[HN Gopher] Yemeni Coffee Shops in Texas
___________________________________________________________________
Yemeni Coffee Shops in Texas
Author : Geekette
Score : 193 points
Date : 2025-01-03 11:11 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.texasmonthly.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.texasmonthly.com)
| m463 wrote:
| I've noticed this becoming popular, but funny enough they don't
| do decaf.
| thisislife2 wrote:
| I think decaf is a very "American" specific thing? Haven't
| really seen it in Asia or Middle East.
| m463 wrote:
| Uncertain, but it might be useful for a coffee place open at
| night :)
| sam29681749 wrote:
| Lots of places have decaf in Korea.
| skissane wrote:
| Majority of cafes in Australia offer it. I don't think that
| many people order it, but enough for them to keep it
| available.
| seany wrote:
| Never seen it in Africa, other than transit hubs with
| westerners.
| nemo44x wrote:
| Yeah wouldn't want it on your menu in....America?
| accurrent wrote:
| Its pretty common where I live in Asia. Most people here dont
| particularly like the idea of caffeine at night, although
| late night coffee is rare where I live.
| elashri wrote:
| Yemeni Coffee [1] is very special and unique coffee. and decaf
| is very American thing.
|
| [1] https://cornercoffeestore.com/yemen-coffee/
| petesergeant wrote:
| > decaf is very American thing
|
| This is not true. The American's didn't come up with it, the
| Americans don't drink the most of it per-capita[*], and the
| Americans don't drink that much of it.
|
| It would be fair to say "decaf is a rich country thing",
| though.
|
| [*] although in absolute terms, they import more of it than
| any other single country, but there's a lot of them
| elashri wrote:
| I meant American in the sense that is is consumed so much
| by Americans. And yes it is also related to economy and
| many places you will find barely any shop that will offer
| that. That is not the case in the US.
|
| edit: I feel like I was ignorant about this and my
| assumption was wrong and not based on facts. sorry about
| that.
| petesergeant wrote:
| > That is not the case in the US
|
| Indeed, American abundance is legendary
|
| https://s.hdnux.com/photos/27/30/53/6130392/6/960x0.webp
| jack_pp wrote:
| idk in Romania you have decaf almost everywhere but I've
| heard we have a lot of (specialty) coffee shops so maybe
| we're the outlier
| Scoundreller wrote:
| I miss "5 to go"s everywhere.
|
| Probably too chain-y but was pretty sweet.
| jack_pp wrote:
| Yeah if you drink lattes it is pretty good value for
| money. If you want to make at home try coffee from
| https://www.mabo.coffee/
| umanwizard wrote:
| It seems very common for people to think that if there's
| something they've heard about from American pop culture (or
| the internet), but isn't popular in the few countries
| they're familiar with, it must be uniquely American.
| petesergeant wrote:
| Yes! I wasn't sure how to express that without sounding
| like a dick, but I remember a comment a few weeks ago
| where someone was suggesting Amex was unheard of in
| Europe, where what they _really_ meant was it isn 't in
| Ireland, where they were.
| m463 wrote:
| do they call it irex there?
|
| What do they call a quarter-pounder? :) (pulp fiction)
| 0_____0 wrote:
| Wait, which country is the most decaf-drinking per capita?
| benatkin wrote:
| Depends on if they have a menu that is a superset of the
| standard coffee shop fare or not. This one in SoMa
| unsurprisingly has decaf, in the form of espresso, because they
| want to be ready for their foot traffic.
| https://delahcoffee.com/
| bsnnkv wrote:
| I'm definitely the target audience for alcohol-free spaces that
| open late - hopefully this makes its way to the PNW!
| carabiner wrote:
| Seattle is an 8 pm city. I'd love for anything to be open late
| here.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| Ithaca used to have 24 hour businesses but since the pandemic
| and the 10x-ing of the homeless colony they are long gone.
| wrl wrote:
| How does homelessness relate at all?
| nemomarx wrote:
| Similar to public bathrooms - if a business is open 24
| hours and you can stick around in there in the heated /
| cooled interior that's good for the homeless person, but
| maybe bad for loitering or the business.
|
| I can't imagine a business closing over it, but having a
| closing time is a good way to get people to leave maybe?
