A space at Kutubna Cultural Center.

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

Kutubna Cultural Center, Dubai’s newest independent bookstore and cultural centre, is hosting a multisensory coffee, art and writing experience on August 25. The event will be held alongside Kutubna’s current exhibit “One Hundred Years of Painting: Arab Art from 1916 to 2017”, featuring works by award-winning artists. August 25’s immersive experience will combine a guided tour of the art exhibition with a tasting of curated specialty coffee from around the world – followed by a creative writing workshop. Six paintings by Khaled Ben Slimane, Najat Makki and Ali Hassan, will be paired with nine types of specialty coffee sourced from Colombia, Uganda, El Salvador, Ethiopia and Brazil, roasted at Cazador Specialty Coffee Roastery. Cazador representatives will guide art and coffee lovers through the tasting, discussing the notes and flavours of each coffee, and how the flavours correspond to the colours and emotions evoked by each art piece.

Coffee aficionados, it must be noted, will use the “flavour wheel” to identify the taste of different coffees. The flavour wheel is categorised by colours - each colour evokes a different taste note. At the event, the colours in each painting are linked to different coffee flavours to create a multisensory experience (sight, smell, taste) for participants, as they look at the art while they savour the coffee flavours on their palates. Following the “tour with taste”, attendees will have the opportunity to join a writing workshop. The workshop offers a creative space where participants can reflect on the emotions stirred by the art and coffee, and explore their thoughts through writing.

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They will get an opportunity to express their creative side, channel their interpretation of the paintings combined with the coffee flavours, and write all that comes to mind in their favourite medium, be it poetry, prose, fiction, or nonfiction. Prompts will be provided, and aspiring writers of all levels are welcome to join. The sensory experience allows attendees to connect on a different level with the art on display and the coffee types that are paired with it. They can also interact with fellow art lovers, coffee enthusiasts and writers. “This is one way Kutubna aims to build community and create an inclusive space for cultural exchange and creative expression,” says the Center. The registration fee for the workshop is Dhs50.

  A guest looking at the artworks at Kutubna.

Khaled Ben Slimane is a Tunisian ceramicist, sculptor and painter who uses letters, words and Qur’anic verses to create art with spiritual elements. Using mainly the four primary colours – symbolising earth, fire, wind and water – his rough black brushstrokes and delicate spirals allow high freedom of expression through beauty and simplicity. Ben Slimane’s compositions contain light and air, allowing space for reflection and meditation. Ali Hassan is one of Qatar’s most celebrated artists, known for his semi-abstract mixed media compositions (watercolour, pencil and ceramic) artworks. He employs coloured paper as a medium, utilising oil paints, soft chalk and charcoal, to convey the vibrant colours and melancholic undertones of Egypt.

Najat Makki is one of the UAE’s most celebrated visual artists. She has received the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Government (2023) and the Emirates Appreciation Award (2015), among other honours. Makki’s works have been exhibited internationally, including at the Beijing International Biennial in 2016, ADMAF’s Portrait of a Nation (Abu Dhabi, 2016; Berlin, 2017); National Pavilion UAE, Venice Biennial (Italy, 2015), The Luxor International Symposium of Photography (Egypt, 2014), and the China International Sculpture Symposium (China, 2008). Colombia is home to the superior coffee bean, Arabica, and the country offers the perfect growing conditions for the Arabica bean. It is a source of national pride for all Colombian coffee farmers, and coffee growing is the largest source of rural employment in the country.

Uganda also produces Arabica coffees; they derive from the western slopes of massive Mount Elgon, near the border with Kenya. Coffees from this region are most frequently marketed as Bugisu, the name of the majority of the people who live in the region and grow the coffee, or as Sipi Falls, the name of a spectacular three-stage waterfall associated with the region. Coffee production in El Salvador fuels the Salvadoran economy and has shaped its history for more than a century. Coffee production in Ethiopia is a longstanding tradition and the country is where Coffea arabica, the coffee plant, originates. According to legend, the ninth century goat herder, Kaldi, in the region of Kaffa, discovered the coffee plant after noticing the energising effect the plant had on his flock.

After originating in Ethiopia, coffee was consumed as a beverage in Yemen. From Yemen it spread into Istanbul, Cairo and Damascus. The first coffee houses in Europe opened in Venice in 1645 and the first coffee house in the United States began in Boston in 1689. Brazil produces about a third of the world’s coffee, making the country by far the world’s largest producer. Kutubna Cultural Center was established in 2023 as an independent bookstore and literary hub for Dubai and the Gulf region. It celebrates the accomplishments of Khaleeji, Arab, Middle Eastern, North African, and Muslim writers, poets, thinkers, artists and researchers. This is done through lectures, readings, guided conversations, workshops, and similar activities for people of all ages, including the marginalised and mothers with young children. Cazador Specialty Coffee Roastery was established in 2022 as a micro home roastery. The wholesale supplier serves coffee beans to cafes, offices, hotels as well as online platforms.