The first question I asked Taha Bouqdib was whether he prefers coffee or tea. After all, the visionary entrepreneur did build two successful companies around each of these two beverages.
“I like to drink both,” Bouqdib answered diplomatically. “It depends on the timing of the day. Sometimes I can start with a nice cup of tea but finish with a cup of coffee.”
TWG Tea and its sister brand Bacha Coffee have achieved admirable success. In Singapore, both brands have become so popular that you would be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t dined at one of their outlets or sampled their products. TWG Tea has expanded globally while Bacha Coffee has grown across Asia and the Middle East. The latter is now embarking on an aggressive expansion phase across Europe.
In August 2024, Bacha Coffee, which originated from Morocco, announced its plans to establish a flagship store on Champs-Elysees in Paris, slated to open at the end of the year. The Paris store is part of Bouqdib’s plan to open a Bacha Coffee outlet in all major capitals of the world by 2030.
BACHA’S SUCCESS STORY
Although Bacha Coffee’s roots date back to 1910, the present-day Bacha that coffee fiends are familiar with is a relaunch of a coffee house located in Marrakech’s Dar el Bacha palace.
Bouqdib, who is French-Moroccan and based in Singapore, was invited to a reopening of the palace museum in 2017. It was there that he became acquainted with the coffee brand. Familiar with what Bouqdib had done with TWG Tea, officials asked if he wanted to spearhead the relaunch of the coffee house. “To revive the brand, I knew it would be a big challenge,” Bouqdib admitted. Yet, he was captivated by its history and driven by intuition. “I don’t put too much thought into asking people whether something is a good idea. If I feel that it would be something right to do, I will just go for it.”