| PaulHoule wrote:
| People with schizophrenia spazzing out, police calls,
| etc. There has been a huge increase in disturbed behavior
| in public.
| Aloha wrote:
| How I miss when 13 Coins was 24/7 - the pandemic killed
| that.
|
| It was a lifesaver for me when I worked grave, I could go
| for a sumptuous dinner at 3 or 4 am.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| There used to be late night coffee shops, and more late night
| restaurants.
|
| That mostly went away years ago, basically completely died in
| COVID, and the labor shortages in the service industry never
| eased up enough to maintain staffing at places that had late
| night hours. And I do mean not enough people; the housing
| shortage is so acute that service workers cannot find places
| to live.
| CoastalCoder wrote:
| Rhode Island didn't have a lot of late night coffee shops
| even before the pandemic. But after it they're neigh
| impossible to find. At least outside of Providence.
| davidw wrote:
| > the housing shortage is so acute that service workers
| cannot find places to live.
|
| You can trace all kinds of seemingly unrelated problems
| back to the "housing theory of everything".
| carabiner wrote:
| Yeah, I hate how COVID changed things so much for the
| worse.
|
| If I was a crazy billionaire, I'd open a good pizza place
| in SLU or somewhere central with pies that cost $20 for a
| large, open til 3 am. Maybe aim to lose no more than $5,000
| per month. It would not be profitable with the crazy high
| minimum wage, so I would just accept the loss for providing
| this benefit to the city.
| slillibri wrote:
| A Pizza Mart is open until 2am, at least in Belltown but
| you can only get a medium for around $20.
| sneak wrote:
| Or just charge what it costs to not lose money, the
| demand is there.
|
| In cities like this people will travel a significant
| distance for hot food. And there's always the delivery
| apps, too.
| cess11 wrote:
| It's a billionaire, the point is to undermine the
| possibility of a market.
| aprilthird2021 wrote:
| But why are Yemeni coffee shops immune to these issues?
|
| I think the answer is they are a tighter knit community
| (potentially a family) than the average coffee shop, so
| easier to keep the shop staffed late.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| I mean, _in Texas_ is decidedly not _in Seattle_ so the
| real estate dynamics are significantly different.
|
| Houston has addressed population growth by spreading ever
| more outwards, because it is flat with few natural
| barriers. Seattle hasn't really had a choice other than
| to grow upwards, since it is hemmed in by lakes and
| mountains in every direction. But like most American
| metropolitan areas, most of the Seattle region has until
| fairly recently been opposed to density.
|
| The resulting housing crunch has resulted in significant
| demands for wages to pay for housing. Houston follows the
| federal tipped minimum wage of $2.13/hr. Seattle does not
| have a different payscale for tipped workers so the
| minimum is $20.76/hr.
| darth_avocado wrote:
| There's cultural aspects to it. Europe, Middle East and
| Asia has a culture where there's enough people up and
| about till late. People anre anre outside, often at third
| places like coffee shops that allow you to spend time
| without spending a ton. Even if you're at home, you are
| not in bed at 9, like majority of Americans. I would
| assume the clientele at the Yemeni shops comes from a
| place that has the "stay out till late" culture.
| throwup238 wrote:
| Dick's is open till 2 am :)
| carabiner wrote:
| Also a lot of kebab places which aren't bad. But like,
| something like a late night kbbq place that's all smoky
| inside would be amazing.
| wenc wrote:
| I feel you. Most Seattle people are homebodies by their own
| admission. Anything open after 9 pm is usually a bar.
|
| Also, things have gotten worse after the pandemic. Low
| revenue after 9 pm (unless alcohol is involved), high labor
| costs, and safety issues means the juice is not worth the
| squeeze for most retail businesses here.
|
| When I used to live in Chicago, the economics worked out
| differently, so there were many businesses that opened late.
| marssaxman wrote:
| Is that cause or effect? If there is nothing to do, you
| stop going out to do it, and then you forget how to be
| social. Seems like a vicious cycle.
| wenc wrote:
| It's both. Seattle is one of the most introverted cities
| in the US (socially, it's disproportionately shaped by
| the tech population). Seattle Freeze is a real thing.
