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Granting a ‘Boon’

Coffee runs through Dubai’s veins. Orit Mohammed, Founder, Boon Coffee Roasters, takes pride in brewing coffee straight from its Ethiopian origins

About the company: It started with the idea that there was no coffee being directly imported from the origin to Dubai. Ethiopia being the closest country and one of the largest exporters in the world, it was a good opportunity to showcase good quality coffee. Ethiopian coffee was discovered first and all coffee today is related to it.

‘Boon’ means coffee in Harare and coffee beans in Arabic so it felt like the perfect name. We stay true to the roots of choosing high-grade coffee and working on a bespoke roast profile for each variety and each client. We also have direct relationships with farmers in Ethiopia so we know exactly where our coffee comes from.

The secret to great coffee: A good roast allows you to taste different notes in your coffee. It comes down to personal preference but if you have high-grade coffee, the flavour profile will be more complex.

Favourite blend: The first blend we did was the Premium and it’s still our best-selling coffee. However, single origins such as Guji and Kaffa have been doing extremely well. People in this region tend to like full body and less acidity when it comes to the flavour profile of their coffee and these varieties lend themselves to several different brewing methods.

Riding out the pandemic: Our online sales went up 300 per cent during the pandemic. There was a great community initiative to support local at that time and we have a great loyal customer base who backed us. That’s what led us to expanding into the café business.

The future: We’re always looking to showcase new crops that we discover. Our cafés are doing well but our core business remains B2B and we’ll continue working with brands that have supported us from the beginning.

Artisanal coffee is getting very popular, there’s definitely more demand for high-grade speciality coffee and people are more aware of the origins of what they’re consuming.

Advice to budding chefs: Be patient, it’s going to take time but if you work on your quality, things will work out. It won’t happen overnight. It seems like Boon was an overnight success but it’s been nine years of hard work, trial and error and some failures along the way, but all of that has led to where Boon is now.