I recall a few years back, pre-pandemic, when I read that there were a few restaurants opening in Dubai on a weekly or perhaps a monthly basis. It seems the coffee shop entrepreneurs or what I like to call the coffeepreneurs didn’t want to be left behind…. Enter a new coffee concept, Q-LAB, located in Jumeriah.
Now to be honest, Q-Lab is not a new coffee shop as such but more a new concept born out of the company DXB Blends (DXB is the acronym for Dubai airport, just like you have LHR for London Heathrow Airport). In short, DXB blends have been around in Dubai for a few years, and I first heard of them when I moved to Dubai 3 years ago. I must confess, although I had only been once, I was never tempted to visit any of their shops until now, when I saw another Dubai coffee nerd duo post about them. Intrigued, I arranged for my friends and I to have our regular Saturday morning coffee meet up there.
In short, Q-Lab will be the new hub of DXB Blends, where their roastery will roast coffee and prepare blends for their other outlets, with a stronger focus on quality, so the coffee on offer at Q-Lab will be a higher specialty coffee offering. As you enter the coffee hub, there are lots of chairs, with the roastery on the right-hand side.
As you walk further in, you will be greeted by a friendly Barista, Ace (I told him that with a name like that, he will have to ace it every time he brews coffee…pressure) – we chatted coffee for several minutes as I got there ahead of my friends. Ace has been working in coffee for over 5 years and hails from the Philippines, but he shared with me his desire to keep learning about coffee so that he can compete for the national barista championships and perhaps more. He even has a tattoo on his hand with the Hario V60 and coffee beans.
Pleased to see the Mod Bar, I opted for the espresso blend for my cortado as the description hinted of Brazil.
My friend, Naveed opted for an Ethiopian and got a beautifully poured unicorn latte art… hmmmm! I thought because this was Ace fave coffee.
Walking around, you will see their coffee on display in different sizes of the standard 250g and a smaller version at 100g. I think they do this because they have some expensive lots, and it might be easier on your pocket to try a 100g coffee. As I walked around, a Yemeni Lot 22100 with notes of cacao nibs, dried figs and vanilla caught my attention.
So, after downing my cortado, followed with some conversation, I knew that I had to try this special coffee brewed on a Hario V60, who wouldn’t?
I shared it with Naveed and it was definitely worth AED55 ($15) – their normal price for filter brews are AED30. I picked up dried fruits, hints of light cacao and vanilla spice, yum.
As we were leaving, the staff gave me a complementary 100g bag of a Colombian Anaerobic Java coffee, so kind.
Q Lab are located at 118 Al Hadiqa Rd – Al Safa – Al Safa 1 – Dubai.
I plan to revisit as they will soon be offering breakfast and lunch too.
