When Qamaria Yemeni Coffee opened its first Minnesota location in May in Little Canada, the line to get in the door stretched around the block.
The Twin Cities are home to many delightful Middle Eastern restaurants but fewer specific coffee shops. The opening-day rush at Qamaria (pronounced “ka-ma-REE-ya” with, in Arabic, a guttural initial ‘k’ sound) suggests, perhaps, that we’re overdue for a place like this.
Qamaria started a couple years ago in Dearborn, Mich. — home to one of the country’s largest Middle Eastern immigrant populations — and all the coffee is grown in Yemen and roasted in Michigan.
The Little Canada location is a locally owned franchise and, like other coffee shops that have opened in recent years in the East Metro, has gained instant popularity not only for great food and drinks but also as a deeply rooted cultural space.
The drink menu includes several traditional Yemeni coffee and tea preparations, including the Mufawaar, or coffee steeped with cardamom and served with cream, and the Juban, which blends coffee and qishr — a tea-like drink made with the husks of coffee beans — with cinnamon, ginger and cardamom.
The pistachio latte — one of the best flavored lattes in the Twin Cities, I think — was stunningly full-bodied, with a pitch-perfect savory, woodsy edge that quality pistachio treats should have. The house Qamaria latte, flavored with cinnamon and cardamom, was also particularly enjoyable: richly aromatic but not overpowering, and with none of the grainy texture or sludge that can result when other coffee shops try to add ground spices to beverages.
Food options
There are some food options, too; mostly sweet, with a savory option here and there. (On a recent Thursday morning, they were serving crispy, spicy beef sambusas.)
The pastry case, full of colorful cakes and breads and cheesecakes, is the main attraction. I opted for a slice of khalyet nahel, a.k.a. honeycomb bread, a Yemeni specialty. Small balls of cream cheese-stuffed dough are arranged in a concentric pattern and topped with sesame seeds, and each slice is toasted and drizzled with honey. It’s the ideal coffee snack. Sweet but not too sweet; light and airy but still substantial.
Beyond just the cakes, the whole cafe is colorful, from the upholstery on the bench seating to the ornately decorated food trays. And it makes sense: The Arabic word qamaria, which translates roughly to ‘moon-like,’ refers in Yemen to a particular type of vibrant half-moon-shaped stained glass window that’s a common architectural feature there.
But the real giveaway of Qamaria Yemeni Coffee’s Middle Eastern roots is its hours. Open at 8 every morning, the shop doesn’t close till 11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and midnight Fridays through Sundays.
Coffee culture in much of the Middle East, including Yemen, is central to social gatherings and hospitality. And because observant Muslims typically don’t drink alcohol, coffee becomes part of nightlife, too.
The Yemeni coffee shop isn’t necessarily an errand or a pit-stop — it’s a place to spend time.
And with the drinks and food on offer at Qamaria, that’s exactly what I want to do.
Small Bites are first glances — not intended as definitive reviews — of new or changed restaurants.
Qamaria Yemeni Coffee: 3 Little Canada Rd E, Little Canada; 651-219-5973; qamariacoffee.com or on Instagram @yemenicoffeemn