The Middle East’s growing thirst for specialty coffee

The cultural domination of the humble cup of coffee is showing no signs of relaxing its grasp on the Middle East’s hot beverage market.

The region represents 8 percent, or $6.5bn, of the $85bn spent on the drink globally and that is only growing. In the UAE, more than $544.5m was spent on coffee in 2015, a 10 percent rise on the previous year, according to the 2016 Euromonitor report on coffee in the UAE, published in April.

More than 19 billion tonnes of coffee was sold in the UAE last year, up 7 percent.

But with 2,200 new cafe licences issued in an already saturated food and beverage market in the past two years, even the most successful local vendors and suppliers cannot afford to be satisfied. Smart companies are boosting profits by identifying a growing number of consumers who demand quality over quantity, says one supplier.