JEDDAH: Saudi female baristas in cafés in most larger cities in the Kingdom say they have enjoyed widespread support from the people they come into contact with at work.

Arab News has been talking to some of them about their experiences.
Taibah Ibrahim Al-Ruhaili, a barista in her early twenties, joined Joffrey’s café in Jeddah 15 months ago after applying for barista jobs in many coffee shops.

She said her dream to be a barista finally came true thanks to her passion for coffee.
“I am a coffee enthusiast, and I would love to learn more about the secrets of making good coffee,” she said.

The biggest challenge she faced was work pressure and customer connection. However, she said she managed to overcome all the obstacles.

Remembering her first day, Al-Ruhaili said: “The team members who were working with me were very cooperative and I quickly learned the skills baristas need in their work. This made me come every day with more eagerness and readiness to learn something new,” she added.

Al-Ruhaili said that she learned how to both satisfy her customers with cups of coffee that hit the spot and shoulder responsibilities and bear work pressure.
“I learned self-discipline and commitment. I also learned how important work achievements are. In fact, I have learned many things that I was not aware of before.”

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This was not accepted in the past, but with time people have become more civilized, and it has become normal to see women working everywhere. Some of my male customers proudly introduce their families to me. These families are now my frequent customers. ”

Entasar Hubail, a barista from the Eastern Province, joined Starbucks in 2019 and has since been promoted from barista to shift supervisor and now to assistant store manager.
Hubail said she loves coffee and had volunteered in coffee exhibitions and even bought a coffee machine for her brother, although she is the one who ended up using it.

“I still remember when I bought my first coffee bean bag from Starbucks and made coffee from it. I enrolled in coffee roasting courses and learned new techniques,” she said.
She is also a chocolatier and is into pastry-making. The time came when she had to decide whether to pursue cooking or join a coffee company. She chose the latter and ended up in Starbucks.
Speaking about what attracted her to this job, she said that when she applied, she was surprised to have been accepted for the job, which she thought showed the company’s focus on promoting gender diversity and attracting local talent.

When she started, Hubail had mixed feelings of surprise, happiness and fear. “I was afraid because I was a very shy person and suddenly I was going to have colleagues and customers to deal with. I, in fact, wanted to take this job opportunity to overcome my inhibitions and focus on understanding more about the coffee industry and building a future at this big company.
Like Al-Ruhaili, Hubail’s biggest challenge was dealing with customers; it was her first time communicating with strangers. She said that with time and practice she was able to overcome her fears.
“The first day I went to work was a truly frightening experience. It was something like my first day at school. I even wanted my mom and sister to go to work with me. Thankfully, I was able to get over my fears by pushing myself more and more,” she said.

She said her dream to be a barista finally came true thanks to her passion for coffee.
“I am a coffee enthusiast, and I would love to learn more about the secrets of making good coffee,” she said.

The biggest challenge she faced was work pressure and customer connection. However, she said she managed to overcome all the obstacles.

Remembering her first day, Al-Ruhaili said: “The team members who were working with me were very cooperative and I quickly learned the skills baristas need in their work. This made me come every day with more eagerness and readiness to learn something new,” she added.

Al-Ruhaili said that she learned how to both satisfy her customers with cups of coffee that hit the spot and shoulder responsibilities and bear work pressure.
“I learned self-discipline and commitment. I also learned how important work achievements are. In fact, I have learned many things that I was not aware of before.”

This was not accepted in the past, but with time people have become more civilized, and it has become normal to see women working everywhere. Some of my male customers proudly introduce their families to me. These families are now my frequent customers.

Faten Bahussein, Barista

Entasar Hubail, a barista from the Eastern Province, joined Starbucks in 2019 and has since been promoted from barista to shift supervisor and now to assistant store manager.
Hubail said she loves coffee and had volunteered in coffee exhibitions and even bought a coffee machine for her brother, although she is the one who ended up using it.

