Tim Wendelboe, the 2004 World Barista Champion, reports from Dubai City in the United Arab Emirates on his search for coffee culture and a decent espresso.
MarkPrince Moderator Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 4,653 Location: Vancouver Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Frankenstein'ed LM Linea Grinder: Anfim Super Caimano Vac Pot: 1922 Silex Drip: Krups Moka Brew Roaster: Hottop
Posted Thu Mar 22, 2007, 11:11pm Subject: Re: Exploring Coffee in Dubai: A Traveler's Diary from Cup to Cup, The Cafe Stag
It's coming. I got a lot of good (and constructive criticism) feedback from 10 espresso guys and gals from around the planet on the last prototype, but I'm struggling with some final cosmetic changes. I have to get a local CAD guy to do up one more prototype to send over to be cut, before it goes final.
Mark PS - Tim's gotta be the biggest fan of the tamper so far, which just rocks.
Posted Sun Mar 25, 2007, 3:48am Subject: Re: Exploring Coffee in Dubai: A Traveler's Diary from Cup to Cup, The Cafe Stag
Great Story and interesting location to try to understand...
Traditional waterpipes and Turkish coffee...and then very little care taken with the Espresso...
When you were pouring shots they came for straight espresso..(they meaning locals and i guess many business visitors)...But in the Mall..what were they drinking..straight "espresso" or US of A milk drinks?
In Israel where Turkish coffee (and a wierd variation call Kafe Botz-mud coffee) is quite prevelant..good espresso is not hard to come by (and Starbucks didn't last)..Interesting that Dubai seems to be going in another direction.
timW Senior Member Joined: 10 May 2006 Posts: 10 Location: Norway Expertise: Professional
Espresso: 1group fb70 Grinder: K30 Drip: french press
Posted Sun Mar 25, 2007, 6:53am Subject: Re: Exploring Coffee in Dubai: A Traveler's Diary from Cup to Cup, The Cafe Stag
Thank you everyone for kind words. To answer your question, it was a bit hard to find out on the places I visited. sincs the espresso came in big 6 oz cups, the same cups as cappuccino. But by judging from the time they were sitting down I guessed that the espresso consumption was higher than in Norway and USA, but not as high as in the exhibition. A good estimate would be maby 70 % milk based drinks and 30 % coffee based drinks.
daphnelangedijk Senior Member Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 1 Location: Dubai Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Mon Mar 26, 2007, 11:57pm Subject: Re: Exploring Coffee in Dubai:
Hi Tim,
It is very interresting to read what a professional barista like you has to say about the coffee culture in dubai. I live in Dubai, and Work in the coffee business for the past 3 years. even for me it is very difficult to sell coffee to shops that simply serve horrible coffee because 1 they have a lousy barista, 2 they have OLD machine 3 they dont know about grinders, 4 they have bad coffee. most people don't understand the art of making coffee. you should hold a coffee convention here, and sell personal training, you could become a millionaire with more then 2000 coffee shops serving just black liquid!
timW Senior Member Joined: 10 May 2006 Posts: 10 Location: Norway Expertise: Professional
Espresso: 1group fb70 Grinder: K30 Drip: french press
Posted Tue Mar 27, 2007, 1:34am Subject: Re: Exploring Coffee in Dubai: A Traveler's Diary from Cup to Cup, The Cafe Stag
Hello Daphne. If you arrange for the training, I will certainly be glad to do so. I think the guys at La Marquise were a little bit interested in some training, but you never know if they will actually ask for it.
Posted Wed Mar 28, 2007, 11:15am Subject: Re: Exploring Coffee in Dubai: A Traveler's Diary from Cup to Cup, The Cafe Stag
Any of you tried sand boiled Turkish coffee?
During the Ottoman empire the traveling armies would carry these large metal crates that they filled with sand and put over a fire. The ibrik then was buried into the sand for a uniform heating.
I tried this at a Black Sea resort, not bad at all.
Sadly most people refuse to want to improve on coffee, oh yeah its just coffee, and keep lauding the overroasted watery brews served at Harbucks and other places.
Good for you, i know you made an impression by trying to present espresso for what it really is.
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