Former Dearborn Qahwah House employee opens new location in Ohio

Table Of Content

• Restaurant Photos
• Female-only cafes resist the patriarchal culture in Algeria
• Grocery deals: The Tribune food team’s favorite money-saving markdowns at Chicagoland stores
• For many Muslims and Arab Americans, Yemeni coffee shop Qahwah House feels like home
• Best Restaurants Nearby
• The long shadow of US and UK torture in the Middle East
• There is a genuine sense of ceremony when you order a cup at Qahwah House

Take, for example, their Jubani coffee, a blend of medium and light roast beans, coffee husks and aromatic spices. It’s served lightly sweetened, with no milk or cream, and it tastes like a cross between spicy ginger tea and a perfectly balanced light roast. There’s also the Mofwar, my husband’s go-to order, which combines a finely ground medium-roast coffee with cardamom and evaporated milk, all brewed together and strained into a glass pot. Both are examples of traditional Yemeni coffee drinks that will expand your concept of what coffee is, and can be. The menu at Qahwah House in Lombard lists five types of Yemeni-style coffees that can be ordered steaming hot in a glass teapot or single serve. Sana’ani is a medium roast with hints of cardamom — a warm, slightly pungent and aromatic spice that gives most Yemeni coffee drinks their distinctive taste.

Restaurant Photos

According to Yasen, each Qahwah House location serves coffee directly from Yemen, from the farms of the founder, whose family has been harvesting coffee beans for eight generations. In addition to the coffee beans that Alhasbani roasts and grinds in-house, he also offers tea and some food items. Alhasbani and his family own the farm where his coffee beans are sourced. He said his father and grandfather worked in the coffee industry for a long time. Even though their Williamsburg location is a 20-minute drive from my apartment in Kensington, I’ve found myself wanting to return on an almost weekly basis. Part of the draw is the sense of adventure — I know I’m not going to get yet another technically-perfect-but-boring latte here.

Female-only cafes resist the patriarchal culture in Algeria

Dearborn Yemeni coffee shop Qahwah House to open more locations across US - Detroit Free Press

Dearborn Yemeni coffee shop Qahwah House to open more locations across US.

Posted: Wed, 29 Jun 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Ibrahim Alhasbani founded Qahwah House in Dearborn, Michigan in 2017, several years after moving to the US from Yemen. He noticed that Americans are obsessed with coffee, and came up with the idea of bringing Yemeni coffee into the picture. “So whereas Ethiopia is the place where coffee is indigenous, Yemen is the first place where coffee is farmed,” he says. Around the 15th century, Sufi monks were known to make coffee to stay awake during mediation and prayers. As it grew in popularity, the lucrative crop was shipped across the Middle East and Europe from the Red Sea port. She has bylines in publications such as Barista Magazine, Unearth Women, World Nomads, and more.

Grocery deals: The Tribune food team’s favorite money-saving markdowns at Chicagoland stores

Jubani is a medium-light roast made with both the bean and its dried skin, known as coffee husks, brewed with cardamom, ginger and cinnamon. And for coffee drinkers who need that splash of milk, mofawar is a traditional, softer-on-the-palate choice brewed gently with cream. As the oldest Detroit neighborhood, Corktown is as charming as can be.

Mexicantown-Southwest Detroit

Part of Qahwah House’s mission is to educate people about Yemen and the origins of coffee. Although many people think that coffee originated in Brazil or Colombia, there is some historical evidence that Yemen is the birthplace of coffee. When you walk into Qahwah House, one of the first things you notice is a giant map showing the origins of the Yemeni coffee trade.

In the 1400s, the first coffee shipments began from Mocha port on Yemen's Red Sea coast, which was named after the variety of coffee beans found there. Qahwah House’s sourcing of coffee beans directly from Yemen is part of their effort to educate people on this history and parts of Yemeni culture to be proud of. For practising Muslims who do not go to clubs or bars, there are few places to hang out other than restaurants. Qahwah House provides an alternative community space for people to socialise. The menu lists lattes and iced mochas, a photogenic iced caramel macchiato, a matcha latte and cappuccino, a cortado, affogato and hot chocolate.

He described the coffee as having natural sweetness and a fruity, not bitter, aftertaste. It also has a natural chocolate flavor that other places have tried to emulate by adding chocolate to coffee and calling it mocha. Waell Ali, a co-owner of the Clifton location, said he learned about the heritage of Yemen, his family’s country of origin, when he started working at Qahwah House. The coffee there is grown organically in higheraltitudes and prepared using natural methods.

The long shadow of US and UK torture in the Middle East

Midtown and its bordering Brush Park neighborhood includes the home of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University. Its bar and dining scene is a melting pot of cuisines with longtime favorites and a host of newer ones. There are fine dining spots, longtime upscale Italian places and award-winning casual fare. It’s home to iconic Detroit classics such as The Whitney, an old mansion built by a lumber baron, newcomer Vecino with Mexico City fare and the forthcoming Leña offering Spanish-influenced fare.

This month, Ibrahim Alhasbani had a soft opening for his Yemeni coffee shop “Qahwah House” located at 6655 Schaefer Road. Even for the most dedicated aficionados, New York City’s coffee scene can become tiresome after a while. Third-wave coffee dominates in Brooklyn, Manhattan and much of Queens, with its focus on fruity, acidic flavor profiles and finding new ways to pour hot water over coarsely-ground beans. If you, like me, are a serious coffee nerd who wants something a little more exciting out of your eight-dollar latte, then Qahwah House should be at the top of your list.

After the first drops of water are absorbed in the beans, they must fluff up or “bloom” before more water is poured on top. This way of making coffee helps to maximize flavor and quality for the coffee drinker. The coffee beans come via ship directly from his family's farm in Yemen. And though the shipment often takes two months to arrive, for him it's worth the wait.

Adeni chai — arguably the shop’s most popular tea drink and hailing from the Aden region of Yemen — is made with black tea, evaporated milk, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and sugar. The ingredient list is simple, but the nuance of the boil and brew makes all the difference. Aleyna Ciftci, 24, of Wayne said she used to travel to Brooklyn to visit another franchise location that became a popular hangout for young Muslims. She enjoys talking with friends, playing cards and drinking chai there, she said. In Turkish culture, she said, families are accustomed to gathering in the evenings with coffee and tea to talk or play games. The quality of the coffee and the origin story has resonated with customers.

The coffee from that region took on the name of the port, which is where mocha as we know it comes from. “People who want to experience something different will come,” says Ibrahim Alhasbani, the founder and owner of the coffee shop based in Dearborn, Michigan. At the Qahwah House — "qahwah" means "coffee" in Arabic — a massive map adorns a wall depicting historic trade routes of Arabica beans from Yemen to the rest of the world. In the 15th century, Yemen became the first place to cultivate and drink coffee beverages, and then exported the crop around the world. What makes it unique is the natural process used to grow it, and all the natural and rich flavors that you can taste in every sip.