{"id":258344,"date":"2019-09-26T15:40:46","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T18:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=258344"},"modified":"2019-09-26T16:21:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T19:21:08","slug":"a-walk-through-the-history-of-coffee-in-dubai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/a-walk-through-the-history-of-coffee-in-dubai\/","title":{"rendered":"A walk through the history of coffee in Dubai"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dubai \u2013 In one of Dubai\u2019s heritage hubs, Al Fahidi, a 150-year house is an invitation to drink coffee and learn more about the history of the bean and its consumption around the world. The United Arab Emirates aren\u2019t traditional coffee producers, but an Emirati’s passion for the beverage caused the country to have a Coffee Museum as a tourist attraction.<\/p>\n

The museum is the former residence of an Emirati family, and this relaxing atmosphere to sit around and talk is still there. It consists of two floors of small, cozy rooms filled with stories about coffee. It gets even better if you can get a tour with the founding owner Khalid El Mulla.<\/p>\n

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Beans from different parts of the world at the Dubai Coffee Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are many memories about coffee on the ground and first floor, starting with international antiques such as the first ever coffeemaker to arrive at the UAE from Japan, coffee roasting and brewing equipment from different parts of the world and times. A British royal grinder? They have it. An old coffeemaker from Ethiopia, a neighbor country where the bean came from? The museum owns one too.<\/p>\n

In a corner of the museum, it\u2019s even possible to experience a little bit of the Ethiopian ritual to consume coffee. Tourist sit on stools around a coffee equipment and its handler and wait for their bowls to be filled. It\u2019s served with popcorn, which is another Ethiopian tradition.<\/p>\n

The museum also features a machine that is a reinterpretation of the equipment used in Egyptian palaces where the beverage is heated in containers over a hot plate with sand. The museum owner, a big coffee importer, imports these machines from Greece and distributes it in the UAE and the region.<\/p>\n

The museum is filled with coffee surprises. A large picture in one of the central rooms shows the Arab desert landscape with camels, mountains, palm trees and Bedouins sitting on the ground brewing their coffee. The painting was made with coffee. Mulla said the artist took eight months to complete the work.<\/p>\n

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Map on the wall shows coffee-growing regions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The place features a room called Majlis, which is full of carpets and pillows to sit around, where the ritual around the Arab coffee requires you to be barefoot. \u201cEven if one doesn\u2019t have anything in their pockets, if they want to welcome their guests, they\u2019ll serve coffee and dates, the owner said about the Arab custom to host visitors with the drink.<\/p>\n

This has been an Arab way of showing hospitality for over 100 years and now it\u2019s replicated in five-star hotels, airline lounges and government departments around the region, Mulla said. The entrepreneur explained that offering coffee like this means that someone is welcome.<\/p>\n

On the first floor, there\u2019s a coffee brew bar (pictured above<\/em>) which is also decorated with items of the history of the bean. A good surprise are the hats hanging on a column, which are used by coffee farmers in different parts of the world, such as Indonesia, Yemen, Jamaica, and Latin America countries. Other nice surprise is a huge picture of the world, showing the world\u2019s producing region and coffee museums.<\/p>\n

There are also books from different countries about coffee, graphic exhibitions on the production process, crops above and below sea level, and others. Brazil is present in pictures, flags, equipment, the production map, and other spaces, as well as in Mulla\u2019s speech, when he talks about the largest coffee producers. The founder imports coffee from Brazil \u2013 and other countries \u2013 to distribute around the region.<\/p>\n

(story continues after photo gallery)<\/em><\/p>\n