“I still remember when I bought my first coffee bean bag from Starbucks and made coffee from it. I enrolled in coffee roasting courses and learned new techniques,” she said.
She is also a chocolatier and is into pastry-making. The time came when she had to decide whether to pursue cooking or join a coffee company. She chose the latter and ended up in Starbucks.
Speaking about what attracted her to this job, she said that when she applied, she was surprised to have been accepted for the job, which she thought showed the company’s focus on promoting gender diversity and attracting local talent.

When she started, Hubail had mixed feelings of surprise, happiness and fear. “I was afraid because I was a very shy person and suddenly I was going to have colleagues and customers to deal with. I, in fact, wanted to take this job opportunity to overcome my inhibitions and focus on understanding more about the coffee industry and building a future at this big company.
Like Al-Ruhaili, Hubail’s biggest challenge was dealing with customers; it was her first time communicating with strangers. She said that with time and practice she was able to overcome her fears.
“The first day I went to work was a truly frightening experience. It was something like my first day at school. I even wanted my mom and sister to go to work with me. Thankfully, I was able to get over my fears by pushing myself more and more,” she said.

Faten Bahussein, a university graduate of Islamic studies, is also a coffee aficionado whose mornings begin with a cup at home before she goes to Chocochino café, where she works.
“I had an old coffee-making machine, and I practiced making coffee during the curfew period. This has helped me to become good at it, and that reflected positively on my current career,” Bahussein said.
After nearly four years working as a barista, Bahussein said that she has noticed how people look much happier when they see a Saudi girl working in a restaurant.
“This was not accepted in the past, but with time people have become more civilized, and it has become normal to see women working everywhere. Some of my male customers proudly introduce their families to me. These families are now my frequent customers,” she said.

MAKKAH: A state-of-the-art mobile clinic to detect honeybee diseases has been launched in a Saudi city.
Unveiled in Madinah, the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture’s first specialist center is equipped with the latest laboratory equipment and scientific devices.
Abdullah Al-Subaie, head of the ministry’s apiaries and honey production department, told Arab News: “The mobile clinic aims to provide quick and effective services to beekeepers at their location.

“Beekeeping specialists and technicians accompanying the mobile clinic will be inspecting apiaries, collecting samples, and examining and diagnosing the causes of diseases. They will also educate beekeepers on looking out for various disease symptoms by conducting guidance programs and qualitative campaigns,” he said.
He pointed out that when bees grew weak due to undernutrition and stress, they became vulnerable to diseases and pests, most notably parasitic varroa mites and the fungus nosema apis.
Varroa mites can reduce the number of hatching bees, deform newly hatched bees, and transmit a number of viral diseases to cells. If left unchecked, nosema apis can spread rapidly and kill large numbers of bees if a hive already harbors other diseases or is running low on food supplies, especially proteins.
Al-Subaie noted that good management of apiaries was essential in helping to reduce disease risks. Methods included adopting sustainability practices and beekeepers recognizing the importance of pastoral grazing capacity by not putting large numbers of cells in one place.

Bee stress, he added, could be reduced by avoiding unnecessary cell inspections during winter, providing the insects with appropriate food, paying attention to strengthening cells, performing necessary bee processes, combining weak cells, changing older queens with more fertile ones, using natural substances to activate bees such as mugwort, thyme, acetic acid, and menthol, and sterilizing contaminated wax combs and cell boxes.
As part of its initiative, the ministry was looking to protect Saudi Arabia’s only species of bee. Other breeds are imported for their ability to produce good quality and quantities of honey.
Dr. Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, head of the Arab Beekeeping Association, told Arab News that apiculture was a major and secondary source of income for a large segment of society.
There are currently 14,000 beekeepers in Saudi Arabia and numbers were expected to reach 30,000 by 2030 as a result of the country’s support for the sector and its inclusion in the SR13 billion ($3.46 billion) rural development program launched by King Salman.