Museums · Era late 1800s
Coffee Museum
Inside a restored two-storey family house deep in Al Fahidi's lanes, the Coffee Museum traces the long journey of the bean from the highlands of Ethiopia and Yemen to the majlis of the Gulf. Opened in 2014 by Emirati collector Khalid Al Mulla, it gathers antique roasters, grinders, dallah pots and manuscripts from across the world, while the scent of gahwa roasting over coals drifts through the courtyard — an open invitation to sit, sip and listen.
A House That Smells of Roasted Coffee
In a district built by merchants, it feels right that one of its most beloved houses now holds a trader's obsession. The Coffee Museum opened in October 2014 as the first museum of its kind in the Middle East — the personal project of Emirati coffee trader Khalid Al Mulla, who spent years gathering grinders, roasters and pots from around the world before giving them a home in this two-storey heritage house.
Step inside and the air itself changes: somewhere in the building, beans are almost always being roasted. The rooms unfold like chapters in a long friendship between people and the bean. Brass dallahs — the long-spouted Arabian coffee pots — stand in polished rows. A corner is set aside for the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, with its round clay jebena pots, honouring the land where the story of coffee begins. Antique European grinders and roasters share shelves with sacks, scoops and cups from Yemen, Egypt, the Levant and beyond.
The heart of the house is a restored majlis, laid with carpets and cushions, where Gulf coffee culture comes alive. Here, gahwa is not really a drink; it is a ritual of welcome — lightly roasted, scented with cardamom, poured from the dallah into small handleless cups, always with the right hand.
Come curious and leave caffeinated: this is a museum you can smell and taste, not just look at.