How PERCUP is revolutionizing the local coffee industry

New entrants are the lifeblood of any industry. They bring fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and a willingness to challenge the status quo. Philosophically, industries need these newcomers to stay dynamic, to evolve, and to avoid stagnation. Whether it’s in coffee, tech, or any other space, those bold enough to step into a well-established arena are the ones who often end up reshaping it. In the coffee world, where tradition and craft are so deeply rooted, it’s especially exciting to see new brands emerge with a modern twist—offering something different, something better. That’s why PERCUP caught my attention.

I reached out to the founder to find out more.

Tell us about PERCUP.

We’re the world’s first caffeine-focused marketplace, and our PERCUP journey started back in April 2023. I’ve always enjoyed a good cup of coffee and some amazing tea blends. When I was working in the corporate world, I traveled a lot and got to try all sorts of caffeinated products. But whenever I came back to Dubai and tried to find those amazing products, I found that most brands didn’t ship internationally.

Fast forward to 2023—I was at Café Rider for a business meeting, and the barista asked if I wanted to try some new beans. That moment got me thinking about all the fantastic blends, beans, and brands we miss out on because of shipping limitations. That’s when the idea hit: why not create a brand that brings all these incredible products together in one place?

We spent almost six months bringing this vision to life. Even the name, PERCUP, took us over a month to decide on. At first, we aimed to be a coffee marketplace, but soon realized there wasn’t a platform that focused on all kinds of caffeinated beverages. During our first phase, we reached out to 30 brands, and to our surprise, over 15 of them came on board because they were all struggling with international shipping.

Today, we work with over 40 global brands and ship to more than 30+ countries. We’re on a mission to create a go-to platform where all the best caffeinated products from around the world come together. Kicking things off in the UAE, our goal is to have our own operational warehouses in over five major countries within the next five years.

Who are you?

I’m Ashraf Aboobacker, but you can call me Ash—it’s easier that way! Born and raised in the UAE, my family and siblings are all here in Dubai too. I’m a bit of a geek at heart; I love automating processes and playing around with new tech.

I started my career as a “document manifesting guy” at DHL and got hired right after university by Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. I ended up spending over 11 years in the logistics sector, starting out in IT support and eventually moving up to head of eCommerce. I’ve always been drawn to eCommerce because it’s so process- and data-driven. I love the complexity of it all.

I knew I wanted to do something on my own someday, and I’m really happy we’re making that happen with PERCUP!

I love your website. Tell us about what was important to you when you designed it.

I’m a minimalist at heart, so the idea was to create something simple and easy to navigate. We collaborated with an agency called WeAreFren—two amazing sisters who handled our design and copywriting needs. I still remember spending countless hours with them, making sure every page was laid out just right and had a clear purpose. They did a fantastic job, and I’m super happy with how it all turned out.

Since launching, we haven’t stopped improving. We take customer feedback seriously and incorporate it into our monthly updates. In fact, we’ve tweaked the website over six times in less than seven months! The trickiest part was the brand page and coffee filtering options. My dev team tried to convince me to go with a more traditional approach, but I was set on the vision I had in mind. Hearing positive feedback about our website is always great—it reminds me how much work went into making it what it is today.

Tell us about the coffee brands you feature.

Our goal is to always curate the best. We seek out brands with great value and unique stories that face challenges with international shipping. Recently, we launched The Laughing Man, a brand owned by Hugh Jackman. Previously, they were able to ship only within the US due to logistics limitations. Now, with their partnership with PERCUP, we can ship The Laughing Man to over 100 countries.

We’ve also partnered with Onyx, one of the leading coffee brands in the US. Thanks to our unique logistics model, our customers can enjoy the latest batches of coffee from their favorite brands with fast delivery. Our R&D and curation team is always on the lookout for incredible new brands to add to our collection.

I’m particularly excited about our first regional launch with Café Rider, a brand that’s special to me since PERCUP was born out of Café Rider. We’re also in discussions with a few local brands from the UAE, Oman, KSA, and the UK. Stay tuned—we’ll be launching more coffee brands soon!

How does a roaster become part of your store?

We want to ensure a seamless onboarding process for our partner brands, which is why we developed our proprietary app on Shopify. With PERCUP’s backend technology, we can launch a brand on our store in less than five working days. The app provides automated product listings, real-time order management, inventory tracking, sales reporting, and more. It took us nearly six months to develop the app and get it listed on Shopify.

We are now focused on further improving the app to enhance inventory planning, integrate machine learning, and upgrade our notification system. We’re also exploring the implementation of AI to make our processes even smarter and more efficient.

What do you think of the current state of specialty coffee in the UAE? How will PERCUP add value to the industry?

The UAE has made incredible strides in the specialty coffee scene, with some world-class roasteries now in the region. However, given the size of our market, it’s starting to feel a bit saturated. We believe the coffee industry here needs a refresh—something new and exciting. There’s a need for canned nitro coffee, exclusive functional capsules, and other innovative products.

At PERCUP, we’re working to bridge this gap in the market. Our goal is to offer everyone unique blends, canned nitro coffee for “on-the-go-pick-me-up,” and a curated selection of unique coffee capsules. We’re committed to bringing the best international products to our platform, so not only our customers in the UAE but also those around the world can enjoy these great blends.

Industries thrive on innovation, and without new entrants, they risk becoming stale and uninspired. PERCUP’s commitment to shaking things up in the coffee world is a perfect example of how fresh ideas can reinvigorate an entire sector. As someone who values what new players bring to the table, I wish PERCUP every success in its journey to redefine how we experience caffeine.

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