Lombard's booming Yemeni coffee shops underscore demand for ‘third places' and culturally appropriate nightlife

Chicago Tribune

3 days ago

At the recent soft launch opening of Shibam Coffee in suburban Glendale Heights, customers swarmed in, lined the red-roped entrance area and stared in wonder at the lavishly decorated interior, with marble floors and Arabic calligraphy on the walls. A few patrons started snapping photos even before getting to the main door. A teenager asked an employee setting up chairs if the Yemeni coffee shop was hiring.
What used to be a Chase Bank next to a Taco Bell in a busy plaza on North Avenue was now an immaculately designed cafe serving cardamom coffee and pistachio lattes to customers eager to become regulars.
'People kept asking (on social media) when we were opening and it took a long time — but we wanted it to be perfect,' said Moiz Baig, co-owner of the newly opened Shibam Coffee, the Dearborn, Michigan-based Yemeni coffee chain's first-ever Illinois location. 'The (Yemeni) coffee business is booming right now — no matter how many there are, people are still excited.'
The recent boom in Yemeni coffee shops in the Chicago area, specifically in Lombard and other suburbs with a growing population of modern Muslim communities, underscores the rising demand for a place to socialize that isn't tied to alcohol, but with a buzzy nightlife ambience.
'It's a third place for people like us,' Baig said. 'We don't go to bars, but these coffee shops are booming because they are like 'halal bars.''
The recently popularized term 'third place' was coined by American sociologist Ray Oldenburg to describe locations outside of the home and the workplace where people go to connect with one another. While use of the phrase to describe Yemeni coffeehouses may be newer, the concept isn't surprising: People just want a nice place to hang out, a place that feels safe. Great coffee and chai is the bonus.
'People feel like they belong because of the experience — it's for families with kids, it's for people who want to bring their laptop to work, it's for young people (meeting friends),' Baig said. 'No one feels out of place.'
Baig said he wanted his cafe to 'bring something that was missing from the market,' with both a spacious interior and parking lot big enough to support the influx of customers. Shibam also offers a prayer room, and an area to wash up for those who want to pray. There's also reservable rooms for large parties.
'That is something nobody has and it's something that's very unique,' Baig said. 'People are booking these rooms for birthdays, for conferences, for meetings. (Shibam) is kind of becoming a home for a lot of people.'
The maximum occupancy limit for inside Shibam is 120, with space for nearly 100 more outside. Baig joked that even that might not be enough.
Irshad Khanlodhi, Baig's father-in-law and co-owner of Shibam in Glendale Heights, said he revels in seeing young faces and older adults sitting back and feeling at ease in the space he spent so much time creating. He feels a sense of fulfillment for having provided a refuge for the community.
On most Friday and Saturday evenings when Yemeni coffeehouses particularly thrive, it's usually a mix of all those groups, and then some. Urdu, Arabic and English fill the air, alongside the clanking of cups and whooshing of espresso machines.
'I love seeing this — can you believe there are almost 200 people here, inside and out?' Khanlodhi said on a recent Saturday night — or early Sunday morning. It was 1:30 a.m., and there was an illuminating glow from the outside, where everything else was quiet and closed.
'It feels like we are somewhere else,' Khanlodhi said.
Yemeni coffeehouses have especially resonated in immigrant communities where people want to go out at night, but not to a bar or a club. They still want aesthetics and ambiance and music, but not so loud that conversations are hard to hold.
In the daylight hours, places like Shibam shift gears.
'This is the calmest it gets,' said barista Yamana Kurbi on a Thursday afternoon. 'In the beginning it was crazy, I don't know how I had the energy to keep up with it.'
The constant chatter and order numbers being called out were replaced by college students on holiday, a group of young girls snapping a photo of the bright pink dragonfruit refresher and remote workers enjoying a change of scenery, sipping a in a beautifully lit cafe. There were people in street clothes, suits, and prayer .
Kurbi is Yemeni, but was born and raised in Hyderabad, India. That crossover is not uncommon. She said she was surprised to see the amount of Yemeni, Muslim-owned coffee shops in the Chicago suburbs, something she didn't see much of in India.
'I used to love going to cafes in Hyderabad, there are a lot of really good ones, but I don't even think I can remember one that was Yemeni,' she said. 'When I learned that (Shibam) was opening, I was so excited — my bloodline is Yemeni, so I am very proud to see that there are so many people who love these places.'
Yemeni coffeehouses like Shibam appeal to a diverse group of customers, not just immigrants who can relate to the culture. People of all ethnic backgrounds enjoy the same space. And despite the proliferation, there remains a strong demand for new ones. But the central idea behind each one goes back to coffee's roots, something first pulled off by Qahwah House, a Yemeni coffee shop often referred to by customers and competitors as the 'OG.'
