Video: How Honduran coffee makes the journey to the UAE

Over the last few years, Dubai has attempted to organise the coffee trade within the emirate. In 2019, officials launched the DMCC Coffee Centre – the first-of-its-kind in the Middle East – to transform Dubai into a global hub for coffee trade.

Last year, it expanded its coffee and tea centres with the aim to triple output and further boost Dubai’s trade with this commodity.

While coffee from nearly every producing region in the world eventually makes its way to Dubai, Honduran coffee is reputed globally specifically for its exceptional and unique flavours.

There are very few Honduran coffee suppliers in the UAE, and one of the leading ones is Jahani Trading.

Joshua Jahani, owner of Jahani Trading, says that the family owns coffee farms in Marcala, Honduras. He adds that his wife’s family has owned these farms for over three generations, and they are currently run by her 92-year-old grandmother.

“Honduran coffee’s flavour palette fits coffee expectations in the Arab world seamlessly. All of our coffee is grown at high altitude. The coffee is single origin and specialty,” adds Jahani.

“We have customers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Sweden, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the US, and all over the world. We decided to bring the coffee to MENA because of our deep network in the business community here. Our holding company clients and partners love coffee – and so do we. And we love doing business together, so its a perfect fit.”

Explaining the journey of the coffee from bean to cup, Jahani says that the beans are grown on trees and ripens into red fruits after which it is picked and sent to a processing plant that the family works with. It’s then dried, cleaned, washed and broken down into either a green bean which has a shelf life of just over a year, or it is roasted.

“The more people try our coffee, the higher the demand grows. People enjoy our coffee because it has very distinct notes of chocolate, malt and caramel.”

He acknowledges that the pandemic has had an effect on the demand for coffee, though he adds that there were never any issues in the company’s supply chain.

He also points out to the impact that the family business makes within the local community in Honduras. He reveals that in addition to developing an organic certification for the coffee land that it owns, they also have a number of sustainable development projects which ensure that the coffee is grown sustainably and with minimal impact on the environment.

“Our coffee goals are to simply keep providing high quality products at competitive prices around the world.”