Sara Alkhoori brewing espresso at her roastery and café in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Photo by Erika Koss, Nov 2025.
By Dr. Erika Koss
The global coffee community is set to reunite in Dubai as World of Coffee Dubai makes its highly anticipated return for its fifth edition from January 18 to 20, 2026, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
Organized by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) in partnership with DXB LIVE, the event is expected to host hundreds of exhibitors and attract over 17,000 visitors from across 130 countries, making it one of the most important international events in the specialty coffee calendar.
Will you be joining us this weekend?
Learn more about the traditions of coffee with Sara Ahmed Alkhoori, who taught me about Emirati traditions and with whom I recently enjoyed Arabic coffee on my visit to her roastery and lab in Abu Dhabi.
A visionary Emirati coffee leader, Ms. Sara Alkhoori began her career as a engineer, later shifting to coffee. Sara sees herself first and foremost as a roaster. But she’s also a cafe owner, coffee judge, coffee trainer, and businesswoman of Sara’s Coffee in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Britannica Map of the UAE and its neighbors.
10 things to know about Coffee in the United Arab Emirates:
1. Coffee Was a Key Beverage during Meetings that Formed the United Arab Emirates
Following independence from the United Kingdom, six emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, and Fujairah) merged to form the “United Arab Emirates,” on December 2, 1971. The seventh, Ras Al Khaimah, joined in 1972.
The formation was led by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (Abu Dhabi), known as the UAE’s “founding father,” and Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum (Dubai), known as the "Father of Modern Dubai.”
Coffee was important to both leaders, demonstrated by the starring role that gahwa (Arabic coffee) served at pivotal meetings as a symbol of unity and Emirati hospitality.
In fact, his son, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, visited World of Coffee Dubai in 2025!
2. Gahwa is the Traditional Beverage, Available in Homes and Cafés throughout the UAE
Traditional Emirati Coffee, Gahwa, is more than merely a beverage—sharing coffee is an act of generosity. Hospitality and community are prized values of Emirati culture and identity. This is represented even in the time and effort it takes to brew and serve traditional coffee.
Today’s ongoing Emirati hospitality is rooted in the reciprocal generosity (ḍiyāfa), which was a core value of the nomadic Bedouin people—one of the major cultures that dominated the Arabian Peninsula just before the rise of Islam.
As nomadic pastoralists, they depended on ḍiyāfa to ensure their survival and social cohesion, while dwelling in harsh deserts. Even strangers or enemies would be offered food, including coffee, or shelter as a sacred duty.
Arabic coffee is so important as a symbol of generosity that, in 2024, it was inscribed as a UNESCO “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Need of Urgent Safekeeping” for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, and Qatar.
3. Specialty coffee is Booming in the UAE (and MENA Region)
As reported by Arab News, “the UAE’s coffee market alone exceeds $3.2 billion, while Dubai continues to strengthen its position as one of the world’s most cafe-dense and diverse cities.”
Across the UAE and MENA region (Middle East and North Africa), out-of-home coffee spending is among the highest in the world with about 93% of spending in cafes and restaurants. With more than 60% of the population across MENA under 35, coffee is both a drink and a lifestyle.
Dubai’s specialty coffee market started to really grow around early 2014 and is now exploding. While many coffee shops like Sara’s offer traditional Emirati coffee, they also serve many of the brewing methods cherished in specialty coffee, such as the V60 or Chemex, as well as a range of espresso beverages.
4. The “Spice Profile” Varies by Region or Household in the UAE
Spices are also central to Emirati hospitality, often including cardamom, saffron, cinnamon, cloves, or rose water.
When I was with Sara, she added the foundational Emirati spice, which is cardamom, and provides a signature herbal aroma. She also included Saffron—essential in Emirati coffee and one of the world’s most luxurious spices. A pitch added during or after brewing will elevate the coffee with a unique, earthy, slightly sweet, and floral note. It also adds a rich color and antioxidant benefits to the coffee.
A few drops added just before serving, rose water is often added in the UAE, providing a floral, aromatic finish.
5. Brewing Emirati coffee Utilizes Several Traditional Vessels
When I visited Sara in her roastery and café in Abu Dhabi, she brewed the traditional Gahwa Emaratia for us to enjoy together. She combined water with medium roasted Arabic coffee in the vessel called the Dallah, brewing for about three minutes. Once boiled, she added spices—in my case cardamom and saffron—then removed it from the heat and let it rest for two minutes. Then she strained the brewed coffee to the serving Dallah, a separate vessel.
“We have different sizes of Dallah, as you can see,” Sara explained to me in her café. “Usually we use the biggest size to heat the water, and the medium to brew the coffee. The smaller size is for serving.”
The Dallah is more than just a serving vessel; it’s an object of artistic beauty that is also used in every day life. In fact, a Dallah is even featured on the 1-dirham coin, the most common UAE coin!
