Towards the end of last year, I was invited to be a keynote speaker at a cancer conference in Abu Dhabi and upon having the hotel booking confirmed by the organizers I knew had two other pertinent tasks to fulfil – ask my fellow coffee nerd, Naveed where to get good specialty coffee and pray that it was near the hotel. You’ll be happy to know, at least for me, that these two tasks were delightfully met as Naveed recommended Hermosoand my hotel was located about 8 minutes away by taxi.
So, on the last day before we headed back to Dubai, I popped over to Hermoso coffee roasters.
It was a bit quiet when I visited on a Sunday morning but I think that’s normal for a city Iike Abu Dhabi, which seems to come alive in the late afternoon/night. Another challenge I discovered with this city is that it is very spread out, unlike Dubai. In Dubai you can almost get to any good coffee spot or restaurant within a 15 minutes’ drive, so whilst Hermoso is located near to the Cornice area and some top hotels, many other spots were like about 30 minutes away, so not close at all to my hotel.
Upon entering through the side of the café, you are met with a cove of coffee to choose from including merchandise, as you move further into the coffee shop towards your left, you will see their brew bar decked with a La Marzocco Strada for their espresso machine and a brew bar with lots of Hario V60s as well as other gadgets like their cold drip system.
I popped upstairs briefly to see their soon to be finished coffee brewing school, where they plan to host events in the future. I learnt too that they partner with coffee supremo Costas of Sweden who mentors them on their coffee roasting style and visits them occasionally to ensure quality – great. Their roastery section is in full display in the main area of the café, where they use American made Loring – I liked the idea of using the coffee tasting wheel as décor just above the roastery.
I was greeted by a bunch of friendly staff and a barista, Rico, hailing from Burma. After a few questions around their coffee offerings, he offered that I try one of their unique espresso blends for my flat white.
After enjoying this, I walked around and took some shots and a video for my Instagram reel, see below
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Rico kindly offered me, not one but two different cups of their cold brews to try.
I was of course tempted to buy coffee and opted for a Yemeni Hajjah Anaerobic coffee for filter brewing at home and one of their espresso blends, which I enjoyed later upon my return to Dubai.
So, if you visit AD and happen to stay near the Cornice area, where the tallest hotel in Abu Dhabi is, the Conrad, or the Grand Hyatt of the famous Mandarin Oriental Emirates Palace, as well as the Edition, which is next door, I encourage you to visit Hermoso for your specialty coffee fix, pick a few bags and have breakfast, lunch or dinner if you are hungry too.
Hermoso are located at 57 al Quffal Street in al Bateen.
