In Yemen, gourmet cafes are multiplying in the bruised capital

July 27, 2023

In the streets of Sanaa, amid buildings riddled with shells, gourmet cafes born from the restrictions of the conflict, flourish across the Yemeni capital scarred by more than eight years of war.

The country, ravaged by a war between the government, backed by Saudi Arabia, and the Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, has a special relationship with coffee.

Legend has it that Sufi mystics from the west coast of Yemen were the first to grind coffee beans in the 15th century.

However, Yemeni entrepreneurs had so far relied on exporting their flagship product to wealthy foreign markets.

With the blocking of ports and other restrictions linked to the war, traders have retreated to the local market, opening cafes with an air of Paris or Brooklyn, in the Yemeni capital scarred by the conflict.

“People started considering Yemeni coffee to be expensive and lost interest” in importing it, says Rashed Ahmed Chagea of Durar Coffee, referring to the blow to the export market when the fighting broke out in 2015.

In his flashy new cafe located in the center of Sanaa, customers can comfortably taste these local beans, in the middle of a decor combining modernity and Yemeni art.

“We had to think of another way to support our farmers,” says Chagea.

“Everyone said it was impossible to work in Yemen, that people had no purchasing power… But we insisted,” he adds.

Since 2015, the population, largely cut off from the world, has been trapped in an internal conflict, which has taken a regional turn.

The war has plunged the already poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and halved its GDP, according to the World Bank.

In the affluent neighborhood of Hadda, Hussein Ahmed made a similar gamble in 2018, opening his cafe, Mocha Hunters, on a street littered with opulent villas.

It was the culmination of a long personal journey, beginning when he and his Japanese ex-wife opened a cafe in Tokyo over a decade ago.

Mr. Ahmed then turned to exporting, but the obstacles linked to the conflict pushed him to venture into his country of origin.

The cafe’s customers could be counted on the fingers of one hand when it launched, he said.

Now the patio is full. Most afternoons, Yemenis and foreigners come to savor qishr, a traditional drink made from coffee pods or a cold infusion for a price not exceeding 2 dollars.

“It’s like a wave”, enthuses Mr. Ahmed, judging the natural craze for a country which has transformed “grains into a magic drink”.

The drinks it offers are a far cry from the commercial coffee, often mixed with milk and sugar, that many Yemenis are used to consuming, says Mr. Ahmed.

“This movement reintroduces what is in good taste,” he judges confidently.

“Customers are told: Your tastes or preferences don’t matter to us. We drink what we think is good,” he says.

Durar and Mocha Hunters are heavily dependent on their exports, made possible by the announcement of a truce in April 2022.

Foreign sales have been further boosted by the Yemeni diaspora nostalgic for the war-torn country, Ahmed said.

“I think our nationals living abroad, because of the harshness of exile, become more emotional (…) and buy local products,” he says.

“It’s a global trend, gourmet coffee, but in Yemen, it’s more emotional,” he says.

Entrepreneurs are optimistic about local consumption, especially if a lasting ceasefire were to take hold, with a positive impact on the economy.

“This place is going to become the largest coffee center in the Middle East in the future,” predicts Ghaleb Yahya Alharazi, manager of Haraz, a cafe that opened last year and can accommodate up to 1,000 people.

“We have a goal, to return to the glory, culture and authenticity of Yemeni coffee,” he enthuses.