Hundreds of years ago, Yemen helped introduce the world to coffee. Lately, the mountainous, war-ravaged country that borders Saudi Arabia and Oman is exporting something else: its coffee culture.
Yemeni coffeehouses are opening at a rapid pace across the US. The number of cafes run by six major chains that serve Yemeni-style drinks grew 50% last year to 136, according to Technomic, a restaurant industry consulting company. The count doesn’t include the many smaller chains and independent cafes serving coffees and teas imported from Yemen.
Yemeni coffeehouses are meeting the moment for several reasons. They stay open late — sometimes past 3 a.m., especially during Ramadan — and provide a place to socialize for the growing number of Americans who don’t drink alcohol. Last year, a Gallup poll found that just 54% US adults reported drinking alcohol, the lowest percentage in 90 years.
“Generally in the Middle East, our nightlife is coffee, right? People hang out at coffee shops, they play cards, they talk. We wanted to bring that here,” said Ahmad Badr, who owns an Arwa Yemeni Coffee franchise in Sunnyvale, California.
Another reason for the cafes’ popularity is the growing number of Americans of Arab descent. Between 2010 and 2024, the Arab American population in the US rose by 43%, compared to around 10% growth for the US population as a whole, according to the Arab American Institute.
While most Yemeni coffee shops are in places with high concentrations of Arab Americans, including Michigan, California and Texas, they’re also opening in locations as diverse as Alpharetta, Georgia; Overland Park, Kansas; and Portland, Maine.
A taste of home
Faris Almatrahi is the co-founder and owner of Texas-based Arwa Yemeni Coffee, a chain with 11 cafes across the US and 30 more in development. He said an ongoing civil war in Yemen that began in 2014 has prevented Yemeni Americans like himself from visiting their homeland, so he has tried to evoke Yemen in his cafes.
Arwa locations are painted in natural desert tones, with archways that mimic mosques and lampshades shaped like the hats worn by Yemen’s coffee farmers.
“One of the ways to actually visit without traveling there was to bring that experience to the US, and that was a huge passion for us when we opened our first location,” Almatrahi said. “It was extremely emotional for all of us due to the fact that it really transported us to Yemen."
But Almatrahi noted that most of his customers aren’t of Arab descent. In fact, Americans of all backgrounds are seeking out new global flavors and authentic experiences, according to market research company Datassential. Food trends are also spreading quickly through social media.
Menus vary, but Yemeni cafes generally serve specialties like Adeni tea, a spiced tea similar to chai, and qishr, a traditional drink made from the dried husks of coffee cherries. Familiar drinks like lattes might contain special spices or honey; at Arwa, lattes features the outline of a camel stenciled in spices.
Bakery cases might contain khaliat nahal, or Yemeni honeycomb bread, a cheese-filled pastry drizzled with honey, or basboosa, a cake soaked in sugar syrup and often flavored with lemon or rose water. Many Yemeni menus also mix in more typical US coffeeshop fare, like matcha lattes or berry refreshers.
Choices for coffee lovers
Peter Giuliano, a researcher with the Specialty Coffee Association, a California-based nonprofit, said culturally specific cafes have been a key growth driver in the US coffee industry for the last few years. In addition to Yemeni cafes, he cited the Latin-style chain Tierra Mia in California and Nguyen Coffee Supply, a New York-based company that roasts Vietnamese beans.
A customer who visited Badr's shop in Sunnyvale for the first time said an internet search brought her there on a recent weekday. Cindy Donovan said she’s always on the hunt for good coffee and was excited by Yemeni coffees she tried.
“I think they're much more refined and mellow, and much more full of flavor than a regular cup of dark roast, for instance,” Donovan said. “The cardamom in the drinks is fantastic. Very, very flavorful, rich but not heavy.”
Most Yemeni coffee is sun-dried, which enhances its flavor and brings out undertones of chocolate and fruit, Almatrahi said. Yemeni cafes often mix coffee with special spice mixes – or hawaij – that may contain cardamon, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, coriander or nutmeg.
“Our coffee and teas are not just made through a fully automatic machine,” said Mohamed Nasser, the director of operations for Haraz Coffee House, a Dearborn, Michigan-based chain with 50 US outlets and another 50 in development. “We have to manually blend and mix our coffee and tea, boil it with water and evaporated milk, make sure that it comes out (with the) perfect taste, perfect color.”
Yemen's flavorful history
Coffee has a long history in Yemen. While the plant was likely discovered in Ethiopia, by the 1400s it was being cultivated in Yemen, where monks brewed it to stay awake during prayers, according to the National Coffee Association, a US trade group.
Yemen monopolized the coffee trade for around 200 years until Dutch merchants smuggled coffee seeds to Indonesia and began growing plants there.
Almatrahi said a revitalization of the Yemeni coffee industry over the last two decades, led by coffee companies, foundations and young entrepreneurs, helped make the current US boom possible.
Coffee is one of the most promising sectors for economic development in Yemen, where more than 80% of the population lives in poverty, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
“We are ambassadors for our culture and our people. So when we open these shops, we want to perform the outreach, to show the hospitality, to show what we have to offer,” Almatrahi said.
