Rejoice, our fellow coffee lovers! The Dubai coffee scene is as busy as ever and we are lucky to be able to try new specialty coffee boutiques. We are pleased to be presenting to you three new (but tried and tested) coffee places that opened in Dubai earlier this year. One of these coffee boutiques is less than a month old!
See’s Candies, Dubai Mall
Let’s start with the newest addition to the coffee scene at the Dubai Mall, See’s Candies & Café that opened just over 3 weeks ago end of last month. See’s Candies was founded in 1921 by a mother and son duo, Mary and Charles See, in Los Angeles, which means that the brand is celebrating its 100 years anniversary this year. To celebrate this milestone, See’s Candies opened its first-ever café in the Star Atrium of the Dubai Mall in late February 2021.
While coffee is not the focus of the brand as See’s Candies specialises in sweets as the name suggests, their signature coffee Toffeeccino at the newly opened café looked so tempting that I just had to try it. This signature coffee drink contains specialty coffee beans and See’s famous Toffee-ettes. This coffee comes with a Toffee-ette to make your experience even sweeter. If you have a sweet tooth and want to treat yourself I definitely recommend you should give Toffeeccino a try!
The décor at See’s Candies is in an iconic black and white colour scheme inspired by Mary’s kitchen. If you are wondering why there is a white motorcycle in the window display, it has a special significance as delivery service in LA started with a See’s motorcycle.
Locus Café, City Walk
Locus is a specialty coffee shop from Kuwait and its first ever location in Dubai opened in January this year.
The choice of beans is truly impressive – you can choose from 17 varieties from the beans menu. They all sound amazing so it took me some time to make my choice but eventually I settled on Honduras El Colibri. It is described as a coffee with a bold fruity aroma with flavour notes of dark cherry and baked plum. I must say this coffee was exquisite and I could definitely taste the dark cherry and plum notes so I highly recommend trying Honduras El Colibri.
I have also tried Ethiopian Hambela beans and they were very nice too with notes of strawberries, orange, passion fruit and chocolate.
Ten11, Dubai Mall
This coffee boutique has been around since 2019 with branches in other emirates, including Abu Dhabi, but its first boutique in Dubai opened just a couple of months ago in early January.
Ten11 offers a good choice of specialty beans and they also sell coffee beans to take home. My favourite beans out of the ones I have tried so far are Ethiopian Halu Beriti with nectarine and mango notes. Delicious!
Ten11 is the only coffee boutique from this list that has a presence in other emirates so if you are based in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah or Ras Al Khaima you can enjoy Ten11 coffee in those locations too. They have just opened their second location in Abu Dhabi – Mamsha Al Saadiyat – featuring their new branch concept Ten11 Beach. I’m definitely popping by when I’m in Abu Dhabi next.
In conclusion, all three coffee places are highly recommended. Therefore, it is no surprise that they are very popular and tend to get busy, especially on weekends. If you’d prefer to visit during quieter hours, mornings or early afternoons on weekdays are best.
