Haraz Coffee House, a Yemen-focused coffee shop, is getting ready to open its first location in North Carolina at Charlotte’s Plaza Midwood neighborhood at 1204 Central Ave.
The company’s newest location will move into the former home of Juice Bar in Fall 2023, according to the Plaza Midwood Instagram. Haraz Coffee House will offer something not commonly found in Charlotte, traditional Arabic-style coffee, lattes, and tea. All of their coffee is made with Haraz coffee beans, which are grown in Jabal Haraz, a region of Yemen, and are 100% organic and imported from the area. The company, led by CEO Hamzah Nasser, opened its first location in Dearborn, Michigan, in April 2021. Haraz Coffee House now has new seven existing sites, with new locations coming to Plano, TX, Ann Arbor, MI, Michigan State University, and San Francisco with the help of franchising.
On top of the delicious coffee selection, the new coffee shop will also offer various pastries, such as Tiramisu Coffee Cake and an Istanbul Cheesecake. Haraz Coffee House will also offer other hard-to-find styles of coffee, such as Harazi, a coffee with cardamom and cream, and Sana’ani, a Yemeni-style black coffee with cardamom. For those not wanting to try a new style of coffee, the cafe will offer an extensive menu of other drinks, such as Ice Tango Chai, and other refreshing drinks, such as the Iced Blush, with organic hibiscus, lavender, or blackberry.
This new coffee shop will be much more than a new eatery specializing in traditional Arabic-style coffee and pastries. Haraz Coffee House will offer classroom and hands-on courses where customers can learn more about the coffee world, specifically its origins. While the exact origin of the invention of coffee is not certain, the drink’s roots are often traced back to Ethiopia and Yemen. At Haraz Coffee House, customers will be able to both coffee and tea, offering courses such as espresso extraction, latte art, and brewing. The new coffee shop hopes to introduce a new experience to the Charlotte area.
“Yemen is the homeland of our family,” according to the company’s website. “As first-generation immigrants, we wanted to honor our heritage. Yemen is where coffee was invented and later flourished in global trade. Roasting and serving coffee is something that is inclusive of all people and cultures, and brings people together. Our coffee is grown from altitudes over 3,000 ft in a mountainous village called Haraz, where our namesake originates.”
