I had no idea what to expect when I was invited by Garfield Kerr, the CEO of Mokha 1450 Luxury Specialty Coffee and the President of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) UAE chapter, to be a judge at the semi-finals of the UAE AeroPress Championships held in Dubai on 7 November 2025. 

However, when I walked into the venue, I was greeted with a room full of music with a live DJ, loud cheer and tons of people from the UAE coffee community.

My first reaction;

 “what am I doing here and can I really judge such talent?” 

Enter…. Imposter syndrome. 

Sure, I’ve been writing about coffee for over 18 years, met countless experts like James Hoffman, Maxwell Colonna Smalls, been invited to many events, attended several coffee conferences, ran my own coffee shop for three years, tasted coffee from almost every region in the World and earned a SCA Sensory Skills certificate. The list goes on.

So, I was lucky when I saw my number one coffee buddy, Naveed of The Need For Coffee, as I could chat, relax and soak up the atmosphere.

This helped me to relax and as I took a walk around the venue watching other judges judge the prequalifying rounds, I began to gain more composure, talking to myself (not aloud) “yes, I can do this”.

After about two hours, it was my turn together with my other two judges, one a lady from Brazil that has been in coffee for over 10 years and an Emirati lady who imports Yemeni coffee. 

In short, we were not allowed to see the contestants, so we were seated backing them as I guess this might bias our judgement or perhaps, we may be overtaken by the methodology.

So, here we go…

Upon tasting three cups of coffee, we were told, point to the one you think is the best and if 2 out of the 3 judges chose a cup, that barista, only identified by a colour, unknown to us, was the winner. 

On the first go, the other two judges chose a cup that I didn’t. Then I thought “oh dear”

However, for the remainder of the cups, you would be glad to know that I always picked the winner.

The highlight for me was when one of the cups had a distinct taste of guess….

Coconut.

Wow!

I still wanted to know what methodology that barista used because all the coffees were the same for all contestants.

I definitely picked that cup and so did my other two judges – unanimous decision.

And then before you know it, it was all over.

I pray I’ll be invited again and I’m grateful to Garfield and his team at Mokha 1450 for organising the event.

The great pictures were taken by none other than Naveed. 

On reading the title of this post, you could be confused as to whether you jumped onto a site advertising a flower shop or some sort of botanical gardens in the city, BUT, all is forgiven, because this unique coffee shop marries the cafe owner’s love for flowers and of course, coffee. – I present you Urban Botanica Coffee Shop. Recommend by my daughter as a way to get me to satisfy my coffee craving near her home, I was in for a pleasant surprise.

Upon entering, you will be greeted with lots of pot plants, especially on your left and you may be wondering, “am I in a flower shop?”. However, after a few steps in, you will notice that the brew bar has been designed to kind of blend in with the happy plant space, as there’s lots of pink, including the eclectic and super espresso machine, the Kees Van der Westen Spirit – custom made with pink undertones – a machine for serious coffee nerds, no doubt.

Owned by Stephen, formerly of Horsham Coffee roasters, Stephen literally fell in love with his espresso machine, which he owned before even opening his coffee shop – sounds like something I’d do. After a few months of looking, he finally found this spot in Kennington, south east London. If I recall, the pot plants and flowers are in collaboration with a local florist and they have decorated the shop profoundly.

As you walk through the narrow shop, there’s more seating on the right hand-side, just before you enter the garden. With London enjoying the hottest September on record, we naturally sat outside and waited to be served.

When Stephen finally moved with his machine, he naturally went for Horsham Coffee as his choice of roaster. With a range of coffees, I opted for a Colombian coffee as a Flat White. As he made our coffees, I asked him few questions not to interrupt his flow – you could see the passion in his eyes and in the way he prepared our coffees. I filmed him as he made mine and I was already excited to taste it.

Delightfully made, I could sip the love of the coffee, which was one of the best I had during this trip. My wife and daughter and other friends had milk based coffees and a HarioV60 with a Rwandan coffee.

Before I left, I bought Brazilian coffee beans to make home to Dubai for my espresso cravings.

To be honest, Kennighton is not really a place you will visit in London for any famous sites, as it is quite a neighbourly place, but it is not very far on the Underground northern line from the city nor Charing Cross (full of tourist attractions). So if you are nearby, I encourage you to hop on the tube and stop by here for a delightful coffee experience.

Urban Bontanica is located at 30 Windmill Road, off Kennington Road.

Everyone knows Oxford for their famous university and quaint English town vibe. It is full of lots of tourists in the summer with its classic buildings and historical sights, not to mention an abundance of English language schools, which attract a lot of people from all over the World to study during the summer.

