Yafa Café: Reviving Yemen’s Coffee Heritage in Brooklyn

At just 28 years old, Hakim Sulaimani, owner of Yafa Café in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, is reshaping how Americans experience Yemeni coffee. Opened in 2019, the café is more than a business—it’s a cultural and economic mission aimed at reviving Yemen’s centuries-old coffee legacy.

Sulaimani grew up in the same neighborhood where Yafa Café now stands, just steps away from his father’s deli. While his father still sells $1 cups of coffee, Yafa Café’s Yemeni pour-over—made with beans sourced from small farms in Yafa—is $7 a cup. For Sulaimani, the price reflects not only quality but also a commitment to ethical sourcing and supporting Yemeni farmers struggling through war and economic hardship.

Inside the café, every detail—from photographs of Yemen to baskets handwoven in his ancestral village—tells a story of heritage. The menu blends tradition and innovation, with items like cardamom-brown sugar lattes, hawaij-spiced fried chicken sandwiches, Yemeni shurba (bulgur soup), and honeycomb buns, a family recipe baked fresh every morning when the café first opened.

Sulaimani hopes to expand Yafa Café into multiple locations and eventually see his Yemeni coffee beans stocked in supermarkets across the U.S. More importantly, he wants Yemeni farmers to once again thrive from the crop that gave coffee to the world. As he puts it, “Any type of coffee can trace its DNA to Yemeni coffee. You’re drinking the grandfather of coffee.”