Travel, whether near or far, has a way of expanding our horizons and helping us see the world through other people’s eyes, a very important skill and sorely lacking in today’s world. We were so welcomed by the coffee people of Muscat, and we were reminded of some valuable lessons on what makes a great café.
The traditional Omani shuwa at Rozna, mutton wrapped and slow baked in banana leaf and literally falling apart. And that fragrant spiced rice....Yum!
In the beautiful and iconic Cafe Rozna, we had a traditional meal, but made a cardinal error. We ordered coffee at the beginning! Our waitress looked at us quizzically. Not in a mean way, just like, 'these foreigners are so cute' way. Coffee is for after the delicious meal!
Which leads me into the first reminder of what makes a coffee experience great.
Bring people with you on the Journey
One of the great tools of social media is that people can get 'honest' insights into what happens building a café community or a new café (I enjoyed the GuMo process and their day to day is very sweet). But you know what's even more honest: being in the actual café. Things go wrong all the time and that's ok. People don't want things to be perfect. Mostly people just want to feel connected.
We sat in Kiram Roastery with civil engineer-turned-roaster, Nasser Al Marmaari. He has invested in his roasting equipment first and everything else will follow. We had a beautiful Sudan Rume from Colombia on a Hoop Brewer and in between the boxes and packing equipment, we talked about all the plans he has for the space. We left inspired by his dreams.
Brewing on the Hoop with Nasser!
Local is Lekker
Championing local flavours is such a beautiful way to express your coffee culture. And we see far too little of it. A Halwa Signature Beverage and a Date flat White were two of the most wonderful drinks I've had in recent memory. Not only because they were delicious, but because they come with whole histories and are so deeply rooted in a place.
Each place of course had a solid list of global favourites, but the local touches really made a difference.
Aesthetics are NOT everything
Contrary to what the visually over-stimulating world of social media would have us believe, great aesthetics do not guarantee a great experience. In fact, the opposite can sometimes be true. Doing something real and geeky makes the ultimate coffee experience memorable...like in Historia Cafe and Roastery, where we sat and roasted coffee samples (and figured stuff out!) and then drank the results with Mohammed Mousavi.
Roasting, brewing, and making memories at Historia, Muscat!
