Eat & Stay
Best specialty coffee shops in Dubai (and where to work from)
For serious beans go to Al Quoz: Nightjar in Alserkal Avenue and RAW Coffee Company. To work from a cafe, Drop Coffee on Al Wasl Road, Southpour at City Walk or Lulu and the Beanstalk in DIFC. For a simple New York style coffee and a bagel, Circle Cafe.
For the best specialty coffee in Dubai, go to Al Quoz: Nightjar roasts inside Alserkal Avenue and RAW Coffee Company has been roasting a few streets away since 2007. To work from a cafe, Drop Coffee on Al Wasl Road, Southpour at City Walk and Lulu and the Beanstalk in DIFC are the three I would send you to. And if, like me, you mostly want a simple good coffee in a nice room with a bagel, Circle Cafe has been doing exactly that since 2003.
One honest note before the list. I am not a pour-over person. My coffee order is plain, and the room and the company matter as much as the beans. So I will tell you which places below are my own habit and which are the ones coffee-serious friends keep sending me to.
Where is the best specialty coffee in Dubai?
Al Quoz. It is the industrial district behind Sheikh Zayed Road where the roasters have the space to roast, and Alserkal Avenue sits in the middle of it.
- Nightjar Coffee Roasters, Warehouse G62, Alserkal Avenue. Roasts on site, does nitro cold brew on tap, and now serves food through to the evening. Industrial, loud, good. Pick this one if you want to taste why people fuss about beans.
- RAW Coffee Company, Al Quoz 1. One of the first specialty roasters in the UAE, started in 2007, with a brew bar where you can try different origins side by side and a coffee school on site. Direct-trade beans, and you can buy bags to take home.
- Tom and Serg, Al Quoz. The Australian-style warehouse cafe that put this area on the map a decade ago. As far as I can tell it is still going, but it has had a few chapters, so check it is open before you drive out.
I have not done the full Al Quoz crawl with a notebook. These three come up every time I ask someone who takes coffee more seriously than I do.
Which Dubai cafes are best for working from?
You want a table, a plug, wifi that holds a call and staff who do not hover.
- Drop Coffee, Dar Wasl Mall, Al Wasl Road (Al Safa 2). Not DIFC, which is where a lot of lists put it. Minimal and quiet, built for people working alone, so nobody feels they are overstaying. Emirati-founded and proudly third wave.
- Southpour, City Walk, Building 9. Dubai-born brand from the team behind Pickl, beans blended and roasted locally, indoor and outdoor seating and fast wifi. The outdoor tables are the draw from November to March.
- Lulu and the Beanstalk, ICD Brookfield Place, DIFC. A bookshop, cafe and bar in one, with a floor-to-ceiling wall of books and proper food if the day runs long. It is licensed and 21 and over, and the hours shift at the weekend, so check before you go.
- Circle Cafe, DIFC or Bay Square. Not a specialty roaster, but reliable, roomy and serving breakfast from early. A bagel and a flat white and you can sit for two hours.
What I actually drink: New York style, and a little retail therapy
In June 2026 I posted a day out from Ounass Stage with the caption "Coffee only if it's New York style, with this guy and a little retail therapy." That was the whole story: a simple coffee, a look round the Aime Leon Dore corner at Ounass Stage, and some shopping. For me a good coffee is a short, unfussy one in a room that makes you want to stay, and then you go and look at clothes.
That is why Circle Cafe is my easy answer when someone asks. It started in Dubai in 2003 because two mums could not find a proper New York bagel here and began shipping them in. The branches at Kite Beach, DIFC and Bay Square still have that bagel-first, sit-as-long-as-you-like feel.
Two more from my feed, for honesty. Forever Rose Cafe, in April 2026, is coffee where the room is the point, every surface roses, and the coffee is fine. Go for the photo, not the beans. And Bread Ahead at City Centre Mirdif, which I visited in April 2025, does a rich cappuccino and an iced matcha alongside the doughnuts, which makes it the best coffee stop in that mall.
On matcha, since everyone asks: I had my matcha era in spring 2025 with Caffe Nero's matcha range, and the iced strawberry matcha latte was the one I liked best. And the Costa drive-thru in Dubai Sports City, which I filmed in March 2025, is not specialty coffee at all. It is the coffee you get without leaving the car on a school-run morning, and there is a place for that too.
Disclosure: Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero and Bread Ahead invited me or worked with me on those posts, and Ounass is a brand I work with. My opinion is my own.
How much is a flat white in Dubai?
Roughly AED 20 to 30 at an independent specialty cafe at the time of writing, with single-origin filter a few dirhams more. Hotel lobbies, landmark cafes and the big malls push it to AED 35 to 45, and the view is what you are paying for. Al Quoz is usually the cheapest place to drink the best coffee, the opposite of how Dubai normally works.
My quick cafe cheat sheet
| Cafe | Area | Go for | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nightjar | Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz | On-site roasting, nitro cold brew | Tasting the difference |
| RAW Coffee Company | Al Quoz 1 | Brew bar, beans to take home | Coffee nerds |
| Tom and Serg | Al Quoz | Coffee and brunch | Weekend breakfast (check hours) |
| Drop Coffee | Al Wasl Road, Dar Wasl | Precise espresso, calm room | Working alone |
| Southpour | City Walk | Local roasts, outdoor seats | Working with a friend |
| Lulu and the Beanstalk | DIFC | Books, food, coffee | Long afternoons (21+) |
| Circle Cafe | Kite Beach, DIFC, Bay Square | New York bagels | Easy weekend coffee |
What I would skip
Paying AED 45 for a chain latte inside a mall when a Circle or a Drop is ten minutes away. Opening a laptop at a busy weekend brunch table, which is how cafes start banning laptops. Driving to Al Quoz at noon on a Saturday without checking hours, because hours in Al Quoz vary more than in the malls. And ordering matcha for the photo when you do not like matcha.
If you want to turn coffee into a whole evening, my favourite sharing-plates spots are in my guide to the best restaurants in Dubai for dinner with friends. And for the days when the cafe ritual needs to be lighter than a doughnut, my notes on healthy food in Dubai cover the cafes with a proper protein option.
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Written on , facts last checked on . Everything in this guide was accurate as of 11 October 2026. Prices, menus, opening hours and branches change often, so check with the place before you go.
