Coffee People: Salman Alsubaihi
Salman Alsubaihi, Director of Coffee Quality & Operations, Saudi Arabia. Four questions — everything the industry rarely stops to hear.
Coffee people.
The Better Coffee Standard defines it precisely: everyone whose life and work are bound to coffee, at every stage of the coffee circle — including those working under coercion, economic dependency, or without pay. Their families. Those who keep them standing.
Read more in the free The Better Coffee Standard.
The industry never stops talking about coffee. It rarely stops to talk about the people behind it. Red Ink Coffee exists, in part, to change that.
Coffee People is a series of portraits. Four questions — their voices.
Who are you and what do you do in coffee?
My name is Salman Alsubaihi, and I currently serve as Director of Coffee Quality & Operations in Saudi Arabia.
Interestingly, my journey into coffee did not begin with coffee itself.
For many years, I built my career in Human Resources, business management, and commercial operations, leading large teams and developing organisational systems. Those experiences taught me that sustainable success is never built on individuals alone—it is built on leadership, culture, and well-designed systems.
Over time, coffee became more than a profession; it became a passion and ultimately a personal mission.
Today, my work focuses on quality management, roasting operations, café excellence, sensory evaluation, and operational development. My mission is simple: to help raise the standard of coffee quality by ensuring that the extraordinary effort invested in producing great coffee is honoured all the way to the final cup.
Tell us about a moment in your work with coffee that you're genuinely proud of.
One of the proudest moments in my career happened on an ordinary day.
I walked into one of the cafés I had helped develop and ordered a coffee without introducing myself.
The barista had never met me.
The coffee was excellent.
The workflow was smooth.
Everything happened exactly as we had designed it.
At that moment I realised something that changed the way I think about leadership.
Real success is not when people perform well because you're watching. It's when excellence continues because the system works.
That experience reinforced my belief that quality should never depend on one talented individual.
It should become part of the organisation's DNA.
What's one problem you see in your part of the coffee world — and why does it matter to you personally?
Coffee is one of the most carefully produced agricultural products in the world.
Farmers dedicate years of hard work to growing exceptional coffee.
Producers invest enormous effort into processing.
Roasters spend countless hours developing profiles.
Yet all of that work can be lost in the final minutes before the coffee reaches the customer.
For me, this is one of the industry's greatest challenges.
There is little value in producing extraordinary coffee if it is not prepared according to clear quality standards, with understanding, consistency, respect, and genuine passion.
A great cup should never depend on luck.
It should be the natural result of knowledge, systems, and disciplined execution.
This matters deeply to me because every person in the coffee value chain deserves to have their work represented at its very best.
What would you change if you could — and what would better look like for you?
If I could change one thing, I would encourage our industry to think about quality more holistically.
Quality is not only roasting.
It is not only brewing.
It is not only sensory evaluation.
Quality is a culture.
It starts with leadership.
It grows through education.
It is protected by systems.
And ultimately, it reaches the customer through people who understand why they do what they do—not simply how to do it.
My vision is an industry where every café, roastery, and coffee professional recognises that quality is a responsibility shared by everyone—from the farm to the final cup.
Only then do we truly honour the incredible journey of coffee.
You are coffee people. Tell us.
Four questions. Any language. Any format.
- Who are you and what do you do in coffee?
- A moment you're genuinely proud of.
- One problem in your part of the coffee world — and why it matters to you.
- What would you change — and what would better look like?
Include a short bio and a photo from your work environment. Send your answers to redinkcoffee@thebettercoffee.org
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