| COVID also did a number on people worldwide.
|
| Also, gloomy weather 7-8 months of the year makes you not
| want to socialize.
| aprilthird2021 wrote:
| I don't know if tech has anything to do with it. The
| Yemeni coffee shops in the article have been thriving for
| years in San Francisco
| carabiner wrote:
| Supposedly it's Seattle's scandinavian origins. Obviously
| Seattle is a big coffee town but the cafe vibes are
| definitely different from SF's, or LA's.
| bsnnkv wrote:
| For anyone looking for late night activities here: Swing
| dancing is a great late night activity in Seattle - multiple
| live jazz bands a month (at least once a week), and very low
| alcohol consumption (people mainly go to dance/practice).
| It'll be sad to see the Century Ballroom closing its doors
| this spring.
| IG_Semmelweiss wrote:
| Covid wiped out a lot of 24 hour spots in all the big metro
| markets.
|
| Revenue halted overnight, and often turned negative with
| breakins and general insecurity
| SoftTalker wrote:
| Employees also realized that being home at night is nice
| and they refuse to go back to working 24x7.
| woodson wrote:
| Portland is the same. There used to be Coffee Time on NW
| 21st, but that now closes at 6pm, too.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| There was one on SE Powell close to the bridge
| doublepg23 wrote:
| Pittsburgh is the same way. I miss the 24/7 eat and park.
| darth_avocado wrote:
| Mox, a balacear to play board games that also serves coffee
| and food is open till midnight, at least on the weekends.
| They close at 10 on weekdays
| alephnerd wrote:
| It's the only silver lining about the Yemeni Civil War. There is
| a fairly large Yemeni American population now due to displacement
| from the war.
|
| There's a fairly large community in SF in Tendernob near the
| Yemeni consulate and the Yemeni mosque.
|
| Highly recommend trying the Masoob and Mandi at Yemen Kitchen in
| Tenderloin.
| roughly wrote:
| Huh, I hadn't drawn that connection - I'd noticed a bunch of
| new Yemeni shops opening, but I hadn't tied it to the civil
| war. That makes sense.
| criddell wrote:
| The podcast _Search Engine_ did an episode trying to get to the
| bottom of why there are so many illegal weed stores in NYC.
| Turns out a significant percentage are run by Yemeni Americans.
| I've always wondered how that came to be but never considered
| that the war could have something to do with it. I wonder if
| that's the case?
| lordofgibbons wrote:
| I like to try out a lot of different dishes from different
| countries and recently tried Yemeni Mandi... WOW, it might just
| be my new favorite dish!
| cess11 wrote:
| What do you mean, "Civil War"? Yemen is occupied by UAE and
| likely Israel, has been at war with the US and Saudi Arabia for
| a decade or so, and before that on and off been managed by
| puppet regimes since they kicked out the british.
| tptacek wrote:
| Yemen is not occupied by Israel. Yemen is in fact in the
| midst (the end stages, really) of a civil war, between a
| corrupt preexisting government that ostensibly represented
| the Sunni majority of the country, and rebels led by Ansar
| Allah, which represents a Zaydi Shia sect.
| jcul wrote:
| I used to go to a late night coffee shop in Dublin sometimes when
| I lived there and read a book. Was a really nice space with
| comfortable couches and good ambient music.
|
| Couldn't remember the name but managed to find a reference to it,
| it was called Accents. Seems like it's shutdown now.
| shihab wrote:
| First part is true here in Michigan too. Wish they stayed open
| late.
| cbxjksls wrote:
| I wonder how significant of a source of revenue the coffee shops
| are for Yemen, both from bean exports and remittances from
| immigrants.
| asadm wrote:
| I def love this trend. There are a few in Bay area too, check out
| Qamaria in fremont.
| JohnMakin wrote:
| My active hours are typically very early AM, 2-4AM, until 10AM,
| and there is definitely a space for this in the market for
| individuals that just want a place to relax and/or work outside
| of their home outside of normal working hours. Starbucks used to
| fill this niche where I lived (they would open at 3,4AM to
| accommodate students in the area trying to study for finals.
