Coffee began in the highlands of Ethiopia, and Ethiopia is selling more of it than ever. In the 2024/25 fiscal year the country exported 468,967 tonnes of coffee worth USD 2.65 billion, a record, according to the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (Qahwa World, reporting ECTA figures). The government reported around USD 3 billion for 2025/26. Across the Red Sea, the UAE is one of the most coffee-hungry markets in the region and a trading hub for the beans of the world.
Most Ethiopian coffee still leaves as green beans, graded, bagged and priced by others. The margin that comes from roasting, branding and serving it stays with whoever does that work. For an Ethiopian or African founder, a UAE coffee business is a way to own more of that chain, from the cooperative that grows the cherry to the cup a customer buys in Dubai.
This guide looks at the UAE coffee market, the five business models, the licences and approvals each needs, direct sourcing from Ethiopia, the DMCC Coffee Centre, and how to build a brand on origin. For the wider export picture, read our guide for Ethiopian exporters looking at the UAE market.
The UAE coffee market in numbers
Hard national statistics are thinner than the market's reputation, so it is worth being precise about what is known.
- Imports. Around 50 million kilograms of green coffee were imported into the UAE in 2022, after years of rapid growth, and consumption was estimated at about 3.5 kg per person, according to industry figures presented in 2023 and reported by StoneX.
- Out of home. The same figures suggest that the great majority of UAE coffee is drunk outside the home, in cafés, offices, hotels and restaurants.
- The region. The Middle East and North Africa coffee market was projected at USD 11.5 billion in 2025, and the region's branded coffee shop market grew 11 percent in the previous year, according to Gulf News, reporting DMCC research.
- The trading hub. The DMCC Coffee Centre in Dubai handled over 8,200 tonnes of coffee in 2025 and grew to more than 300 active members (DMCC Annual Report 2025).
The shape of the market matters more than any single number. It is a café-led, premium-leaning market, with strong demand for specialty coffee and a steady supply chain running through Dubai.
Five ways into the business
Coffee is several businesses. Each has its own customers, capital needs and approvals, and most successful companies start with one or two and add the rest.
| Model | What you do | Main approvals to plan for |
|---|---|---|
| Green coffee import and trading | Buy green beans at origin and sell to roasters and traders in the UAE and beyond | Trading licence, import permit for agricultural goods, food import registration |
| Roastery | Roast, pack and sell under your own brand or for others | Production activity, municipality approval of premises, product and label registration |
| Café | Serve coffee and food to the public | Mainland licence, municipality layout and food establishment approvals |
| Branded retail | Sell packed coffee in supermarkets, online and through gift channels | Trading or e-commerce activity, product registration, Arabic labels |
| HORECA supply | Supply hotels, restaurants and cafés with beans, equipment and training | Trading activity, food registration, supplier approval by each client |
A common path for Ethiopian founders is to start with green coffee trading or contract roasting, build relationships with UAE buyers, and add a brand or a café once the supply chain is proven.
Licences and approvals
Coffee is food, and food in the UAE is regulated twice: once through the company licence and again through the products and premises.
The company
Your trade licence must carry activities that match the model, whether trading in coffee, roasting and packing, or operating a café. Trading and roasting businesses often start in a free zone. A café serving the public usually sits on the mainland, where the economic department and the municipality license the premises. Our guide to free zone and mainland covers the choice.
Imports
Green coffee is an agricultural product. The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment requires an import permit for agricultural consignments, obtained before the goods are shipped, and consignments of plant origin travel with a phytosanitary certificate from the exporting country. In Dubai, food items must be registered in Dubai Municipality's food import and re-export system, which holds more than 1.1 million registered food products, and only licensed food establishments can clear them.
Premises and labels
Dubai Municipality assesses the layout of food establishments before licensing and issues permits for food activities, so a café or roastery should involve the municipality at design stage, not after fit-out. Packed coffee sold in the UAE needs mandatory label information in Arabic, with English alongside if you wish.
Sourcing direct from Ethiopia
Ethiopia's coffee trade has opened up. For years, most coffee had to pass through the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange. Reforms from 2017 allowed trading outside the exchange, and cooperatives, private exporters and vertically integrated producers gained the right to export directly, keeping coffee traceable to its washing station or farm. ECTA has credited direct export rights for farmers as one of the drivers of the 2024/25 record.
For a UAE buyer, that means you can build relationships with named cooperatives, unions and exporters instead of buying anonymous lots. The discipline is in the detail: approved samples, clear grade and processing specifications, contracts that set quality and delivery terms, and payment through proper banking channels. Visit origin, cup with the people who grow the coffee, and document everything.
The value of Ethiopian coffee is not only in the bean. It is in the name of the place, the story of the people and the brand that carries both to the cup.
The DMCC Coffee Centre
The DMCC Coffee Centre is a dedicated coffee facility within DMCC in Dubai. It is a 15,000 square metre, temperature-controlled site with storage capacity for around 9,500 tonnes of green coffee. Its members can use services across the chain: warehousing and logistics, green coffee cleaning, roasting, packing and distribution, re-bagging and sample evaluation. It also houses cupping laboratories fitted to Specialty Coffee Association and Coffee Quality Institute standards, and an SCA Premier Training Campus.
In 2025 the Centre handled over 8,200 tonnes of coffee and held the first Dubai Coffee Auction at World of Coffee Dubai. For a trader, it offers a way to store green coffee in the right conditions close to buyers and to use contract roasting before investing in your own roaster. It is one option among several, and whether it suits you depends on your volumes, your customers and where your company is licensed.
Branding origin
Origin is the strongest asset an Ethiopian coffee brand has, and Ethiopia has fought to protect it. From the mid-2000s the country pursued trademarks for three of its best-known coffee names, Yirgacheffe, Harar and Sidamo, in key markets, and licensed them to foreign roasters and importers. The names have been registered in markets including the United States, the European Union, Canada and Japan, and Starbucks signed licensing agreements recognising Ethiopia's ownership of them (WIPO).
For a UAE brand, the lessons are practical. Name the region and the cooperative. Tell the story honestly. Register your own brand name and logo in the UAE before launch. Respect protected origin names and use them correctly. A brand that owns its story can price above commodity coffee, which is the whole point of moving from bean to cup.
How And Again Advisory helps
We work with Ethiopian and African founders in English and Amharic, from our offices in Meydan and Deira, through five stages: consultation, structure and pathway, formation, activation, and ongoing support.
- Structure. We match your model to the right activities and jurisdiction, and map the import, product and premises approvals it needs.
- Formation and activation. We coordinate the licence, visas, Emirates ID, the corporate bank account and tax registrations. Most of our clients are registered in two to three weeks.
- Buyers and partners. We introduce clients to buyers and partners in the UAE, and our UAE trade shows calendar lists the food and coffee events where they meet.
- Clear costs. Government fees are passed through at cost, with our fee on its own line. For a figure, use our cost estimator.
We coordinate authorities and licensed partners. Municipality and ministry approvals are issued by those authorities, not by us, and we do not give legal or tax advice.
Final thought: keep more of the cup
Ethiopia already supplies some of the finest coffee in the world. The UAE already drinks it, trades it and serves it in some of the world's best cafés. What is missing, too often, is an Ethiopian-owned company in the middle, roasting, branding and selling with the origin's name on the bag.
That company can be built properly: the right activities, the right approvals, direct relationships at origin and a brand that tells the truth. If you want to take Ethiopian coffee from bean to UAE cup, start with the structure and the supply chain, and the brand will have something solid to stand on.
