{"id":53712,"date":"2025-01-25T19:56:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T00:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=53712"},"modified":"2025-01-25T19:56:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T00:56:45","slug":"rogue-coffee-expands-from-dubai-to-lakeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/01\/25\/rogue-coffee-expands-from-dubai-to-lakeland\/","title":{"rendered":"Rogue Coffee expands from Dubai to Lakeland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By Anna Bialkowski The Southern<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every morning, Saed Alaraj commutes from his house in Tampa to Rogue Coffee in Lakeland. Opening the door to a cozy setting with couches, and a menu full of specialty drinks right over the bar, Alaraj makes his way to the back corner of the shop that is full of stacked coffee beans right from Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"7c7365\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"191\" height=\"130\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-79-3-png.webp?resize=191%2C130&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53713 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #7c7365; width:416px;height:auto\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rogue Coffee employees posing for a photo behind the counter at the coffee shop. | Photo courtesy of Anna Bialkowski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From farm to cup, Rogue Coffee sells premium coffee beans as a wholesaler to coffee shops in Lakeland such as Foxtail and Latitude, and Alaraj explains that the coffee community is all about giving everyone the best coffee beans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe try to provide the best coffee beans to everyone, not just Rogue,\u201d Alaraj said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of two businesses in one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Multiple businesses is nothing new to Rogue Coffee\u2019s brand. With three locations across the world in Dubai, Rogue Coffee on Main Street is not only the first location in Lakeland but the first in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"7f7866\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_5807-768x1024-1.webp?resize=768%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53714 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #7f7866; width:495px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_5807-768x1024-1.webp?w=768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_5807-768x1024-1.webp?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Coffee beans from Brazil. | Photo courtesy of Anna Bialkowski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alaraj explains that Rogue Coffee overseas has its own culture, offering a Middle Eastern feel with a menu full of more of their local pastries and treats. However, Alaraj explains that he believes Rogue in Lakeland needs to tailor to the people of Lakeland, and that the menu in Dubai simply wouldn\u2019t work in the same way that it does overseas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two of the Rogue locations in Dubai actually operate on wheels similar to that of the student coffee cart initiative Morning Grind and Alaraj is looking to do the same for Rogue in Lakeland, in order to get Rogue\u2019s name out during events like the Lakeland Downtown Farmer\u2019s Curb Market and First Friday in Downtown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the two hurricanes blowing through Florida, Alaraj explains that it was a challenge to get the coffee shop off the ground, and that unfortunately, Rogue Coffee was not able to have a proper grand opening. However, once more customers begin to buy coffee from Rogue, Alaraj says he\u2019s planning to have a grand opening with free coffee, drinks and pastries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Located right across from downtown Lakeland, Alaraj invites everyone to come in and try a cup of coffee. With a diverse myriad of menu items, the shop is also working on a partnership with selling Milk tea and Boba tea.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is also a 15% discount offered to students and a 20% discount for healthcare providers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For those interested in a collaboration with Rogue Coffee, contact <a href=\"mailto:Roguecoffee@yahoo.com\">mailto:Roguecoffee@yahoo.com<\/a>or <a href=\"Saedalaraj96@gmail.com\">Saedalaraj96@gmail.com<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Anna Bialkowski The Southern Every morning, Saed Alaraj commutes from his house in Tampa to Rogue Coffee in Lakeland. Opening the door to a cozy setting with couches, and&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDFcL1NjcmVlbnNob3QtNzktMy1wbmcud2VicD9maXQ9MTkxJTJDMTMwJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiUm9ndWUgQ29mZmVlIGV4cGFuZHMgZnJvbSBEdWJhaSB0byBMYWtlbGFuZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.YLY7bvUqvbH-7r7JPcjHrayi9zNQwViXf8Ls8eWYwaYMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":53713,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-79-3-png.webp","type":"image\/png"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[10843],"class_list":["post-53712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-rogue-coffee-expands-from-dubai-to-lakeland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53715,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53712\/revisions\/53715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}