| Nowadays, most of these starbucks/coffee shops have closed or
| shifted to an in-store hostile setup of a drive through plus a
| lobby that is mostly intended for delivery drivers, _walled off
| laptop plugs and won 't tell you why_, removed all charging
| stations, and just generally made it a shitty experience to sit
| inside and do anything at all other than get the hell out. This
| is almost universal now where i live, a college town with
| multiple colleges, and I wouldn't even begin to tell you where to
| find a coffee shop where I could gather with 3-4 other grad
| students and bang some crazy project out in a few hours anymore,
| and I have many, many big colleges near me. There's a demand the
| market isn't meeting, but, that demand didn't rake in the most
| dollars so here we are and this is some kind of novelty. These
| kinds of spaces existed basically everywhere in my area circa
| 2012-2018. They weren't tied to any particular ethnicity, just
| was a need people apparently had.
| brightball wrote:
| Waffle House is 24 hours and potentially comes with great
| stories.
| duskwuff wrote:
| Great stories? Sure, I suppose. Not the kind that tend to be
| conducive to a productive work environment, though.
| sureglymop wrote:
| In general, do you really get work done in a coffee shop or
| any kind of public place like that?
|
| I find myself needing a very quiet and orderly environment
| if I really want to deeply focus and get work done.
| Groxx wrote:
| > _do you really get work done in a coffee shop or any
| kind of public place like that?_
|
| Yes, definitely.
|
| For me it's that despite the noise, I have complete
| confidence that _none of it is relevant to me_ , so I can
| ignore it completely. In offices, _tons_ of things are
| relevant for me because I 'm a popular random-problem-
| solver. At home, anything could be relevant, even though
| most of it is not.
|
| The noise isn't the issue, it's the brainpower spent on
| triaging the noise.
| dotancohen wrote:
| > none of it is relevant to me, so I can ignore it
| completely.
|
| If I manage to properly digest this then you may have
| just changed my life. Thank you.
| michaelleslie wrote:
| I take it this is more of a meta-realization than one
| acutely related to open working environments
| cebert wrote:
| That's how I am as well, but I've grown to appreciate
| that everyone has different ideal working environments.
| The main reason I prefer WFH over RTO is the open office
| floor plan makes it very difficult for me to focus and
| work. I find it quite distracting.
| brightball wrote:
| For a second I read WFH as Waffle House and not Work From
| Home.
| chrisdhoover wrote:
| The office is dehumanizing. Not only bench seating and
| cube farms but offices too. Before Facebook gutted the
| long corridors of offices at the old Sun Micro, it was
| affectionately called Sun Quentin
| csomar wrote:
| Not for everyday work but sometimes I need that change of
| pacing.
| plagiarist wrote:
| Coffee shop is excellent background noise for many
| people. Back in the day I had some audio online and used
| it instead of white noise. It worked very well to help me
| concentrate until I started to notice the same sounds
| since it was a loop.
| duskwuff wrote:
| In case the joke wasn't clear: Waffle House is infamous
| for often having fights started by inebriated late-night
| customers - the sort of thing that'll certainly leave you
| with some stories to tell.
| cultofmetatron wrote:
| > do you really get work done in a coffee shop or any
| kind of public place like that?
|
| sir, there is an entire class of developers (including
| myself) that work remote exclusively out of coffee shops.
| Its where I can most easily get the creative mojo going.
| aprilthird2021 wrote:
| Yeah but these are usually not in urban centers but more like
| highway exits. For city dwellers a waffle house is usually
| not an option
| 0_____0 wrote:
| Why WFH [Work From Home] when you can WFH [WaFfle House]?
| abtinf wrote:
| Starbucks also plays very loud, irritating music nonstop now.
| wenc wrote:
| I stopped drinking after I hit 40 and Starbucks was my third
| place (my favorite Starbucks was the one near DePaul University
| in Lincoln Park in Chicago).
|
| I am now in the city of Starbucks (Seattle area) and am
| surprised that many of the Starbucks here (1) don't open late;
| (2) don't have comfortable seating; (3) aren't sufficiently lit
| (it's mostly dim, mood lighting -- I can't read paper books in
| most of them). I wonder if it's because Seattle people like
| their local spots (that also don't open late) that Starbucks
| had to optimize their revenue for to-go orders instead of sit-
| down ones.