6. Serving Coffee Includes Etiquette and Several Traditions
Emirati coffee is served with a distinctive etiquette, such as the host holding the handle of the dallah with their left hand and serving with the right hand.
Typically three small cups (finjan) are served of gahwa. When I had coffee at Sara’s café, she poured the first cup for herself, to check that the coffee tastes perfect and traditionally to show that it’s safe (al-heif). Then she gave me the second pour, a symbol of peace and friendship.
This is an example of the reciprocal generosity: as the host, she serves it, and as the guest, I accept it.
Often coffee is served with a date or a bite-sized sweet snack comprised of pistachios. Oral poetry may be recited, or memories may be shared, to signify and deepen bonds of friendship and respect.
Sara Alkhoori at her café, Sara’s Café, in Abu Dhabi. Photo by Erika Koss, Nov. 2025.
A Dallah in Sara’s Café. Photo by Erika Koss.
7. The Invitation for Coffee Is Like a Bell
Traditionally, the call—the invitation for coffee—begins with the sound of roasting and grinding beans, welcoming neighbors and family members to join.
When the coffee is roasted, usually the wife or mother of the household will use the traditional mortar and pestle, the Menhaz and Rashad, to create a distinctive household “song,” a rhythm that’s similar to a kind of bell.
“It’s like an announcement,” Sara said, “that tells everyone, ‘we have coffee.’ Every household has a different Alrashad sound.”
8. Dubai is the Middle East’s Global Coffee Hub
While Saudi Arabia holds the title of largest coffee consuming market according to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the UAE is the global entry point to Middle East markets (cf. a recent Coffee Intelligence article). Many global coffee brands and entrepreneurs begin in the UAE, looking to break into more complex Middle Eastern coffee markets.
This makes sense, considering that Dubai is the UAE’s business hub. Its excellent infrastructure ranges from its international airport to the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC)—the UAE’s largest free-trade zone for commodities. The DMCC boasts a 7,500 square meter Coffee Centre, which includes storage facilities for green coffee beans.
9. Dubai Cafés are Filled with Social Gatherings & Coffee Education
Dubai boasts 4,800 coffee shops as of 2024 data, likely with more to come as the demand for coffee rises.
Especially since most people in the UAE don’t go out to bars and many do not drink alcohol, coffee shops tend to stay open later than in other parts of the world.
Cafés can be a place for work or work meetings, but even more so, they are a place of gathering and socializing. Even if people aren’t ordering coffee late into the night, cafes are often social hubs for friends and family.
Sara’s Café has been such a hub for social gatherings, education, coffee tastings, and, of course, her coffee roasting. While she has a long list of certifications and achievements in coffee, she told me that she’s most proud of the trainings she offers to People of Determination, guiding them to enter the coffee industry with expertise and confidence.
10. Coffee Competitions are Popular and Growing in the UAE
The UAE hosts many national brewing competitions from Aeropress to Cup Tasters.
This weekend, at World of Coffee Dubai, several coffee competitions and a championship will take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
The 2026 national competitions include: UAE National Barista, Latte Art, and Roasting Championships.
Erika Koss & Sara Alkhoori at her roastery and café in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
In addition, WOC Dubai will hold the 2026 Cezve/Ibrik Championship. Produced in partnership with @dxblive , this championship will launch the 2026 World Coffee Championships season, celebrating one of coffee’s oldest brewing traditions in one of the world’s most dynamic coffee hubs.
The Cezve/Ibrik Championship invites competitors to prepare coffee in this centuries-old method while incorporating cultural expression, creativity, and technical skill. Each performance is a unique fusion of tradition and innovation, showcasing how coffee connects communities across borders. The Cezve/Ibrik Championship is more than a competition; it is a showcase of sensory mastery, technical skill, and artistic presentation.
How fitting that World of Coffee Dubai will honor one of the world's oldest brewing methods in the heart of a city built on the future!
To read more about Dubai as a Coffee Hub, download this report:
“THE FUTURE OF TRADE: SPECIAL COFFEE EDITION: A GLOBAL COMMODITY SHAPED BY CULTURE AND CLIMATE” published by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).
About the writer:
Erika Koss, PhD, is a writer, educator, and researcher who views coffee through the lens of two life-long passions: literature and human rights. She is an Authorized Specialty Coffee Trainer and a co-creator of SCA’s Coffee Sustainability curriculum. Her PhD from Saint Mary’s University in Canada focused on coffee's gendered gaps in Kenya; her "Gender and Coffee" course addresses this global issue. As the founder of “A World in Your Cup Consulting,” she seeks to advance sustainability, gender equity, and decolonization of the beverage crops through education and research. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Erika lives in Nairobi, Kenya, with her younger son.
Find Dr. Erika on IG: @AWorldinYourCup or subscribe to her free Substack newsletter: ErikaKoss.Substack.com