Ibrahim Alhasbani, founder and owner of Qahwah House, said when the cafe opened in Dearborn, Michigan, in 2017, it was the first Yemeni coffee shop of its kind in the U.S., serving traditional Yemeni-style farm-to-cup coffee. Qahwah House now has more than 23 locations across seven states, and Alhasbani said he gets several requests a day from people interested in a franchise opportunity (though he's set a high standard for which ones he accepts).
Since Qahwah House's second location landed in Lombard in 2021, it set off a wave of new Yemeni coffee shops across the Chicago area.
Haraz Coffee House is one that's embracing the late-night, alcohol-free third space approach with a franchise model. There are locations in Niles and Orland Park and another soon opening in Aurora, with likely more to come.
Alhasbani said he's 'very proud' to have pioneered a new style of business that opened up the market to others, and is graceful about his competitors creating menus almost identical to Qahwah House.
'Our plan from the beginning was to bring Yemeni coffee and Yemeni coffee history to the forefront,' Alhasbani said. 'This is where coffee comes from and this is how we can share our culture with different people from different backgrounds. Of course, we cannot do it only by ourselves.'
Coffee is a deeply personal topic for Alhasbani, who comes from a family with eight generations of coffee farmers. When Qahwah House first opened, he hoped to put Yemen on the map and educate people about the rich history of something so integral to people's daily life. Yemen is known to coffee connoisseurs as the birthplace of coffee — the origin of coffee culture, with centuries-old brewing methods.
'We know what coffee means to us — it's not from 2017 when we opened our first coffee shop or from yesterday, we have 300 years of knowing coffee, knowing the quality and the soil and the process,' Alhasbani said.
Along with coffee beans from Yemen, each of the American Yemeni cafes has its version of adeni chai, made with tea leaves, evaporated milk, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and sugar, best poured from a hot kettle into tiny glass teacups. The chai doesn't taste the same in a 16-ounce to-go cup, though many do order it that way. Chai, both regular and adeni, have a strong black tea base that's enhanced by the addition of milk, making it creamier and more indulgent — but not heavy. Spices add a lingering warmth and unbeatable aroma.
Qahwah House was the first to put adeni chai on the map, said Alhasbani, and the drink now appears on menus at various Yemeni coffeehouses. While it's in reference to Aden, a region in Yemen, the tea itself is from India, which is known for its lush, hilly tea plantations. Alhasbani created adeni chai using Indian techniques of brewing tea leaves with milk and water, but added his own touch with Yemeni spices.
'We don't grow tea in Yemen, we have coffee — we are famous for the coffee!' Alhasbani said with a laugh.
Alhasbani said he's proud to see that the cultural significance of the land and its coffee remains intact at each new cafe. He hopes all the new Yemeni coffee shop owners stay true to the farm-to-cup concept.
'You have to bring your coffee from Yemen,' Alhasbani said. 'We need to help the farmers back home. If there are more Yemeni coffee shops open, that means we will need more coffee. We're going to help the economy over there, we're going to help create job opportunities. This is our plan from the beginning.'
Beyond Yemeni coffee, the recent surge in Lombard includes other Muslim-owned coffee shops embracing cafe culture, each with its own approach.
The sheer volume of coffee shops on Roosevelt Road in Lombard alone is telling, whether they are Yemeni, South Asian, Muslim-owned or immigrant-owned.
Driving down from Shibam in Glendale Heights, you would come across Matari Coffee Co. first. Matari fits right into the local landscape: To the left is an Indian grocery store, Pardesi, and a halal Mexican restaurant, Taquería Los Sombreros. To the right is Addah, a Desi street food spot serving paratha rolls and chai.
Matari, which has had a location in Skokie since 2024, opened in Lombard in January. The franchise plans to expand to Aurora, Orland Park and Schaumburg later this year, with several more locations slated across the U.S.
The large storefront is dressed in brown leather chairs, luxurious booths, pristine white tables, nods to Islamic architecture and subtle reminders of coffee's roots in Yemen.
Arshad Yaqoob, co-owner of Matari in Lombard and Skokie, gets his coffee beans directly from Matari headquarters in Canton, Michigan, after they've been shipped from Yemen.
Just like any American coffee shop, Matari serves the typical cappuccino, latte, cortado, caramel macchiato, mocha, cold brew, matcha and a lineup of refreshers. But they hope to be known for their drinks such as the 'Matari latte' with notes of cardamon, cinnamon and ginger, or the very-Instagrammable iced pistachio frappuccino.
