Saudi Coffee Company Introduces JAZEAN

The Saudi Coffee Company, a Public Investment Fund fully owned company, has announced the launch of JAZEAN
The Saudi Coffee Company, a Public Investment Fund fully owned company, has announced the launch of JAZEAN
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Saudi Coffee Company Introduces JAZEAN

The Saudi Coffee Company, a Public Investment Fund fully owned company, has announced the launch of JAZEAN
The Saudi Coffee Company, a Public Investment Fund fully owned company, has announced the launch of JAZEAN

The Saudi Coffee Company, a Public Investment Fund fully owned company, has announced the launch of its coffee brand, JAZEAN.

Sourced from the south of Saudi Arabia, which is located in the verdant coffee belt and the best arabica beans selection from around the world, JAZEAN is a high-quality specialty coffee made sustainably from premium Coffea Arabica to deliver a blend that is uniquely Saudi to the world.

“JAZEAN is a labor of love. Love for our nation, for our culture, and especially our farmers who have sustained our coffee belts through generations,” said Marketing Director at Saudi Coffee Company Mohammed Zainy.

“It is a symbol of our aspiration to develop a coffee industry that is rooted in sustainable production, from cultivation through to packaging. By developing JAZEAN, we are putting our local farmers on the map and giving them a platform to contribute to a national brand, which will take our homegrown product global.”

JAZEAN coffee is a unique blend of locally and globally produced Arabica beans. It is the product of one of the oldest coffee-growing communities in the world with over 800 years of coffee cultivation, based in Saudi Arabia’s southern region coffee belt, which is characterized by fertile lands, groundwater, wells, and valleys.

JAZEAN’s flavor profile will be deeply representative of the land, climate, and farming practices of the region, the company said in a press release. It will spotlight the Coffea Arabica beans, which have been cultivated and elevated by successive generations of coffee farmers.

In addition to contributing to the economy diversification efforts through the launch of JAZEAN, the Saudi Coffee Company is investing in the south region coffee community by introducing and training farmers on global best practices, helping farmers select better quality seeds, refine their farming methods, manage their resources more efficiently, and pilot new techniques to increase quality yield, it said.

JAZEAN will offer coffee products varying between specialty coffee, Saudi coffee, and others. It will do so through collaborations with the entities already operating, such as café, roasteries, and the HORECA sector, in Saudi Arabia to transform homegrown Saudi coffee from a local favorite to a global phenomenon.



A Rare Plant Emits a Stink of Death When it Blooms. Thousands in Australia Queued to Get Close to It

People view an endangered plant known as the “corpse flower” for its putrid stink, which is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
People view an endangered plant known as the “corpse flower” for its putrid stink, which is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
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A Rare Plant Emits a Stink of Death When it Blooms. Thousands in Australia Queued to Get Close to It

People view an endangered plant known as the “corpse flower” for its putrid stink, which is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
People view an endangered plant known as the “corpse flower” for its putrid stink, which is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

The rare unfurling of an endangered plant that emits the smell of decaying flesh drew hundreds of devoted fans to a greenhouse in Sydney on Thursday where they lined up to experience a momentous bloom -– and a fragrance evoking gym socks and rotting garbage.
Tall, pointed and smelly, the corpse flower is scientifically known as amorphophallus titanum — or bunga bangkai in Indonesia, where the plants are found in the Sumatran rainforest, The Associated Press said.
But to fans of this specimen, she’s Putricia -- a portmanteau of “putrid” and “Patricia” eagerly adopted by her followers who, naturally, call themselves Putricians. For a week, she has graced a stately and gothic display in front of a purple curtain and wreathed in mist from a humidifier at the Royal Sydney Botanic Garden.
Her rise to fame since has been rapid, with more than 13,000 admirers filing past for a moment in her increasingly pungent presence. No corpse flower has bloomed at the garden for 15 years.
A slow bloomer The plant only flowers every 7-10 years in the wild.
“The fact that they open very rarely, so they flower rarely, is obviously something that puts them at a little bit of a disadvantage in the wild,” said garden spokesperson Sophie Daniel, who designed Putricia's kooky and funereal display. “When they open, they have to hope that another flower is open nearby, because they can’t self-pollinate.”
There are thought to be only 300 of the plants in the wild and fewer than 1,000 worldwide — including those in cultivation. Among them is Putricia, which arrived at the garden seven years ago.
When her flower was spotted in December she was just 25 centimeters (10 inches) high. By Thursday, she was 1.6 meters (5 feet 3 inches) tall -– and her flower spike was slowly opening like a pleated skirt around a majestic central tuber, the yellow-green outer curling to reveal a burgundy center.
Putricia-mania builds As excitement grew in Sydney about the moment of her bloom, garden staff erected crowd barriers, giving the Victorian greenhouse the air of a rock concert. Fans trod a red carpet to view Putricia from behind velvet ropes in a display inspired by Queen Victoria’s funeral, the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the oeuvre of the late director David Lynch.
Inside, fans took selfies and leaned in for a sniff — an increasingly perilous prospect as Putricia's odor developed. One young woman raised her hands and bowed as though in worship. On social media, garden staff performed a viral dance to Chappell Roan’s summer hit HOT TO GO! against a backdrop of the stately plant.
It was difficult to say why the regal, mysterious and stinky flower had attracted such a following -– but perhaps the answer lay in the “reverence” viewers felt in the presence of “such an amazing living being,” Daniel said.
A swift rise to online fame Along with her real-life visitors, Putricia’s online fandom has been rapid, global and deeply strange -– if much less smelly. A 24/7 live stream established by the botanic garden drew close to a million views in less than a week and a shared language of memes and inside jokes sprang up.
Frequently deployed acronyms included WWTF, or we watch the flower, WDNRP -- we do not rush Putricia – and BBTB, or blessed be the bloom. “Putricia is a metaphor for my life,” wrote one poster, who did not elaborate.
Commenters on social media made plans to hurry to the garden as the plant opened. In just 24 hours, Putricia’s bloom -– and her stench -– would be gone.
As she unfurled, Putricia would heat to 37 degrees Celsius (100 F) to better spread her scent, Daniel said, attracting flies and carrion beetles to burrow inside and lay eggs. Then, work will begin to hand-pollinate the plant in efforts to ensure the species' diversity and survival.
But first, thousands of Putricians will attempt to get as close as they can to their hero of a week.
“We did have a few conversations early on about whether or not we should have vomit bags in the room," said Daniel, adding that garden staff ultimately decided against it. “I haven’t heard of anyone actually being harmed."