Name of business owners: Abdulaziz Al Marzouqi – Abdalla Al Hammadi
Name of competing roaster: Abdulaziz Al Marzouqi
When did your roastery start? And, as the owner, why a coffee roastery?
Cazador Coffee started officially on October 2022, but our story started since January 2022 in World of Coffee Dubai in Dubai Exhibition Centre EXPO 2020. So myself, Abdulaziz, and Abdalla went to the event only to have fun and try some coffees, because we were having interest in specialty coffee and we were only home baristas who love to try new coffees. So while we were walking around the event and trying many coffees, we found one exceptional coffee from Colombia. It blew my mind! So I asked if they have roasted beans for home use, but unfortunately they had only green beans and here where the journey of exploring started, I took the green coffee blindly. It was in 12Kg bag which very big for home use so I was thinking to sell it online for home baristas, so I started to roast the coffee in many coffee roasters shop, but still didn’t taste the same cup which I tasted in WOC 2022, therefore I joined a SCA Roasting Course at Archers and bought a HP Roaster Machine.
Afterwards I started roasting the same coffee I had and cupping it day by day to find the same taste from the event and finding the best out of the coffee then started to sell the coffee online and getting the feedback from the community and the feedback was positive so I got motivated and brought coffees from different countries and roasted them to sell them for the community. I got more demand for the coffees and after some time the business grew so I contacted my cousin Abdalla who was with me from the beginning of this journey just because he was passionate about coffee. I invited Abdalla to partner with me to cover the weak areas of the business and he agreed.
We saw more growth in the business and decided to go for a bigger roaster machine which was GIESEN W6 to supply not only home baristas but also cafes, offices and hotels. And now we have a great team working together in the back store of the house in Abu Dhabi serving many coffee shops and other businesses.
Question for roaster: How did you learn to roast coffee?
Joined a SCA Roasting Course in Archers. I started roasting the coffees and cup them day by day with HP Roaster Machine with my team and getting customers feedbacks then improved the skills with the Giesen Roaster Machine experience and reached a great level in roasting
And what drew you to roasting as a profession?
It was by luck I was forced to by green coffee that blow my mind from Colombia Exotic Coffee and then I was trying to get the perfect taste by roasting.
What do you love most about the coffee roasting industry?
Challenges with other companies to get best of same coffee
In your opinion, is roasting more science or more art?
It is both science and art but in my opinion more in to science because if you don’t have the knowledge how the bean react while roasting and type of process of the beans it will be difficult to be an artist in roasting.
Was there a particular cup of coffee that changed the way you think about coffee?
Every sip of coffee will give different angle of thinking and different perspective and we are trying to discover new cup of coffees always
What is your focus as a roastery? Wholesale to cafes? Do you roast just for your own cafe? Sell online?
We are wholesale suppliers for cafes, offices, hotels as well as online platforms
May you please tell us a bit about your team? Who makes the wheels turn in your operation?
We are having a very strong team who are working united, work distributed effectively between team members, our head roaster and head of operation Mr. Abdulaziz Al Marzouqi
With all the different processing methods now available to roasters, is there a processing method that you enjoy working with? And why?
Natural process because it’s very smooth in roasting and the way it looks like after roasting as very clean and elegant.
How have you seen coffee culture in your region grow over the last few years?
The growth was very fast and still growing
Where are you located and can people come visit you?
In UAE in Abu Dhabi, all are welcome to visit us
What makes your roastery stand out in a booming industry?
Our united teamwork and continued improvement and innovation
