Photograph courtesy of Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co. Atlanta
The first people in the world to brew coffee were from the region that is now Yemen. Five-hundred years later, beans from coffee’s birthplace have arrived in Atlanta in a big way. Of the 100 or so Yemeni coffeehouses across the country, Atlanta has six, all of which have opened in the last five years. Yemeni coffee professionals say their culture is flourishing here because of the rich, nutty taste of their beans and specialty coffee enthusiasts’ insatiable desire to try coffees from origins that are new to them.
Coffee historians generally agree that the beverage’s roots can be traced to Ethiopia, where coffee plants were endemic. Fifteenth-century traders brought the plants across the Red Sea to Yemen, and the Yemenis first brewed them as a beverage. From Yemen’s port of Mokha (where the word mocha originated), coffee spread to the world. While coffee production scaled up in other regions, the industry in Yemen remained small. But today, Yemeni beans are sought for their rustic quality, boldness—and rarity. Importing coffee from Yemen has always been a challenge; the industry there is small, and with war recently intensifying in the region, transport has become even harder.
Local entrepreneur Hesham Abdulla opened Mokhaport in Tucker in 2021; he believes it was the first cafe in Georgia to specialize in Yemeni beans. The menu offers classic drinks like sanani (a comforting blend of Yemeni coffee, cardamom, and brown sugar), as well as traditional Middle Eastern snacks: fatira, a spiced pancake with spinach, or kaliat nahel, a whole-wheat bread stuffed with cheese.
Roswell’s 967 Coffee Co. was founded in 2025 by three cousins who aimed to evoke a “modern-day majlis”—the room in a Yemeni home where guests are entertained and coffee flows freely. It’s open until midnight or later every day, and the night shift is its busiest, serving a need for a safe, sober community space for anyone.
“We want everyone to feel welcome, like they belong,” says Osama Almathil, one of 967’s co-owners. “Our goal is to showcase the culture in a beautiful place, welcoming people from all backgrounds.”
The rest of Atlanta’s Yemeni coffeehouses are locally owned franchises: Shibam Coffee Co. in Alpharetta, Haraz Coffee House in Midtown, and Arwa Yemeni Coffee and Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co., both in Duluth. Arwa originated in Richardson, Texas, but the rest of these brands have expanded across the country from Dearborn, Michigan—the first Arab-majority city in the United States. Like 967, all of their Atlanta locations are open late at night.
“We aren’t really catering to a morning, heading-to-work kind of crowd,” says Danish Dharani, a cofounder of Qamaria. “In my head, it’s a coffee shop second; it’s a space for people to enjoy first.”
This article appears in our September 2026 issue.
