Slow bar · Al Fahidi, by the Creek

Good coffee waits for no one. We wait for it.

القهوة الجيدة لا تنتظر أحدًا. نحن ننتظرها.

By the Creek
Close to a hundred years old.
Sandstone and coral, built around a quiet courtyard. A pearl merchant's family lived here. Now it is SABR.
Al Fahidi
In the lanes of the old quarter.
Look for the saffron door with the hourglass sign. Slow down. You're here.
07:00
Stay as long as you like.
Doors open every day at 07:00. It smells of coffee, and nobody is in a hurry.
Thursday 05:30
Roasted forty steps from your cup.
Mariam starts the drum in the old majlis while the lanes are cool and the abras are still tied up at the Creek.
Slow bar
Poured in slow circles.
The heart of SABR. Brewed by hand at the long counter in the courtyard, over three minutes. Bright, clear and almost tea-like.

Patience, poured.

الصبر، في فنجان.

Specialty slow-bar coffee in a restored courtyard house in Al Fahidi, by the Creek. Roasted every Thursday. Brewed by hand, one cup at a time. Stay as long as you like.

See the menu Order ahead

ThursdayRoast day, from 05:30
07:00Doors open, every day
4 minOn foot from the Bur Dubai abra

On the bar this weekEthiopia Guji HambelaColombia Huila Pink BourbonYemen Haraz MattariKarak until midnight on FridaysFresh khameer from 07:00 On the bar this weekEthiopia Guji HambelaColombia Huila Pink BourbonYemen Haraz MattariKarak until midnight on FridaysFresh khameer from 07:00 On the bar this weekEthiopia Guji HambelaColombia Huila Pink BourbonYemen Haraz MattariKarak until midnight on FridaysFresh khameer from 07:00

What we believe

Sabr means patience. We built a coffee bar around it. Nothing here is rushed. Small batches. Long mornings. Coffee that tastes of where it grew, poured by people who remember your name.

Mariam and Yousef, who started SABR in 2021

01Roasted forty steps from your cup, in the old majlis at the back of the courtyard.
02Green beans bought by name, from farms in Ethiopia, Colombia and Yemen that we visit.
03Milk from Al Ain. Dates from Liwa. Bread from a khameer baker two lanes away.

Espresso bar

Fahidi No.1, our house blend, pulled on a two-group lever machine. Ask for today's single origin instead, +4.

AED21

Flat white

Double ristretto under thin, silky milk in a 6 oz cup. The one the team drinks on every break.

Oat +3
Extra shot +4
Decaf, no charge

Espresso
AED14
A double shot of Fahidi No.1. Dark chocolate, dried fig, a clean finish. Served with sparkling water.
- Single origin +4
- Extra shot +4
Macchiato
AED16
Double espresso marked with a spoonful of foam. Short and sharp.
- Oat +3
- Extra shot +4
Cortado
AED18
Equal parts espresso and warm milk in a glass. Small, strong and honest.
- Oat +3
- Extra shot +4
Latte
AED22
Bigger and softer, 10 oz. Good with a slice of date cake and nowhere to be.
- Oat +3
- Extra shot +4
- Iced, no charge
Long black
AED17
Hot water first, double shot on top, so the crema stays put.
- Iced, no charge
- Extra shot +4

Slow bar

The heart of SABR. Brewed by hand at the long counter in the courtyard. Pick a method, then pick a coffee from this month's rotation.

AED28

V60 pour over

Poured in slow circles over three minutes. Bright, clear and almost tea-like. Our favourite way to meet a new coffee.

Hot or iced
300 ml

Chemex for two
AED48
A thick paper filter and a slow draw down. Round, sweet and made for sharing in the courtyard.
- 600 ml
- Serves two
AeroPress
AED26
Short steep, firm press. More body than a pour over, still very clean.
- Hot or iced
- 250 ml
Single-origin rotation
from+0
Three coffees at a time, changed when a lot runs out. Any of them works with any method above.
- Ethiopia Guji HambelaWashed. Jasmine, white peach, bergamot.+0
- Colombia Huila Pink BourbonHoney. Red grape, panela, cherry.+4
- Yemen Haraz MattariNatural. Dried apricot, cacao, warm spice.+12

Signatures

Old Dubai flavours, new habits. Each one started as a staff drink and refused to leave.

AED26

Iced saffron latte

Saffron steeped overnight in cold milk, a double shot poured over ice, a little rose sugar. Gold in a glass.