|
| This is really unfortunate. Howard Schultz was all bout the
| "third place".
| dvdbloc wrote:
| There used to be a great Starbucks in Kirkland that was 24hr.
| I am equally frustrated that there are no coffee shops open
| late even close to the universities in Seattle.
| wenc wrote:
| Oh the 24 hr Kirkland Starbucks is still there.
|
| https://maps.app.goo.gl/UUsVjfy9MPeF3RwT9
|
| There's another 24 hr one in Northgate.
|
| https://maps.app.goo.gl/RxT4vwEDsZECTu2k7
|
| So there's 2 in the entire greater Seattle area.
|
| But you're right, there are very few places open late even
| in the U-district.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| Interesting that the Northgate Starbucks closes for just
| 4 hours every week from Mon 10pm to Tue 2am.
| dieselgate wrote:
| SO recently finished 7 years of grad school at UW and
| we're both happy to not spend much time around U dist at
| night. She still gets the police alerts and it's not
| inspiring - such crazy violent things happening there all
| the time. In my opinion that could be a reason 24 hr
| businesses aren't persisting in that area. But yes this
| would be a logical place for late night establishments
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| I'm really surprised about the Northgate location and it
| really doesn't make sense to me. The McDonalds next to it
| is also 24 hour, so maybe it has to do something with
| being a rest stop for I5?
|
| Salt Lake City oddly enough has (or had?) 24 hour coffee
| shops that you could hangout at.
| lsllc wrote:
| Last time I was in Seattle the Starbucks on 1st Ave (&
| University?) didn't have _any_ seating at all. 90% of their
| business seemed to be online to-go orders (the O.G. Starbucks
| at Pike Place had several hundred people in line!).
| divbzero wrote:
| The best "third place" that Starbucks ever created was Roy
| Street Coffee & Tea in Seattle. It had a great selection of
| drinks, good food, plenty of seating, and a vibrant
| atmosphere. Unfortunately, Starbucks decided against
| expanding on the concept and closed down the cafe in 2019.
|
| _Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if
| one only remembers to turn on the light._
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| >I wonder if it's because Seattle people like their local
| spots (that also don't open late) that Starbucks had to
| optimize their revenue for to-go orders instead of sit-down
| ones.
|
| The labor costs and risks of hosting people within your
| business, especially at later times, is more and more
| difficult to offset with revenue. Especially if a
| sufficiently large portion of the population opts to pay for
| the lower priced goods at to go businesses.
| dieselgate wrote:
| I've done a lot of both screen and paper based work in coffee
| shops, including Starbucks, and the thing that's scarred me
| after all these years is the constant playing of music. Even
| with ear plugs and over the ear muffs it can only cancel out
| so much. Am only able to spend maybe an hour or so doing
| anything in a coffee shop now - agree with all the rest of
| your points though
| lazyasciiart wrote:
| As far as I can remember, they all ditched seating during the
| pandemic and never added it back. But opening late has never
| been a Seattle strength.
| dehrmann wrote:
| Supposedly the new CEO is aware the decline of Starbucks as a
| third place is an issue, but we'll see if anything changes.
| The business perspective of just doing drive-through and
| pick-up sounds great, but it loses the "experience" that made
| Starbucks revolutionary. If Starbucks coffee just turns into
| a transaction, I'm not sure how they can survive when Dunkin,
| McDonalds, and even Keurig do transactions better, and all
| sorts of local coffee shops do coffee better.
| ryukoposting wrote:
| Starbucks is getting increasingly hostile, for sure. It's hard
| to find a Starbucks anymore that has any comfortable seating at
| all. I went to one in the Chicago burbs recently that had no
| drive-thru, no indoor seating, and they were visibly annoyed
| when I ordered inside. Everyone was picking up mobile orders.
| There were a couple outdoor tables, and that was it. The
| outlets were disconnected too.
|
| Where I live, I'm very fortunate to have three local chains
| that are very sit-down friendly. They all have 3-10 locations,
| so they cover the whole city without succumbing to corporate
| bullshit. One of them even has a storefront in their
| roasting/packaging facility. If you want to see how coffee is
| manufactured and/or you like loud white noise, that's a good
| place to go.
