Specialty coffee takes Jeddah by storm

Owners of Warm and Frosty Café Khaled Ismail, left, and Mohammad Al-Kaf.

Are you tired of the sugary, milky coffee that is available from all the usual international chains in Saudi Arabia? If so, perhaps you should sample specialty coffee, where the preparation process is essential to the improved taste and flavor of the final product.
In the world of specialty coffee, purists need to grind their own coffee beans each time they brew a new batch. They are careful to achieve just the right temperature of water to pour over the coffee grounds, and worry about the origin of their beans. And not only that, to achieve that perfect cup of brew there is a slew of new gadgets and machines to help you.
There are currently only four such specialty coffee shops in Jeddah. One of them is the Warm and Frosty Café in the Al-Zahra’a district. Founded by two Saudi friends, Mohammad Al-Kaf and Khaled Ismail, the café had its soft opening in March, and the partners hope to have a grand opening in January 2017.
“We discovered specialty coffee around two years ago,” Khaled says. “I watched videos on YouTube channels to learn about it and then I read a book about it published by a famous coffee shop in Seattle, Washington, called Blue Bottle,” he added.
According to Mohammad, the first specialty coffee shops appeared in Riyadh and then arrived in Jeddah. “We are the second such type of coffee shop here in Jeddah,” he said. “We noticed that the taste for specialty coffee is growing among Saudis, and that people cannot go back to drinking regular coffee once they’ve tried specialty coffee.”
Apart from Warm and Frosty, there is Medd Café and Roastery, Brew 92, and Cup and Couch in Jeddah.
The two Warm and Frosty Café partners believe that specialty coffee is the third big wave in the world of coffee. The first wave was when coffee was first introduced into Europe in the late 1500s after the original plant was exported from Ethiopia to Yemen, and then spread to the Ottomans in Istanbul and then onwards to Europe. The second wave was the introduction of the first espresso machine in 1884.
On sale in their shop are various machines and gadgets that help one achieve great tasting coffee at home. From the glass Chemex brewing system, to the hand-pushed Aero-Press contraption, to the Bonavita electric coffee maker, all provide different methods of coffee preparation. There is even a glass coffee maker for producing cold-brew coffee using just coffee grounds and ice water. The whole process takes around five hours, so it’s definitely not for those in a hurry!
Using the right temperature of water to brew coffee is very important according to the partners, as this will avoid the bitter taste that occurs when very hot water is used.
Warm and Frosty carries five different types of coffee beans for drinking and that one can also buy to take home: A Colombian bean that has chocolaty notes; a Mexican bean that is citrusy; an Ethiopian bean with raspberry notes; another Ethiopian bean that has lime and jasmine notes, and a Kenyan bean that has floral notes. Their beans are not cheap, retailing for SR80 for 250 grams. But the partners justify charging so much as they say their beans are bought through direct trade, which means the coffee producers receive more for their produce.
“Direct trade is even better than fair trade, as there are fewer middlemen involved in the sale of the coffee beans, and the farmers receive more money for their produce,” explained Khaled.
The partners met while studying business marketing at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in the Eastern Province, and want to add a roasting machine to their premises so that they can roast their own coffee beans. Mohammad is the general manager handling the business side of things, while Khaled is the hands-on operations manager who prepares coffees for customers and discusses the many coffee-making techniques with interested clients.
“We are planning to add additional seating on our second floor in the near future, and we want to personally visit the farms from which we source our beans,” said Mohammad, who added that it took them eight months of searching before they found their current location.
Despite being right next to a large coffee shop from a local chain, both the partners are optimistic that they will survive and grow. “The owner of our building is going to put a large sign on the roof with the names of all the shops here, so we will be easy to find,” said Mohammad.

— Warm and Frosty Café, 4036 Hilmi Kutbi Street, Al-Zahra’a District, Unit No. 16, Jeddah. Tel. [phone], open from 6:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sat-Thurs., and 4:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays.