"Mohka House is one of many Yemeni coffee houses that seemed to appear in every Bay Area region overnight. The East Bay alone has at least a dozen, including Milyar on Adeline with its flashy rococo interiors and Old Oakland's equally ornate Sana'a Cafe. I spoke with Hamza about his cafe and the sudden proliferation of his home country's coffee in the region."
""Yemeni coffee is one of the best, if not the best, depending on who you're talking to," Hamza said. "It's very popular on the East Coast but due to Covid, it slowed things down as far as trying to import everything." He noted that for many years the war in Yemen, followed by the lockdown, made it difficult to export anything out of the country."
The Dimond District experiences frequent turnover among cafes, restaurants, and bars while retaining longtime and newer stable establishments. Farmer Joe's remains an anchor; La Farine approaches twenty years; Willows & Pine (2023) and Grand Lake Kitchen (2019) continue operating. Mohka House opened in 2023 on MacArthur in the former Hive space and represents part of a fast-growing Yemeni coffee scene. The East Bay hosts at least a dozen Yemeni coffee houses, ranging from flashy rococo interiors to ornate cafes in Old Oakland. Yemeni coffee features small beans, full earthy flavors, and a chocolatey aftertaste; export difficulties and pandemic impacts raised costs, with beans often priced between about $40 and $100 per pound.
Read at East Bay Express | Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]