Dubai: At the New Zealand Pavilion, you can sip on green coffee. What is non-green coffee, you ask? On your daily morning coffee run, you might fail to consider that 44 per cent of coffee bean farmers in Cameroon live below the poverty line or that 25 per cent of deforestation in Peru is linked to its production. Ethically sourced specialty coffee avoids all of the above, so you can enjoy your favourite drink without the weight of a guilty conscience at Expo 2020 Dubai.
The premium coffee will be supplied by the pavilion’s official partner Raw Coffee Company, a Dubai-based firm co-founded by New Zealanders Kim Thompson and Matt Toogood.
‘Kaitiakitanga’ means sustainable coffee
As obvious as this may sound, 'humans are part of the natural world'. The indigenous people of Maori in New Zealand have strived for this world view for centuries by appointing guardians of lakes and forests to care for the environment in their own holistic way.
Now a given Kiwi way of life, the concept of ‘kaitiakitanga’ even trickles right down to the coffee served at the Kiwi-style cafe in the New Zealand Pavilion.
“Expo 2020 Dubai presents a huge opportunity for New Zealand to reconnect on a global level and showcase brands such as Raw Coffee Company who epitomise our pavilion’s theme of Care for People and Place,” says Clayton Kimpton, New Zealand’s Commissioner General to Expo 2020 Dubai.
Where can you try the coffee?
‘Tiaki’, the pavilion’s designated restaurant named after the same principle of care and protection in Maori, will serve the organic coffee. The supply will also extend to business spaces and events planned across the six months.
“We will be supplying the New Zealand pavilion with a complete coffee solution; amazing fresh coffee, quality Italian espresso equipment, training their baristas and providing a head of coffee to ensure everything runs smoothly,” says Matt Toogood, Co-Owner and CEO of Raw Coffee Company.
What’s in the brew?
The organically certified coffee beans are sourced from farmers all over the world while ensuring their families are paid a sustainable living. Unlike commercial coffee, premium beans are roasted locally in small batches, and each link in the coffee value chain is traceable.
“We know that New Zealand is a small country with a population of just under 5 million, but they are a nation internationally recognized as coffee connoisseurs who know a good flat white when they see one,” says Kim Thompson, Co-Owner and Managing Director of Raw Coffee Company.
A flat white is an espresso-based coffee drink topped with two-thirds of micro-foamed milk, much like a strong latte. A topic highly debated, the flat white is typically claimed as a Kiwi-pioneered drink, perhaps this is why New Zealand has one of the highest numbers of roasters per capita in the world.
- The writer is an intern with Gulf News.
