Something’s brewing in Dubai’s motorcycling haven

“I’ll have a flat white with skimmed milk, please.”

“No. What would you like?”

“I can’t have a skinny flat white?”

“No. You can have a flat white, but it’ll be the way it’s meant to be.”

In an instant, I get it. What I have just asked of the man who goes by the name of Dima is entirely off limits. He’s the resident head barista at Cafe Rider, the speciality coffee bar in Dubai that’s been making rather large waves recently just on the outskirts of the city’s Al Quoz industrial zone.

Cafe Rider celebrated only its first anniversary this month, and when you consider what an effect it’s had on the UAE’s motorcycling (and coffee) scene in the year it’s been open for business, you can’t help but be impressed.

When my flat white arrives (made with full-fat milk, naturally), I don’t just “get it” – I fully understand. This is coffee on another level from the chain outlets ubiquitous across the UAE and the world. It is, and I choose my words carefully here, utterly sublime. This is art in a cup. Dima takes his craft very seriously, and has been known to travel to exotic climes such as Panama to hand-pick the cherries himself – I love this sort of obsessive dedication in a world of ordinariness. You can see in the way he stares at the coffees as he pours them, that each one, to him, is a unique creation that should be treated with respect.

Dmitriy Grekhov, to give Dima his full name, won the 2014 UAE Barista Championship in November; next month, he’s heading to Seattle in the United States to represent this country in the world championships. You want the best coffee in town? This is it. The UAE Championship takes place over four days, and, according to the organising body, “involves each barista preparing four espressos, four cappuccinos and four original espresso-based signature beverages in a 15-minute performance, set to the music of their choice. As they ready their coffee beverages, contestants engage the audience, explaining their actions and selections, while expertly working on the espresso machine.”

That’s all well and good, you might remark, but what on earth does this have to do with motoring? That’s where the “Rider” in the cafe’s name comes in, and where things get really interesting for petrolheads. This place is a haven for bikers far and wide, and is proving instrumental in bringing back biking culture, where enthusiasts have the freedom to express themselves with two-wheeled machines that, like Dima’s coffee, can themselves be considered art.

Original article by Kevin Hackett

Continue reading at The National:

Something’s brewing in Dubai’s motorcycling haven