How Kemal Risyad designed the Aerate coffee server used by Brewers Cup champions

Kemal Risyad is not the loudest voice in the UAE coffee community. But he might be one of its most influential.

As co-founder and head roaster at Archers, Kemal has helped build one of the country’s most respected specialty coffee companies. Archers sources green beans directly from origin, roasts with precision, and runs a CQI and SCA-certified training academy in Sharjah.

But this story is not about Archers. It is about an invention born from competition pressure, mechanical precision, and a deep understanding of brewing: the Aerate coffee server.

Aerate is a handcrafted glass server designed to improve coffee aroma through intentional swirling. It is already being used by Brewers Cup champions in the UAE, France, and beyond.

And it was designed entirely by Kemal himself.

In this exclusive interview, he explains how the idea came to life and why aroma deserves more attention in the world of hand brewing.

How did your journey in coffee begin? What first pulled you in, and what kept you coming back to it over the years?

It was the habit of drinking coffee when I was a mechanic in Indonesia, Jakarta 14 years ago. I drank coffee for energy, just for the caffeine, until I experienced freshly ground coffee for the first time. It was a Sumatran coffee that sparked in me a deeper curiosity about coffee.

Since then I spent time to know more about coffee and then I got the chance to taste a Washed Ethiopian coffee in a cupping session at one of the leading specialty coffee companies at the time, Caswell’s Coffee. It was full of lemongrass and earl grey tea. Mindblown by the flavor, I took a short 3 day coffee course and then decided to quit my job as a mechanic to become a barista.

So, what’s kept me in coffee? My background as a mechanic, where we are taught to do a fixed thing, I found it to be completely different to coffee. I figured out fast enough why I chose coffee and stayed. It was because of its uncertainty. In coffee, we would never know how the harvest is going to be next year, or how the next roast, next brew, next customers will be, and so on. The only thing we can do is our best.

Sometimes things go as planned. Sometimes they don’t. And that gave me the sense of endless opportunity and the excitement to improve, to keep growing, and keep making better coffee.

What did competition teach you about coffee and yourself?

I have competed 5 times in the UAE Nationals. 2 times at the Brewers Cup. 3 times for the National Barista Championship.

In 2018, I competed in the Brewers Cup where I didn’t make it to finals. In 2019 I placed 3rd.

I wanted a new challenge and moved on to the Barista Competition in 2020. And three years in a row, I’ve placed 2nd.

Competing for all these years, I’ve evolved my thinking from solely competing to win, to realizing that competition is an outlet, an avenue where I can share what I believe matters, and enjoying the pressure that pushed me to think outside of the box every single time as a competitor or while coaching.

What makes Archers different from other UAE roasters?

Archers started out of the need for better green coffee in the UAE. We started out as green bean traders originally with the aim of sourcing fresh crop, directly from origin, and working with producers that are striving for excellence. However, people started asking us for roasted coffee, so we quickly pivoted and started offering roasted coffee as well.

Back then good coffee education was not easy to come by, as we ourselves had to travel abroad to get courses. But we knew it was necessary for our customers and our community to really understand good coffee quality. We wanted to fix that problem and make quality coffee education more accessible locally. That’s why we also built our Coffee Academy.

I guess that my partners and I are very passionate about what we do, and we’re always striving to be better.

But of course, the real superstars are the coffee producers we work with. Without them, we would not be Archers. To get good roasted coffee, you need to start with good raw material. And I am very proud and honored to be able to work with the coffee producers who have become our partners. Every producer that we work with, in every origin we source from, does their best in cultivation and coffee processing.

It’s humbling and I appreciate that you say people connect with what we are building. From where I am, I’d like to believe it’s because they see that authenticity, that we are not trying to be perfect but we’re just trying to do things with purpose, to the best of our capacity every day, and I think that resonates.

Why did you design the Aerate coffee server?

Honestly, it’s because of competition in 2019 where I lost a few points. That got me thinking, on how can I maximize each individual coffee attribute through processing, roasting, and, in this case, brewing. The idea behind Aerate felt powerful because I realized so much effort had already gone into other parts of the Brewers Cup scoring, but the aroma category was still lacking. It felt urgent so I quickly got to work on prototypes.

We were fortunate to see Aerate’s success in the 2021 and 2022 national Brewers Cup as the first server of its kind to have internal ridges that amplify the release of volatile aromatics.

And helped our friend Charity Cheung win the 2022 France Brewers Cup. And David Disuanco in 2022 in UAE and placed 7th in the world with it the same year.

In 2024, Charity became the France National Brewers Cup Champion again using Aerate and ended 5th in the world. Same year, my partner Frederick Bejo also won the UAE National Brewers Cup Championship and made it to semis at the World Brewers Cup, finishing among the top at rank 9 with Aerate.

What problem were you solving in coffee server design?

Indeed, aroma tends to be evaluated in 20 seconds or shorter during a competition run. What Aerate does is that it greatly improves the efficiency and accuracy of aroma evaluation owing to the 2 ridges on the sides.

As you swirl it, the ridges break the liquid flow and release more volatile aromatics. That has proven to speed up and intensify the perception of aroma and an intense aromatic will help to achieve higher aroma accuracy too.

How did you refine Aerate’s final form?

Every detail really has been crafted with intention and careful consideration, including the thickness of the glass, the height of the vessel, the angles, and the overall look and feel. I did test Aerate by comparing it with several other carafes, and decided to maximize not only the functional features but also aesthetic aspects of the overall design.

Those functional features are the side ridges, the narrow rim and neck. The aesthetic aspects that help enhance perception of the coffee’s best qualities are the round silhouette that promotes riper and sweeter aromatics.

Combined with the turbulence created by swirling, Aerate will deliver to you a more defined and enhanced aromatic experience.

What did it mean to see Aerate on the world stage?

Seeing Aerate used in serious competitions and actually contributing to great results means a lot. But more than validation, it’s a reminder of why I designed Aerate in the first place. To solve a real problem. Aroma has always been a tough category to capture consistently, and I just wanted to make something that helps brewers express their coffee better in the most efficient way.

Did it change how I see myself? I think it pushed me to see that I’m the kind of competitor who also aims to be a problem solver for others who are facing the same challenges or are trying to figure out the same puzzles as I am. Knowing that something I built can help others perform at their best is incredibly fulfilling.

Are more coffee tools coming?

Yes, for sure.

I think my mechanical background does help me see things in a slightly more technical way. I’ve got a few ideas in the works. One of them is a brewing tool. Something that could complement existing products and devices that hopefully I can share with everyone soon.

The fingerprints behind every great brew

What makes Aerate important is not its success on stage. It is the intention behind it. Kemal Risyad saw a gap that others overlooked and chose to solve it with precision and care.

Every great coffee is built on thousands of decisions. Some are visible. Some are not. If your cup is more aromatic than usual, it might be because of a silent design choice, crafted by someone who knows exactly where to look.

Someone like Kemal.