Roasted Arabica coffee, traditional music and conversations fill new Arab cafes. While these shops aim to highlight elements of Arab culture, they attract customers from a variety of backgrounds and create a shared community space.
Shaghf Cafe:
Founded in 2018 in Shaghf, United Arab Emirates, the Arab coffee shop Shaghf Cafe opened in Fairfax on July 19. Shaghf serves lattes infused with traditional flavors like cardamom, saffron, rose and dates, as well as sweet desserts and pastries.
“The cultural atmosphere draws a lot of diversity to the store, so I meet a variety of people,” senior Zain Farid, who works at Shaghf, said. “I’ve met people who speak all types of languages. It’s cool how [people] just come together and enjoy the same things.”
Shaghf’s popular drink items feature the pistachio latte, habibi latte, Spanish latte and karak chai, and their popular desserts include the nutella croffle, Dubai chocolate items and the signature Shaghf tart. Farid recommends the karak chai, which is a strong, creamy spiced milk tea particularly found in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“I’d say [these] coffee shops will definitely demonstrate Arab culture because the coffee beans or the tea brands that they use are usually imported from Yemen or wherever the place is,” Farid said.
Shotted Specialty Coffee:
The cafe Shotted Specialty Coffee is known for its aesthetics, interior design and specialty drinks influenced by Middle Eastern flavors. Opened on Aug. 9, Shotted’s most recent location in Gainesville introduces a menu that combines standard cafe drinks and desserts with flavors such as pistachio, rose and chai.
Shotted’s popular drink items include the iced pistachio latte, red velvet latte, Saudi coffee and karak chai. Their popular desserts include soft serve ice cream, pistachio cheesecake and basbosa. The cafe offers cultural events like latte art competitions and cultural celebrations like Saudi National Day, which can’t be found in mainstream coffee chains.
“I choose [to go to] Shotted because I like the vibe better,” freshman Elif Sen said. “It doesn’t feel boring or copy-and-paste like mainstream cafes. The drinks are actually interesting, and I feel more comfortable just hanging out there.
Shotted’s layout and seating arrangements create a setting that accommodates a range of customers, from those stopping briefly to others staying for longer periods. There are multiple seating areas like couches, seats and tables inside and chairs and tables outside. To stay for longer periods of time, rooms can be reserved on Shotted’s website.
“There’s always a mix of people, from groups of friends, people doing homework and families just hanging out,” Sen said. “You see Arabs for sure, but also a lot of different people who just like the vibe.”
Haraz Coffee House:
Having opened up its Fairfax location on April 14, Haraz Coffee House serves Yemeni-style drinks, which are flavoured with spices. Haraz offers items from traditional coffees like the Harazi Mufawar, which is Yemeni coffee with cardamom and cream, to lattes flavored with caramel, ginger and cinnamon.
“Typically I see many different resemblances of Arab culture through the decor, music, teas, coffee and the way that everyone gathers together, like how traditionally Arabs gather together and drink coffee and tea,” senior Qaniya Tarat, who works at Haraz, said.
Popular drink items feature the Harazi latte, karak chai, iced saffron latte and matcha latte. Favored desserts include milk cakes, cheesecakes and mosaic cakes. Tarat recommends the salted caramel iced latte and the bee bits, where bits are toasted bread filled with cream cheese, with black seed and drizzled with honey.
“I think people have recently become more aware of different cultures, flavors and different kinds of people, and are more likely to go out and explore different things,” Tarat said. “In this kind of society, Arab coffee houses are becoming more and more intriguing to people who are non-Arab.”
The interior of Haraz includes tables and chairs, warm lighting, potted plants and framed artwork on walls.
“The cultural environment personally helps me feel more comfortable because these are flavors and different things that I’ve grown up with so being in a cafe that has these flavors and this kind of atmosphere makes me feel more at home,” Tarat said.