Oat +3
Less sweet

Cardamom cortado
AED22
Green cardamom ground to order and stirred into the shot before the milk goes in. Warm, floral, gone in four sips.
- Oat +3
- Extra shot +4
Date-syrup cold brew
AED25
Steeped for 18 hours, sweetened with our own Khalas date syrup. Toffee and dark cherry, very easy in August.
- Black or white
- Oat +3
Loomi tonic
AED24
Espresso over tonic with dried black lime and a twist of orange. Sour, bitter, bright.
- Decaf, no charge
Rose & pistachio latte
AED26
House pistachio cream, a drop of Taif rose water, double espresso. Hot or iced.
- Oat +3
- Iced, no charge

Tea & local

The drinks this neighbourhood ran on long before espresso arrived. Made the way our grandmothers would accept.

AED9

Karak

Assam boiled with evaporated milk, cardamom and saffron until it turns the colour of the walls outside.

Regular or strong

A brass dallah pouring Arabic qahwa into a small finjan, with dates

AED18

Qahwa with dates

Lightly roasted beans with cardamom and a little saffron, poured into finjan cups at your table. Three Khalas dates alongside.

Dallah for two 32

Saffron karak
AED12
Our karak with twice the saffron and a spoon of condensed milk. A Friday night thing.
- Sugar on the side
Loomi iced tea
AED16
Black tea brewed with dried lime and fresh mint, poured long over ice.
- Honey or no sugar
Fresh mint tea
AED12
A pot of green tea and a fistful of mint. Pour it high.
- Pot for two 20

Food

Baked in our small oven each morning, plus bread from the khameer baker in the next lane. Breakfast until 13:00, cake until it's gone.

A slice of sticky date and cardamom cake on a stone plate

AED24

Date & cardamom cake

Medjool dates, brown butter and fresh cardamom, with a crackly sugar top. Best warm, with a cortado.

Warmed
Clotted cream +6

Khameer toastie
AED34
Soft Emirati khameer pressed with halloumi, za'atar, tomato and a smear of date chutney.
- Add egg +5
- Gluten-free bread +4
Chebab pancakes
AED32
Three saffron and cardamom pancakes, cream cheese and a pour of date syrup. Until 13:00.
- Add berries +6
Balaleet bowl
AED30
Sweet saffron vermicelli under a thin cardamom omelette. Sweet and savoury, very old Dubai.
- Vegetarian
Luqaimat
AED22
Six little dumplings, crisp outside and soft inside, rolled in date syrup and toasted sesame.
- Made to order
Cardamom bun
AED18
Knotted, buttery, sticky with sugar. Out of the oven at 08:00.
- Warmed

Beans to take home

Roasted on Thursday, at their best from Sunday. Whole bean or ground for your brewer, free.

Rest, then brew.

Fresh beans need about three days to settle. Ours are dated, so you always know.
Bring back your SABR bag for a refill and we take AED 10 off.
Not sure? Tell us how you brew and we'll pour you a taster first.

Fahidi No.1
Our house espresso. Brazil and Ethiopia. Chocolate, fig and toasted hazelnut. Brilliant with milk.
Ethiopia Guji Hambela
Washed, high grown. Jasmine, white peach and bergamot. A filter coffee that smells like a garden.
Colombia Huila Pink Bourbon
Honey process. Red grape, panela and cherry. Juicy as a V60, wild as an espresso.
Yemen Haraz Mattari
Natural, dried on rooftops in the Haraz mountains. Dried apricot, cacao and warm spice. Small lot, big character.
Creek Decaf
Colombian, decaffeinated with sugarcane. Milk chocolate and brown sugar. Sleep fine, taste everything.

Thursdaysmells likethis.

هكذا تفوح رائحة الخميس.

This house is close to a hundred years old. Sandstone and coral, built around a quiet courtyard. A pearl merchant's family lived here. Now it is SABR. It smells of coffee, and nobody is in a hurry.

Mariam Al Suwaidi roasts in the old majlis at the back. She starts at 05:30 on Thursdays, while the lanes are cool and the abras are still tied up at the Creek. By the time the first customers arrive, the week's coffee is resting in tins along the wall.

She roasts light enough to taste the farm and long enough to keep it sweet. Every batch is cupped the next morning. If it isn't right, it doesn't go on the bar.

"First crack sounds like popcorn. Second crack sounds like a mistake."Mariam Al Suwaidi, head roaster

Mariam, the head roaster, checking a bean sample beside the drum roaster in the old majlis

Morning light in the SABR courtyard, a pour over dripping slowly into a glass carafe

06:12First crack on the Guji. Mariam pulls a sample, sniffs it, and gives the drum another 90 seconds.

Roast day log · every Thursday

05:30
Drum on. Twenty minutes to warm through.
12 kg
Green coffee per batch. Small enough to taste each one.
14 min
Average roast, from charge to drop.
72 h
Rest before any bean reaches the grinder.
180 kg
Roasted a week, for the bar, the shelf and your door.

