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PRESS

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FOOD & WINE MAGAZINE

by Khushbu Shah

"Hakim Sulaimani is wearing a burgundy track jacket half-zipped over a crisp white shirt, with a black bag that reads "Degentrify your coffee" in bright orange letters slung across his shoulder. They say that some people wear their heart on their sleeve, but in Sulaimani's case, it's more of a mission statement. The soft-spoken 28-year-old is determined to build a completely new coffee economy for Yemen, some 7,000 miles away...."

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NEW YORK TIMES

by: Saki Knafo

"Second-generation Yemeni entrepreneurs in Brooklyn want to reclaim their role as the purveyors of the original specialty coffee.

Hakim Sulaimani remembers exactly where he was when he first heard that his homeland, the poorest country in the Middle East, had invented one of the most popular drinks in the world..."

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EATER MAGAZINE

by: Pelin Keskin

"It’s pretty common today for coffee to be treated as much as a specialist’s realm as wine — with regional demarcations and geological tasting notes — but in New York, while Ethiopian and Brazilian are commonly cited, Yemeni coffee isn’t as popular even to coffee enthusiasts, let alone the mainstream coffee-drinker. Most people know it for famously costing as much as $16 a cup..."

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NEW YORK TIMES

by: Ligaya Mishan

"They’re ignored by much of the world, the withered, papery husks sloughed off the fruit of the coffee tree and discarded in favor of the precious beans. But in Yemen, the husks are treasured, steeped in boiling water with cardamom and ginger to make qishr, a brew that, half a millennium ago, Sufi dervishes drank to help them stay up all night, chanting the name of God..."

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ATMOS MAGAZINE

by: Marianne Dhenin

"For centuries, until the colonial powers established coffee plantations in Africa and Southeast Asia, almost the entire global coffee supply came from Yemen. But Yemeni coffee farming has been on the decline since and today is threatened by conflict, climate change, and increased competition..."

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EATER MAGAZINE

Eater Staff

"Cousins Ali Suliman and Hakim Sulaimani launched Yafa Cafe in 2019 to put a spotlight on Yemeni coffee culture in Sunset Park. Nearly three years later, it’s still going strong as a neighborhood cornerstone where the Yemeni-rooted food is just as good as the assortment of coffees..."

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THE INFATUATION

"Another coffee shop with great food in Sunset Park, Yafa Cafe is a Yemeni spot where you’ll want to hang out for several hours and attempt to befriend your barista. Service is friendly, and the long space has wifi, plenty of tables, as well as an area up front with books, brick walls, plants, and wicker furniture. Stop by for a coffee and some shakshuka in the morning, or get some work done while you eat a crispy fried chicken sandwich with a brussels sprout slaw..."

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