Marco OPERA along with other cool gadgets for brewing coffee.They also roast onsite and have ample seating area.
HJEEN ROASTERS
Another coffee spot that roasts it’s own coffee, with a great selection of coffee to take home.
THAT CAFE
I never got to visit this shop as it recently opened but the owner is a World Ibrik Turkish coffee champion and she will offer Turkish coffee as well as Third wave coffee too.
This list is by far not exhaustive and I’m sure since I was last in Riyadh (October 2021), more high end, speciality coffee shops have opened, where queues are forming even at midnight, but I’ve tried to give you a summary, so that when you are craving speciality coffee, you have options.
To find the locations, check instagram and google maps.
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.
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.
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.
I just wanted to share with you my heartfelt gratitude to the team of Feedspot for giving me not one but two accolades;
Top 30 Austrian Blogs (because I live in Austria)
Top 100 coffee blogs in the World
I really appreciate this. As you know I just want to share my love of coffee with you and I too hope that you will fall in love with coffee – the most celebrated beverage in the World.
I take this accolades as an encouragement to do more and so I promise to post more on this blog to match my more regular outage on instagram too.
From Coffee With Love 