RAW Coffee Company

RAW Coffee Company traces back to 2007, when co-founder Kim — a longtime Dubai resident holding a New Zealand passport — spotted a gap in the emirate's coffee scene and started roasting. Matt joined a couple of years later, and the two became equal partners, growing the business on their own investment rather than outside funding, an approach that later earned them entrepreneurial golden visas and recognition within the UAE's food and beverage sector. Every bag is still roasted at RAW's own warehouse in Al Quoz, which the founders describe as the heart of the operation, and the company deals directly with growers at origin rather than through anonymous supply chains, prioritizing traceability and fair pricing. The Al Quoz café runs daily from 7:30am to 6pm, pouring the roastery's own signature blends: the Ritual Coffee Blend, the Working Coffee Blend, the Black Tie Coffee Blend, and the LBD Coffee Blend. It amounts to a rare model in the region — a specialty coffee business built slowly by two people rather than franchised or investor-driven, with direct-trade relationships and warehouse roasting standing in for a corporate supply chain. For visitors, RAW offers Dubai's coffee culture as its founders actually built it, one blend and one grower relationship at a time.