DMCC, a free zone in Dubai, has inaugurated the DMCC Coffee Centre, a 7,500m2 temperature-controlled facility that is said to be first of its kind in the Middle East.
The centre was inaugurated during Dubai’s Gulfood event, one of the world’s largest annual food and beverage trade exhibitions.
The centre will provide cost-effective logistical support and services that connect producers to buyers. Core services include warehousing, logistics, green coffee cleaning, contract roasting and packing, as well as more specialised offerings for re-bagging of green coffee, sample evaluation and training.
The centre also houses a coffee quality laboratory, cupping labs and a Specialty Coffee Association Premier Training Campus in addition to a range of commercial office space.
The new centre is expected to handle up to 20,000 tonnes of green coffee bean annually. It has three fully-outfitted cupping rooms fitted to SCA standards; a coffee quality laboratory; sample (Probat and Ikawa) and small batch (Diedrich) roasters and two Brambati production roasters.
“Dubai is uniquely positioned to serve the significant emerging markets trade corridor of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, and well connected to the coffee-producing regions of Africa, China, India, Latin America and South East Asia,” DMCC Executive Chairman Ahmed Bin Sulayem said in an announcement of the opening on Monday. “The DMCC Coffee Centre will connect international coffee traders with sophisticated logistics, and a host of value-add services, providing operational excellence to meet growing global demand. Until now, the region simply did not have the capacity, equipment or expertise to facilitate global coffee trade on this scale, and we look forward to seeing the impact of our Centre on the industry going forward.”
