Cafes are closed due to Covid-19. And, fans of specialty coffee are left stuck with home trying their hand at trends such as Dalgona Whipped Coffee. However, there are a few options to help you get good coffee in Qatar…
Order your coffee
International Chains:
Mokarabia Qatar
Caffe Vergnano Qatar You can also order coffee beans, ground coffee and coffee capsules as well. (We are personally fans of their coffee)
Soho Coffee Co Qatar
Paul Cafe They do serve a strong cup, probably the only late-night coffee that’s kept me awake.
Caribou Coffee Strong coffee here too but I am a fan of their hot chocolate as well, probably one of the best in Qatar.
Specialty Coffee shops:
FlatWhite Qatar Also has coffee beans and coffee tools available for delivery. Contact them on 3150-4191.
Gastronomy has queues of cars using the path in front of the cafe as a drive-thru.
Take your coffee to go
As of Thursday 14th of May 2020, Costa coffee and Starbucks branches that are not in malls have re-opened and allowing customers to order their coffee to go. This should make the majority of coffee consumers in Qatar smile. Although, if you are about to pick up your laptop or book and headed to these cafes to lounge with your favorite brew, you still need to hang in there as customers aren’t allowed to wait inside cafes.
Start making your own coffee
Most supermarkets in Qatar sell coffee, either whole beans or ground coffee. So as long as you’ve got your coffee maker, either a simple Moka or a massive all-in-one coffee machine, you should be okay.
Where else can you get coffee though?
Starbucks Coffee: A popular choice for Qatar, Starbucks Qatar offers coffee beans and drinkware. Don’t get startled by the Kuwaiti number for their WhatsApp. They deliver to you.
Cherry Beans are a local Roastery and is a wholesaler so you can get your speciality beans from them.
Nature’s Treasure is also a local roaster who you’d met at Torba Farmers market and can do delivery for orders above QAR 150.
Nomad.qa located in Msheireb downtown sell speciality coffee beans from Yemen ranging from QAR 60 to QAR 150 for 150g bag of coffee. Order through their instagram page.
%Arabica coffee is a cafe originating from Japan also located in Msheireb downtown sell beans ranging from QAR 45 to QAR 320, depending on origin and pack size.
Moka and Co. They are dealers of Kimbo Coffee in Qatar, order over WhatsApp and they will deliver the coffee to your location. They take card payments as well. We ordered some 3KG Kimbo beans and got free delivery within 24 hours. They can be contacted on 3372 1433.
Since we are talking about coffee beans, perhaps now’s a good time to invest in a decent coffee machine too, if you aren’t the Nespresso kind.
Just a side note:
Although I am still not very appreciative of the Nespresso coffee flavour, I have to admit that Nespresso Qatar has probably the best ecosystem for ensuring that your coffee experience is consistent. You can buy machines/capsules and service machines. Their machines are compact have elegant designs and very simple to use. You are also ensured your expected coffee every time as their variables (extract, flavour, strength) are all controlled. They also do deliveries and accept used capsules under their recycling program.
Delonghi home espresso machines start below QAR 800 but do require a bit of a learning curve.
There are also bean-to-cup machines, which will cost mostly above QAR 2000 but are simple to use almost like a Nespresso machine. However, they are bigger and heavier. There are currently these in stock with Lulu hypermarkets.
Hotcup and more: Dealers of Jura and Severin Coffee machines, they also sell Bristot and Cafe’s Richard coffee beans. If you’ve had coffee at Vapiano and Dean and David in Qatar, you would’ve tasted these coffees.
Less fussy are your pour-over coffee techniques. Monoprix Qatar has some V60 equipment with supplies to have your go at it.
Are you ready to become your own barista?