Take a piece of the house home.

خذ قطعة من البيت معك.

Made in small runs with people we like, in colours borrowed from the courtyard. Add anything to your order and it will be waiting at the counter.

Delivery across the UAE on orders over AED 150.

The SABR stoneware cup in a saffron glaze

AED95

The Fahidi cup

Hand-thrown stoneware, 8 oz, glazed the saffron of our front door. Made by a ceramicist in Al Quoz. No two quite alike.

A SABR canvas bean bag with a brass tin tie

AED75

The refill bag

Waxed canvas with a brass tin tie, filled with 250 g of Fahidi No.1. Bring it back empty and every refill is AED 10 less.

The SABR courtyard tote in natural cotton

AED65

The courtyard tote

Heavy natural cotton with long handles and the hourglass printed small. Fits a laptop, a kilo of beans and a box of cake.

Slurp loudly.Everyone does.

تذوّق بصوتٍ عالٍ. الجميع يفعل.

Cuppings, classes and long evenings in the courtyard. Small groups, real spoons, no wrong answers. Seats are limited, so book ahead.

05NovThu 18:30
Public cupping
Six coffees from this month's rotation, side by side. We'll show you how to break the crust, slurp, and say what you taste.
90 minutes12 seats
AED60
14NovSat 10:00
Brew better at home
V60 and AeroPress, hands on. Grind size, ratios and water, explained without the jargon. Go home with 250 g of beans.
2 hours8 seats
AED195
19NovThu 19:30
Latte art night
Milk, jugs and a lot of happy mistakes. Our head barista teaches hearts, then tulips if you are brave.
2 hours6 seats
AED150
28NovSat 16:30
Qahwa and stories
Beans roasted over coals in the courtyard, pounded, brewed in a dallah and poured the traditional way. With dates and stories of the old Creek.
90 minutes16 seats
AED90
05DecSat 07:00
Roast day open house
Stand next to the drum and watch green coffee turn brown. Breakfast in the courtyard and a bag of what you saw roasted.
2.5 hours10 seats
AED120

Worth the wait.

تستحق الانتظار.

SABR Coffee
House 14, Sikka 7
Al Fahidi Historical District
Bur Dubai, Dubai

Open daily from 07:00

Monday to Thursday: 07:00 to 22:00
Friday: 07:00 to 23:00
Saturday and Sunday: 08:00 to 23:00

1Take the abra across the Creek to Bur Dubai station, or the Green Line to Al Fahidi.
2Walk into the old quarter past the fort. Keep the Creek on your right.
3Look for the saffron door with the hourglass sign. Slow down. You're here.

6 min walk from Al Fahidi Metro, exit 4Order before you walk

Order ahead. No rush.

Build an order from the menu, or book a seat at a cupping. We start brewing just before you arrive, so nothing sits waiting. Pay at the counter. No account, no app.

What would you like to do? Order for pickup Book an event

Your order

Nothing in your order yet. Tap + on anything in the menu, or start with a favourite:

Add at least one thing to your order first.

Your name

Mobile (for a text when it's ready)

Pickup time

Anything we should know? (optional)

Book an event

Event

Seats

Your name

We confirm straight away, and you pay at the counter. No account, no app.

Worth the wait.

SBR-0000

Good coffee waits for no one. We wait for it.

Close to a hundred years old.

In the lanes of the old quarter.

Stay as long as you like.

Roasted forty steps from your cup.

Poured in slow circles.

Patience, poured.

What we believe

TheMenu

Espresso bar

Flat white

Espresso

Macchiato

Cortado

Latte

Long black

Slow bar

V60 pour over

Chemex for two

AeroPress

Single-origin rotation

Signatures

Iced saffron latte

Cardamom cortado

Date-syrup cold brew

Loomi tonic

Rose & pistachio latte

Tea & local

Karak

Qahwa with dates

Saffron karak

Loomi iced tea

Fresh mint tea

Food

Date & cardamom cake

Khameer toastie

Chebab pancakes

Balaleet bowl

Luqaimat

Cardamom bun

Beans to take home

Rest, then brew.

Fahidi No.1

Ethiopia Guji Hambela

Colombia Huila Pink Bourbon

Yemen Haraz Mattari

Creek Decaf

Thursdaysmells likethis.

Roast day log · every Thursday

Take a piece of the house home.

The Fahidi cup

The refill bag

The courtyard tote

Slurp loudly.Everyone does.

Public cupping

Brew better at home

Latte art night

Qahwa and stories

Roast day open house

Beans at your door. Still warm from Thursday.

The Taster

The Pair

The Kilo

Worth the wait.

Order ahead. No rush.

Worth the wait.