It all started when a group of coffee lovers decided to do something about their passion for the hot beverage. Their caffeine drive pushed them to specialize in different aspects of coffee making as they opened their own organic roastery and cafe in Jeddah.
The cafe aims at introducing local coffee connoisseurs to international specialty concepts prepared by Saudi baristas.
As soon as you walk in, you can smell the delicate aroma of coffee, it is the scent of perfectly roasted coffee beans, which are roasted in house. Medd’s coffee beans are sourced from organic farms that are involved in fair trade and are on high altitudes because the higher the altitude, the better the coffee. This is good news because the first criteria of good coffee is its aroma, which will tell you a great deal about the coffee’s freshness and flavor. Medd Café and Roastery’s standards are strict when it comes to the quality of their beans. The beans they roast and serve are organic, fair traded, and direct traded.
My favorite of all is the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. It is handpicked on farms on high mountains above the town of Sidamo in southern Ethiopia. It is known to be the birthplace of coffee. This coffee has a light to medium body with a full fruity and citrusy flavor. Medd Café and Roastery uses different specialty brewing methods to cater to every customer’s needs. These coffee methods are devised by Medd Café and Roastery’s qualified in-house Saudi baristas, who are trained to produce smooth, stable and aromatic coffee. You will enjoy the coffee’s pleasingly crisp taste of acidity down to the last sip.
Medd Café and Roastery supports local artists by giving them a medium and space to showcase their art in a creative environment. Most of the art here is for sale, some of which showcases artists who haven’t had a platform to debut until now. The art collection at Medd Café and Roastery is a combination of different arts, calligraphy, photography, print on canvas, contemporary, graffiti, abstract, and oil paintings. Medd Café and Roastery’s support to native entrepreneurs is not limited to the art scene. All catering is provided by small local businesses, some of which have a full female kitchen. Their food is delivered fresh twice a day, and contains no chemical additives or preservatives. The selection also includes gluten, sugar, and dairy free options.
The local cafe provides their baristas a platform to experiment with different recipes and come up with their own coffee versions, which are then sold at Medd. Barista Mohammed Omar Kamel designed a drink that is a beautiful combination between warm foam and cold coffee.
The drink was inspired by his fellow baristas at Medd Café and Roastery, he was seeking a chance to serve a good quality micro foam that does not interfere with the cultural understating that coffee should be steaming hot. Therefore, Kamel decided to add this warm froth to a cold drink so the base can be a cold coffee topped with smooth micro foam with the fat in the milk stretched properly to show the natural caramel feel of the drink’s froth to pass through the froth before drinking it, catching the sweet flavors from the froth and mixing it with the coffee notes to be combined in a perfect ratio for the customer before sipping it.
Kamel named this creation Cappo Devi. Cappo is taken from the famous cappuccino drink to reflect the ratio of the foam to the drink. Devi means something beautiful by itself without the need to add anything to make it beautiful.
It took Mohammed Faisal Hashani, another Medd Café and Roastery barista, three months to come up with his own coffee invention. His fist trial included experimenting with iced cappuccino, which to him was not very distinct; it was very similar to the iced latte with less volume. Still that didn’t stop him as he tried different types of milk — hot, cold, with more froth or less froth, and wet foam or dry foam. “I began with icing hot coffee. Then I came across cold brewed coffee and I realized it could be my base. I added milk to it,” said Hashani.
“There was my creation and my effort paid off. It was an amazing experience and I wanted everyone to try it,” he added.
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How to make your own iceberg drink:
Ingredients:
• Cold brewed coffee
• Ice cubes
• Dry foam (use steam wand)
Equipment:
• 8 ounce cup (clear cup recommended)
• Steam wand
• Foam knife/spoon
• Milk pitcher
- Place four ice cubes in an eight ounce cup (If cold brew is pre-cooled use two ice cubes).
- Add cold brew (medium body and fruit notes are recommended) until ice and cold brew are six ounce.
- Froth milk in an 18 ounce pitcher (texture should not be very dry).
- Scoop two ounces foam using foam knife/spoon.
- Enjoy the extravagant sensation and extraordinary texture of the drink.
How to make your own Cappo Devi
What you need and how to perfect it:
• Ice espresso (single or double shot espresso mixed with 2 or 3 cubes of ice to cool the espresso and not let it mix with too much water when the ice turns into water) — Half a third of the cup
• Cold milk (preferably full fat) — Two third of the cup
• Steamed milk (110F-115F) just to get the micro foam — Half a third on top of the cup
Note: This drink is preferably served in a cold glass cup.
— Medd Café and Roastery offers more than just a good cup of coffee, it offers a hub for the creative community to come up with thoughts and ideas or simply play board games. If you are in Jeddah, make sure to visitMedd Café and Roastery.
Photos by: Roberta Fedele
