A new kind of coffee shop is coming to metro Atlanta. Haraz Coffee House, specializing in Yemeni coffee, plans to open its first Atlanta area shop in Midtown. Haraz will be located at University House (930 Spring Street), a student housing building, where it replaces Twisted Kitchen which closed in the roughly 2,000 square foot space last year.
One of the shop's most popular drinks is the "Adeni Chai", a mash-up of Indian masala tea fused with Yemeni tea leaves, cardamom, and cinnamon, an homage to the spice trade between India and Yemen. The cafe also offers assorted coffees, teas and pastries as well as packaged snacks, beverages, coffee beans by the pound, and other goodies.
The concept proved quite popular and Nasser, who was born in Yemen but grew up in Dearborn, has today expanded through franchising to include seventeen locations with nearly 150 more "coming soon."
Yemeni coffee shops are growing in popularity across the country, as CNN explains in this report this past October. Beyond a differentiated product, another reason for the rise in popularity of the coffee shops and their "third place" positioning, is their welcoming and elevated atmosphere as well as their evening hours, with most open until 10pm or later.
According to data from analytics firm Placer.ai, the average "dwell time" at Starbucks and Dunkin' is 10-14 minutes, whereas a sampling of Haraz locations revealed an average of 56 minutes! People tend to stay longer when the space feels designed more for lounging and connecting than the traditional "grab & go" model.
Metro Atlanta is already home to a few independent Yemeni and Syrian coffee shops including Mokhaport on Mountain Industrial Boulevard and Mint Coffeehouse on Lawrenceville Highway, both in Tucker.
The majority of current Haraz locations are in Michigan and Texas, but the chain has also expanded into New York City, San Francisco, Charlotte, and Nashville, according to its website.
At University House, Haraz joins existing eateries Taco Bell and Insomnia Cookies. The shop is a stone's throw from Dancing Goats Coffee and also not far from Agora, a popular Mediterranean restaurant that in late 2023 expanded its restaurant and debuted a new menu.
Have you been to Haraz Coffee House? Have you tried Yemeni coffee? Where else in metro Atlanta would you like to see Haraz open?
Please share your thoughts below.
2 comments:
When I go back home to NYC, I usually hit up Qahwah House. I'm not a coffee drinker, but there is something really nice about Yemeni coffee, so this is exciting.
the haraz in charlotte is outsanding. about time we were blessed with their cardamom here
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