Early last month we went over to Oxford to attend our sons’ graduation and what a joyous occasion it was, especially as our son had said he didn’t want to go to university many years back. But as you know, whenever I visit any new city, I’m literally sniffing around for specialty coffee. When I brought our son over three years ago to help him settle in, I searched and found two, so I wasn’t too worried about finding good coffee this time.

Colombia Coffee Roasters

After having the graduation lunch, I was in need of good coffee, so off we went just across the road from the posh Ivy restaurant and into the covered market, where I found Colombia Coffee Roasters – hailed as the best coffee in Oxford, located at the Covered Market.

It looks like a typical British coffee shop with lots of buns, pastries and gadgets including coffee bags all over the place. As it was late afternoon on an unusually hot and rather sunny and warm day for Oxford, I knew I had to have black coffee, and so I opted for an Americano as it was almost time for them to close.

My family soon found me and ordered coffee, cappuccino and more.

The two female baristi were pleasant, helpful, patient and knowledgeable as my family quizzed them about the cakes and other sweet treats – this was after we had already had dessert – smile.

I bought a bag of their Oxford Espresso Blend to take back to Dubai, sat down and enjoyed my cuppa coffee.

Society café

The next day, just before we left, we were in the city centre again (every English city has one except London which is far too big) and I recall another coffee shop that I visited when I first brought our son here three years ago to start university and so off we went to Society Café on St Michaels Street.

A trendy spot that gives vibes of those in the know, know that this is where the best coffee is at. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, I stopped here for my specialty coffee fix and the coffee was good. This time, it seemed better perhaps because people, were more relaxed. As I hadn’t had milk-based espresso for a few days. I opted for a flat white, which was well prepared with good latte art too using their La Marzocco KB90.

They had an array of British specialty coffee roasters like Assembly, Origins, Kiss the Hippo and Obadiah.

After my delectable coffee, I chatted with the barista, who had just graduated from our son’s university too from the same business school. I bought a Kenyan bag of coffee from Assembly – and my mum kindly bought me the Guatemala natural from Obadiah (Scottish coffee roasters). We hung out for a while and then went off to catch the coach back to London.

Coffeesmiths

Another coffee shop worth noting is Coffeesmiths at 14-15 Golden Cross, which I visited in 2020 but I didn’t get the change to try their coffee this time on their beautiful La Marzocco KB90 (popular in Oxford I guess) but I recommend them too.

Last I checked they also used coffee from Origin.

It had been 8 days in Marrakech and although I had brought along my aeropress, Hario electric grinder and some great Kenyan coffee to new in my hotel room, I was still craving specialty coffee brewed the espresso way. Having tried a couple of global chains in Marrakech (they didn’t exist two years ago), I knew there had to be more, so I returned to google search, which pulled up two reliable candidates, Bloom Coffee (which turned out to be specialty coffee roastery – next time I plan to visit insha’Allah) and Thirty5ive (that’s how they write it) cafe, which is where I headed after a long day working.

We finally arrived here at about 6pm and the cafe was empty except for me and the barista. Set in a residential street in fashionable Gueliz, as you enter, there are some high stool chairs to your right, which ends with two Technics SL1200 turntables (I used to DJ at university and these turntables for playing traditional records are like the goldmine of DJing) and after which you are greeted with at the brew bar, decked with a 2 group La Marzocco linea and two mahl konig grinders. The decor is trendy concrete industrial.

I was greeted by Khalid, who used to be the Moroccan latte art champion a few years back and is now the head barista here. I started off with a cortado as I was craving an espresso based milk drink.

Smooth taste with hints of milk chocolate and a dark berry. By smooth, I mean it was easy on the palate and the milk glided on to my tongue with ease. After shyly asking Khalid to take a pic of me as I sipped my coffee, I wandered around the shop, which is actually set on two levels. As you leave the main shop to your left, you’ll see what looks like a room for meetings, just before you head up the steep winding stairs to a little clove on top, decked with comfy floor level cushions and chairs too.

Also on display was art from a local artist, using metal – impressive!

After my cortado had settled in my stomach… let’s say 5 minutes, I ordered a filter coffee together with a pistachio financier (classic french almond mini cake), as I hadn’t eaten all day. The financier was really delicious, melt in your mouth with Moroccan almonds I presume.

and the coffee….

Smelt like sweet spice and berries with medium acidity.

Their coffee is actually roasted in Amsterdam as the Moroccan owners used to live there.

In short, my top choice to visit for specialty coffee in Marrakech to date. I’m sure the morning and evening vibe will be different featuring the young and trendy from Marrakech listening to old school tunes, discussing art and life, plus more OR jamming to the DJs tunes on a Friday evening.

Thirty5ive is located at 3 Rue el Imam Malik, Gueliz, Marrakech.

Craving specialty coffee during my recent trip to Marrakech i must confess I wasn’t that hopeful e when I google “specialty coffee Marrakech “ BUT I was pleasantly surprised to find that Japanese brand Arabica% had opened their second shop in Morocco ( I went to their first one in Casablanca last year).

I must confess I thought I had heard about their new shop but wasn’t sure if it was in Marrakech. So, when an acquaintance asked to meet briefly before my first meeting, I suggested this spot.

Newly opened in the fancy Dubaiesque M AVENUE, a hub of new shops, hip restaurants and the CR7 Hotel by Cristiano Ronaldo, Arabica% is set to attract those needing an escape into specialty coffee.. in a country that still doesn’t have a Starbucks.

As usual, there’s a lot of expense and creativity in the decor with a #chemex fountain (above) wide spaces and an escapism feel, decked with two slayer espresso machines.

I opted for a #cappuccino using their Brazil and Ethiopia blend. Hints of milk chocolate and almonds.

Also on offer are filter brews too. So, if you visit the magical city of Marrakech this summer and want a hint of specialty coffee, pop over to Arabica% Marrakech

Aha!

In summary, the researchers analyzed demographic, lifestyle and dietary information collected from more than 170,000 people between the ages of 37 and 73 over a median follow-up period of 7 years.

As mentioned on my website (see bio) , coffee has a lot of #antioxidants, which can prevent or delay cell damage, as confirmed by Dr Goldberg. In the article, Beth Czerwony, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Human Nutrition in Ohio, added that #antioxidants can help break down free radicals that cause damage to cells. She added that

“Over time, a buildup of free radicals can increase inflammation in the body, which can cause plaque formation related to heart disease, she said, so dietitians recommend consuming foods and beverages that are rich in antioxidants.”

The study mentions that the main threshold is 3-4 cups of coffee per day. I usually drink 3 cups, one per meal.

Obviously caramel lattes that contain a reportedly 25g of sugar don’t qualify 🥺 and I’d like to add that drinking good coffee well prepared would probably help too.

I’ve been trying to get my wife to drink coffee for 17 years and she recently started having one small cup a day when I launched my coffee escapecaffe now available here . Here’s to a longer healthier life with great #coffee God willing. 😊
.

Renaming my Brand: Readers Thoughts

First up, I’m grateful to my almost 100 subscribers to my blog and that’s why I’d like to invite you to participate in helping me choose my coffee brand.

So, I’ve been think a while about my coffee brand. Trust me it’s taking me several hours and I’ve been back and forth with the tried and tested and the newish.

Looking through how I think about coffee and communicate about coffee, three words come to me LOVE, PASSION, ESCAPE.

FOR LOVE, ❤️ this usually starts with infatuation, where you want to know more and justify your infatuation and whether it resides in LOVE. For coffee, this was the start of my journey. I wanted to know why my taste buds where experiencing this delight.

FOR PASSION, 🧡 this was the next phase as the organ of the word relates to suffering. It was the point of no compromise in getting the best coffee possible. First with buying the best gadgets and then with only visiting certain cafes and if you were pulled into a commercial chain to drink coffee, yes, I would prefer water rather than compromise and let my taste buds suffer.

For ESCAPE, ✈️ it was the drink of the escapist, as the drinker escapes from reality into the surreal of new taste experiences, evident on their tongues. THIS is why my first coffee shop 12 years ago, was called ESCAPE CAFFE. To escape with your taste buds required flight and I love wings but also pay homage to the Italians – hence CAFFE (coffee in Italian) and not CAFE (French) and also an espresso cup.

Part 2? You may be wondering what was Part 1. Well, part 1 was when I had my coffee shop, ESCAPE CAFFE in Cape Town from September 2010 until February 2012. That’s when I moved my whole family to another part of the world to set yup my ideal coffee shop.

Fast forward ⏩ to 2021 and….

Well, I believe that when you pursue your dreams, God puts people in your life to help you complete the journey.

So, when I first met Shehzeen and MD of @sippybeans, Dubai in October 2020 and she asked how can we collaborate after talking coffee for about one hour, I said “why don’t we release a coffee line together” and she said “why not” 🕺🏽 now, who said dreams don’t come true. 🎉

So far we’ve released 2 coffees, available exclusively on https://sippybeans.com/search?type=product&q=Lameen of course. Thanks once again sippy for believing in me and being part of my journey.

Looking forward to realizing our coffee dreams together and God willing more coffees 😌
.