Eight UAE coffee roasters making their mark



RAW Coffee Company

One of Dubai’s foremost coffee roasters, RAW Coffee Company uses 100 per cent certified organic and ethically traded Arabica beans from across Africa and South and Central America. The company roasts about 2.7 tonnes of beans each week in Dubai, supplying to many local coffee shops and restaurants across the country. Customers who want to take RAW coffee home can pick up packets from the roastery, which has an on-site espresso bar where guests can sample different varieties. There are currently five blends on offer, each with different profiles and preparation methods. A customer favourite, WORKING, is a smooth medium bodied blend with a balanced acidity that cuts through the sweet milk. It is best drunk as a flat white. “The roasting is the heart and soul of our business,” managing director Kim Thompson says. “We like to roast little and often and run a ‘just in time’ process ensuring our customers get to prepare their coffee between day seven and day 21, which is the optimum time for freshness.”

Where: Al Quoz, Dubai

Contact: 04 339 5474, www.rawcoffeecompany.com

Pricing: 500g, Dh85

The Sum of Us

The Sum of Us is a coffee enthusiast’s paradise, where signature blends are the order of the day. The cafe’s on-site roastery enables baristas to experiment with different flavours and ensure that their produce is perfectly aged and of optimal quality.

“Right now in the roastery we have coffee from Colombia, Guatemala and Ethiopia, which are currently the three components in our house blend, Tsounami, as well as a fresh batch of Kenyan Kii which I literally cannot wait to try,” said head of coffee Antony Papandreou. “Kenyan coffee is one of the most vibrant, fruity coffees available and I really think it’s going to blow people’s minds once we get this on our brew bar.”

As well as providing coffee for the cafe, the roastery produces extra for customers to take away. The venue also sells brewing equipment and hosts classes on how to get the best out of the equipment and the beans.

Where: Bur Al Salam, Trade Centre, Dubai

Contact: 056 4457526, www.thesumofusdubai.com

Pricing: 250g, Dh65

Speciality Batch

If you are partial to Arabica coffee, Speciality Batch is the place to go. The company produces Specialty Coffee, which is a grade of Arabica coffee referring to the top 17 per cent of worldwide coffee production. In other words, it is of extremely high quality. Beans are sourced seasonally on a rotation of 14 distinctly characteristic farms across South America and Africa, and then roasted in Dubai to develop their unique flavours.

Co-Founder Ryan Godinho said: “Our selections cover a large spectrum, with our choice of lower-grown coffee offering heavier bodied, nutty, chocolate notes, all the way up to our choice of high-grown coffees [cultivated at more than 2100m above sea level] which incorporate more subtle, sweet fruit and floral notes.”

Speciality batch roasts small batches of coffee to order and guarantees delivery within one to five days of being roasted, making it some of the freshest coffee in the Emirates.

Where: 1514, Grosvenor Business Tower, Tecom, Dubai

Contact: 04 431 2720, www.specialtybatch.com

Pricing: 500g, Dh60 to Dh190

Boon Coffee

Boon Coffee imports beans from Ethiopia, founder Orit Mohammed’s homeland. The country is one of the most diverse coffee producers in the world, renowned not just for high quality, but volume.

“Ethiopia is famous for its highland coffees, such as Yirgacheffe and Sidamo, which have bright, fruity flavours and we stay true to that,” says Mohammed. “However we also bring coffee from Harrar, which has more nutty and chocolate undertones.”

After sorting and blending the bean types, Boon Coffee roasts about one tonne a month to stock its cafe in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, and other venues including La Serre, Baker and Spice, Gallery Lafayette and Urban Bistro. You can also purchase bags of coffee, with a minimum order of Dh150, which are delivered free of charge in Dubai.

Where: 1 Lake Plaza, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

Contact: 04 421 4500, www.booncoffee.com

Pricing: 150g, Dh38

Mokha 1450

Named after a seaport in Yemen and the year when coffee exports began there, Mokha 1450 is a unique concept with strong ethical foundations.

The company produces and home-roasts five unique origins of coffee, four of which are in direct trade with female farmers in a part of the world where women struggle to find work.

The heirloom blend, Geisha, is made from beans grown on the Sebree Mountains in Ethiopia and farmed by a cooperative of 70 female farmers, called the Talook Women’s Coffee Association.

Inside the cafe, customers can select a blend and have it brewed to their preferences. They can also buy bags to take away or arrange standing orders with customised roast levels for their homes or offices – the ultimate coffee connoisseur’s treat.

Where: Al Wasl Road, Dubai

Contact: 04 321 6455, www.mokha1450.com

Pricing: 250g, Dh49 to Dh150

Maison Maatouk

Maison Maatouk is a ­family- run company with strong Lebanese roots. It was founded in Beirut in 1960 and enjoyed success across Europe in the 1970s and 1980s.

These days, the bulk of the business takes place in Lebanon and, since the 1990s, in the UAE. As well as cafes in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, Maison Maatouk has a state-of-the-art factory in the capital.

Describing themselves as “coffee crafters”, the creatives at Maison Maatouk pride themselves on their premium coffee blends. They use the finest beans – including the renowned Blue Mountain, a bean grown at the highest spot in Jamaica – and also source their supply from across Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Kenya.

After being micro-dissected and tested, the beans that pass Maison Maatouk’s stringent quality tests are roasted to produce four types – Lebanese, Arabic, American and Espresso. They’re then ground and stored in fresh packaging that ensures lasting aroma and taste.

Where: Al Khalidiyah, Abu Dhabi

Contact: 02 6666824, www.maisonmaatouk.com

Pricing: 250g, Dh50

Coffee Planet

Coffee Planet is one of the UAE’s fastest growing coffee roasteries. The company produces Single Origin varieties from Colombia, Burundi, India, Indonesia and Ethiopia, plus a number of 100 per cent pure Arabica coffee blends, including decaf and organic alternatives.

Arabica options are available in bags or capsule form, which can be easily used with Nespresso machines. For those who’d rather brew the traditional way, the store sells ­coffee-brewing starter kits, which are perfect for coffee novices.

If you want some advice from the experts, pick up the Roastmaster’s Brew of the Month, which for September is Single Origin: Colombia (Finca El Obraje) – a medium-roast fully washed Caturra that combines juicy green apple with blackberry and chocolate sweetness.

Where: Al Quoz, Dubai

Contact: 800 263333, www.coffeeplanetroastery.com

Pricing: 250g, from Dh35 for Single Origin, from Dh20 for Arabica

Common Grounds

Coffee fans are in for a treat at this new artisanal coffee shop in Mall of the Emirates, which opens today.

Common Grounds, a fresh concept and third offering from the Tom&Serg crew – The Sum of Us is the second – answers the prayers of coffee-­loving shoppers with a menu of freshly baked snacks and rich, aromatic coffee.

The cafe uses its sister venue’s home-roasted signature Tsounami blend, which will be transported freshly after every toasting batch.

The cafe presents a unique, artisanal option to shoppers looking for a quality caffeinated pick-me-up.

Where: Mall of the Emirates, Dubai

Contact: 04 352 9535, www.commongroundsdubai.com

Pricing: 250g, Dh65

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
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Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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The Baghdad Clock

Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4