Yemen Introduced the World to Coffee. Now, Its Coffeehouse Culture Is Booming Across the US

Yemen Introduced the World to Coffee. Now, Its Coffeehouse Culture Is Booming Across the US

From the mountains of war-ravaged Yemen to suburban strip malls in Georgia and Kansas, a new wave of Yemeni-American coffeehouses is reshaping America’s social landscape one cardamom-spiced latte at a time.

Hundreds of years ago, Yemen helped introduce the world to coffee. Today, the mountainous, war-ravaged country bordering Saudi Arabia and Oman is exporting something else: its vibrant coffeehouse culture.

Yemeni coffeehouses are opening at a rapid pace across the United States. The number of cafes run by six major chains that serve Yemeni-style drinks grew 50% last year, reaching 136 locations, according to Technomic, a restaurant industry consulting firm. That count does not include the many smaller chains and independent cafes brewing coffees and teas imported directly from Yemen.

A social lifeline for a new generation

Yemeni coffeehouses are meeting the moment for several reasons. They stay open late sometimes past 3 a.m., especially during Ramadan and provide a welcoming place to socialize for the growing number of Americans who don’t drink alcohol. Last year, a Gallup poll found that just 54% of U.S. 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 driver of the cafes’ popularity is the surging Arab American population. Between 2010 and 2024, the Arab American population in the U.S. rose by 43%, compared to roughly 10% growth for the overall U.S. population, according to the Arab American Institute. While most Yemeni coffee shops are concentrated in areas with large Arab American communities including Michigan, California, and Texas they are now opening in increasingly diverse locations such as Alpharetta, Georgia; Overland Park, Kansas; and Portland, Maine.

A taste of home, built from memory

Faris Almatrahi is the co-founder and owner of Texas-based Arwa Yemeni Coffee, a chain with 11 cafes across the U.S. and 30 more in development. He says an ongoing civil war in Yemen, which began in 2014, has prevented Yemeni Americans like himself from visiting their homeland. So he decided to evoke Yemen in his cafes.

Arwa locations are painted in natural desert tones, with archways that mimic the silhouettes of mosques and lampshades shaped like the distinctive woven hats worn by Yemen’s coffee farmers.

“One of the ways to actually visit without traveling there was to bring that experience to the U.S., and that was a huge passion for us when we opened our first location,” Almatrahi said. “It was extremely emotional for all of us because it really transported us to Yemen.”

Yet Almatrahi notes that most of his customers are not of Arab descent. In fact, Americans of all backgrounds are actively seeking out new global flavors and authentic experiences, according to market research company Datassential. Food trends are also spreading rapidly through social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where videos of honey-drizzled pastries and spiced coffee pulls often go viral.

What’s on the menu: From qishr to camel lattes

Menus vary by cafe, but Yemeni coffeehouses generally serve specialties like Adeni tea (a spiced black tea similar to chai) and qishr (a traditional drink made from the dried husks of coffee cherries, often brewed with ginger). Familiar drinks like lattes may contain proprietary spice blends or local honey. At Arwa, lattes feature the outline of a camel stenciled in aromatic spices atop the foam.

Bakery cases often hold khaliat nahal (Yemeni honeycomb bread), a cheese-filled pastry drizzled with honey, or basboosa, a semolina cake soaked in sugar syrup and often flavored with lemon or rose water. Many Yemeni menus also mix in more typical American coffeehouse fare, such as matcha lattes or berry refreshers, to appeal to a broad customer base.

A new engine for specialty coffee

Peter Giuliano, a researcher with the Specialty Coffee Association, a California-based nonprofit, says culturally specific cafes have been a key growth driver in the U.S. coffee industry over the last several years. Alongside Yemeni cafes, he points to the Latin-style chain Tierra Mia in California and Nguyen Coffee Supply, a New York-based company that roasts Vietnamese beans.

A first-time customer at Badr’s shop in Sunnyvale said an internet search brought her there on a recent weekday. Cindy Donovan, a self-described coffee enthusiast, said she is always hunting for distinctive roasts and was excited by the 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, a method that enhances its flavor and brings out undertones of chocolate and dried fruit, Almatrahi said. Yemeni cafes often blend coffee with special spice mixes known as hawaij, which may contain cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, or nutmeg.

“Our coffee and teas are not just made through a fully automatic machine,” said Mohamed Nasser, director of operations for Haraz Coffee House, a Dearborn, Michigan-based chain with 50 U.S. outlets and another 50 in development. “We have to manually blend and mix our coffee and tea, boil it with water and evaporated milk, and make sure it comes out with the perfect taste, perfect color.”

From Yemen’s highlands to the world

Coffee has a long and storied history in Yemen. While the Coffea arabica plant was likely first discovered in Ethiopia, by the 1400s it was being cultivated in Yemen’s mountainous highlands. There, Sufi monks brewed it to stay awake during lengthy nighttime prayers, according to the National Coffee Association, a U.S. trade group. Yemen effectively monopolized the global coffee trade for nearly 200 years, shipping beans from the port of Mocha (whose name became synonymous with chocolate-coffee blends) until Dutch merchants smuggled coffee seeds to Indonesia and broke the stranglehold.

Almatrahi says a revitalization of the Yemeni coffee industry over the last two decades led by coffee companies, foundations, and young entrepreneurs has helped make the current U.S. boom possible. Today, 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,” Almatrahi said. “So when we open these shops, we want to perform the outreach, to show the hospitality, to show what we have to offer.” In doing so, a new generation of Yemeni Americans is not only reviving an ancient heritage but also brewing a more inclusive vision of the American coffeehouse.

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