Cafés in the United Arab Emirates Dubai

Gahwa: the mihmasa, the najr and the dallah

Gulf coffee starts over a fire. The beans are roasted slowly in a mihmasa (محماسة), a metal pan with a long iron handle, turned with two iron rods, then ground in a metal vessel called a najr (نجر).⁴ They are mixed with spices in a large pot, the qamqum or mubhar, before the coffee goes into the dallah (دلة) for serving.⁴ Dallahs are named for where they were made, such as Hasawi or Omani, and cardamom, saffron and cloves are the usual spices.⁴

The host pours standing, dallah in the left hand and cup offered with the right, and does not sit until every guest has finished.⁴ A cup that tastes burned has to be replaced at once; the guest's complaint is qahwatak sayda (قهوتك صايدة), "your coffee is spoiled".⁴ The pot is on the money too: the 1-dirham coin has shown a dallah since 1973.⁶

The majlis, where gahwa is served

In the majlis, neighbors discuss local affairs, share news, receive guests, settle disputes, pay condolences and hold wedding receptions.⁵ UNESCO's file describes large carpeted rooms with cushions along the walls, and a hearth or stove kept going so the host can brew coffee for whoever arrives.⁵

The space is open to all, and women hold majlis of their own. Children learn its manners by going along with adults and watching the elders, who also pass on folk stories and Nabati poetry there.⁵

Jebel Ali and the green-coffee trade

The Emirates handle coffee long before it reaches a cup. The DMCC Coffee Centre operates in the Jebel Ali Free Zone under a DMCC licence, with temperature-controlled storage for 9,500 tonnes of green coffee, which DMCC calls a first for the Middle East.⁷ It cleans, de-stones, blends and re-bags beans, roasts from 50 g samples upward, and runs barista training and Q Grader cupping.⁷

Roasting and training are now part of the business, not only storage. Nandini Roy Choudhury of the consultancy Future Market Insights told the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal in December 2025 that the country "now adds value through roasting, training, and re-export, rather than just importing beans".⁸

From cafeteria to specialty bar

Café numbers keep rising. At the end of 2018 Dubai had 11,813 restaurants and cafés in operation, up 9.7% in a year, and 468 new cafés opened that year, against 410 in 2017.⁹ By late 2025 the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal put the emirate at more than 4,000 coffee shops and specialty cafés.⁸

Record bean prices have not emptied them. Kona Haque, head of commodities research at the trading house ED&F Man, told Gulf News in December 2025 that drinkers had "not necessarily been cutting back" but trading down.² Across the region, the branded coffee-shop market grew 11% in a year, according to Shoug Bin Redha, director of World of Coffee Dubai.⁸

Dubai, on both sides of the creek

Dubai puts the whole range within a short drive: heritage cafés and cafeterias in the old districts by the creek, roasters among the Al Quoz warehouses, and terraces along the Jumeirah coast. In 2018 the Bur Dubai licensing sector, west of the creek, had 7,312 restaurants and cafés in operation, and Deira, on the north bank, had 4,457.⁹