From a barbershop counter to a million followers: barista Hussam Waleed
The 26-year-old behind Coffee With Hussam started out making coffee wherever he could. Today his page is one of the most followed coffee accounts in the Arab world.
Hussam Waleed did not start behind the bar of a specialty café. The 26-year-old’s first coffees were made in a barbershop. From there he moved to a small café, and for a time he served customers from his father’s car.
That route is now part of the story his followers know. Coffee With Hussam, the page he built around his work, has more than one million followers, placing it among the most followed coffee accounts in the Arab world.
Titles at home
Along the way Waleed collected two national titles: Best Barista in Egypt in 2022, and Fastest Barista in Egypt a year later.
Speed and precision are only part of the pitch. Waleed describes coffee as a universal language, and says his aim is to teach people to notice every stage of the drink, from the bean to the cup.
His rise mirrors the wider change in how Egyptians drink coffee. Alongside the traditional ahwa, cities such as Cairo now have a growing scene of specialty cafés and roasters, and a young audience that follows baristas online as closely as it follows chefs.
