This online gourmet coffee shop has its own virtual barista

Being into coffee has its ‘percs’…

If you look at supermarket instant coffee the same way you look at bathroom grouting paste, there’s a good chance BeanBurds is for you.

It’s a home-grown online specialty coffee store that caters for coffee connoisseurs and showcases some of the finest roasteries in the UAE.

And it even comes with a feature that is straight outta 3020, a virtual barista named Lena.

Not only will she get your name right (yep, we’re looking at you Starbucks), if you interact with Lena honestly, her expert-enhanced algorithms can give you some pretty spot-on recommendations for your morning brew.

There’s a huge collection of brands to explore here, and they’ve made them easy to browse through even without Lena. You can search by origin, roaster, taste notes, growing altitude and roast level.

You’ll find blends and single-origin varieties from Coffee Planet, Emirati Coffee Co, Gold Box Coffee Roasters, Nightjar Coffee Roaster, Nusantara Coffee Roasters, Saraya Specialty Coffees, Tres Marias, Golden Beans and many more.

BeanBurds ships across the UAE and there’s no charge for delivery if your order is over Dhs150.

Being no stranger to the java lava ourselves, we thought we’d road test a selection of their impressive range.

The kind people at BeanBurds curated a sampling bundle that included Yellow Bourbon, an Indian single-provenance roast from Emirati Coffee; a nutty Nicaraguan washed bean from Saraya; some Costa Rican Palmichal from Golden Beans; and a creamy Salvadorian bourbon bean from Tres Marias.

We fired up the French press, and the moka pot and had ourselves a luxury coffee degustation.

The highlight for us was the Tres Marias bourbon bean, full of fruity flavour, a perfect accompaniment, to a light and contemplative breakfast.

Saraya’s Nicaraguan proved itself a wholesome all-rounder too, its deep chocolatey perfume is a perfect fit for afternoon sips with friends.

One of the most impressive aspects of BeanBurds, beyond its intelligently curated range, is the level of care that’s gone into tailoring the experience to the individual.

There’s a sincere bonhomie there, a genuine passion for good coffee, and aspiration to help those that share that passion find new and exciting coffee experiences.

A motivation underlined by the CEO and founder of BeanBurds, Salem Ahmed, “we aim to make BeanBurds a platform that will provide people with the tools to learn about the coffee process and find the flavors that they love.”

Our verdict, you nailed it guys. A must-bookmark for all serious coffee lovers.

Prices start at around Dhs40 for 250g packs. beanburds.com