The pistachio drinks and pistachio desserts are having a moment, said Yaqoob. They've got a version of the viral Dubai chocolate bar with pistachio cream and or shredded phyllo filling for $8. Some other places have it for much more, Yaqoob said, but he keeps his price point lower with families in mind, so they can enjoy a treat without breaking the bank.
Though Matari is a Yemeni cafe, many of the franchise owners are not. Yaqoob and his nephew, Suleman Sami Noor, who is also a co-owner, are Pakistani. Baig at Shibam is Pakistani, too. But they see overlap in both cultures.
'Growing up, you only had Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks, now you have all these Muslim communities opening up all these coffee shops,' Yaqoob said. 'Not only do parents of Muslim kids feel comfortable sending their kids to coffee shops late at night — they also might join them. It's part of our culture to sit down and have chai and stay up socializing. That's what is driving people in.'
Yaqoob admitted that competition in the local coffee industry is high, and it can be a challenge being completely different from the rest when the overall concept and offerings are the same, including the pastries. Almost all of the Yemeni coffee shops offer varying flavors of milk cake, cheesecakes, slices of layer cakes (including a Dubai chocolate flavor), croissants, tiramisu cups and an assortment of traditional Yemeni breads and pastries. Yaqoob said it's a small world of vendors supplying a crowded field coffee shops.
A two-minute drive from Matari is Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co., which also has locations in Aurora, Chicago Ridge and Bridgeview.
Qamaria's beverage menu includes all the greatest hits also found at Matari, Shibam and Qahwah House: iced Yemeni-spiced lattes, pistachio-flavored lattes, rose tres leches, honeycomb cake also known as in Arabic. In addition to the adeni chai, Qamaria also offers a latte version with creamy steamed milk.
The roster of refreshers is common for a Yemeni cafe — tangerine, wild peach, hibiscus, mango, dragonfruit and lemonade. Qamaria's most notable quality is the Turkish seating along the back wall below a few stained glass window decals.
Across the street, inching closer to Qahwah House, is TeaTime AnyTime. While not exclusively known for Yemeni-style drinks, the singular location serves a variety of chai (Irani, zafrani or safron, , Kashmiri and Moroccan) and a long list of milk tea (taro, Thai, honeydew, brown sugar, salted cream brown sugar), fruit teas (dragon berry, peach, mango and more) and slushies.
The savory snacks at TeaTime AnyTime vary more than its Yemeni coffeehouse counterparts, which typically offer more sweet options. At TeaTime AnyTime, customers can pick from puff pastry filled with chicken tikka, butter paneer, spinach and cheese and samosas in varieties of veggie, ground beef or chicken.
A one-minute drive from there is Pakistani-owned Cafe Bethak. In a sea of Yemeni coffee shops, Cafe Bethak offers customers 'classic, authentic Desi chai,' said the owner, Nimra Irfan.
Though she has variations on the menu, the star is the '' — no spices, just the classic preparation with milk, water and tea.
Further down the same plaza is Cocomelt, enforcing the cafe culture scene with chocolate-based crepes, waffles and gelato. Popular drinks include iced Korean dalgona, mango mint refresher, iced strawberry matcha and lattes with a churro-vibe. The storefront is massive and visibly expensive — ornate light fixtures, fancy accent chairs as seating and a quiet area for prayer.
From Cocomelt, a two-minute drive leads to Sweet Reserve Bakery, a Muslim-owned pastry and coffee shop, known for its custom cakes and dessert case stocked with cheesecake, an assortment of tres leches jars, macarons, cakesicles, creme brulee, key lime tarts. The bakery also serves Turkish breads, egg croissants and a decadent Philly grilled cheese. While the other coffee shops on Roosevelt Road tend to rely on similar sweet and savory items, Sweet Reserve has carved out its own identity.
Shaghf Cafe — not Yemeni, but with a focus on similar Arab coffee culture — is also on Roosevelt, but in neighboring Villa Park.
With more and more entrepreneurs riding the demand for 'third places' that are open deep into the night, it's likely more of the same style of coffee shops will continue sprouting up a short distance away from existing ones.
And more cafes serving coffee and chai mean more options for customers, which can't possibly be a bad thing, said a customer at Shibam recently: 'If there can be four Starbucks in one town, why can't there be a few or more Yemeni coffee shops too?'
Mithai on Devon, cakes on Roosevelt: How Chicago and Lombard offer different takes on South Asian sweetsOne mile, more than a dozen Latino-owned cafes: How Pilsen's coffee culture is growing across 18th Street