| flocciput wrote:
| What I've found is that while local coffee shops are sit-down
| friendly, they all close at 1, 2, or 3pm, at least where I
| am. 5-6pm if they're a chain. If I want a small bite to eat,
| a hot drink, and a place to work after 5 I basically have the
| option of a bar or a sit-down restaurant. It sucks, and I
| have no idea where this 3pm closing time thing is coming
| from. Maybe being too short staffed to have more than just a
| morning shift?
| steveoscaro wrote:
| I find that Starbucks locations in other countries are much
| nicer than in the US. Speaking of Mexico and Thailand
| specifically from my recent experiences. And this is having
| lived in Seattle most recently in the US. I think the
| homeless/addict problem has ruined a lot of urban Starbucks
| locations in the US.
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| Most of those places want you to order coffee, preferably with
| friends (more people per one table) drink it in some reasonable
| amount of time (<30 minutes), and then leave the table to the
| next group of guests.
|
| A few laptopers hogging a table for half a day in an otherwise
| crowded coffeeshop can costs them hundreds of euros/dollars in
| lost sales.
|
| But i guess this creates a maket for shared workespaces, where
| you could lease a desk per hour.
| 999900000999 wrote:
| >Nowadays, most of these starbucks/coffee shops have closed or
| shifted to an in-store hostile setup of a drive through plus a
| lobby that is mostly intended for delivery drivers, walled off
| laptop plugs and won't tell you why,
|
| They don't want to become homeless shelters.
|
| Homelessness has rapidly increased in the last decade, to the
| point where CoWork spaces becomes a viable business.
|
| If you want to do a project pay 300$ a month to WeWork. Before
| the explosion of homelessness, back when Starbucks, Coffee
| Bean, would let you sit around for hours, a 300$ WeWork
| membership would be silly.
| esses wrote:
| 24h Starbucks are where I studied for the CFA exam. All of the
| financial podcasts I listen to tell me Starbucks' new CEO seems
| to want them to go back to the third space glory days[0].
| Today, I'm making a commitment: We're getting back to
| Starbucks. We're refocusing on what has always set Starbucks
| apart -- a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather, and where
| we serve the finest coffee, handcrafted by our skilled
| baristas. This is our enduring identity. We will innovate from
| here. ... 3. Reestablishing Starbucks as the
| community coffeehouse: We're committed to elevating the in-
| store experience -- ensuring our spaces reflect the sights,
| smells and sounds that define Starbucks. Our stores will be
| inviting places to linger, with comfortable seating, thoughtful
| design and a clear distinction between "to-go" and "for-here"
| service.
|
| [0]: https://about.starbucks.com/press/2024/back-to-starbucks/
| guyfromfargo wrote:
| I wrote the entire 2nd version of my SaaS between midnight and
| 6am at a coffee shop in Austin. It was so peaceful to crack open
| an IDE, and sip on a hot cup of coffee at midnight, and code
| until I could barely keep my eyes open.
|
| Unfortunately Covid completely destroyed all of these spots. I'm
| really excited these are making a come back.
| usefulcat wrote:
| Epoch is still around, pretty sure it's still 24/7 too (the
| original location, that is).
|
| Flightpath is even older (it was in the flight path of the old
| airport), though not 24 hour.
| ilaksh wrote:
| https://archive.is/mW3GN
| Jarwain wrote:
| In Florida there's this growing trend of kava bars filling a
| similar niche. Alcohol-free spaces open late serving up kava,
| kratom, and other teas!
| rcdemski wrote:
| Denver as well. A handful of the florida locations have their
| second home here. It's an interesting crowd compared to a bar.
| Social and very chill.
| steezeburger wrote:
| Kratom has really bad withdrawals
| Jarwain wrote:
| I'm not going to say it doesn't, because I've heard that too.
| But it also depends on how much you drink in a night and how
| frequently you do so.
|
| Personally I don't think I've experienced kratom withdrawal
| despite daily use for a couple years back when I lived in
| Florida. I personally prefer it to alcohol. Buuut everyone's
| different, and no substance is without risks.
| ilaksh wrote:
| Are coffee shops just the answer to having social spaces that
| aren't alcohol fueled like bars and clubs? For quite a while I
| have had a rough idea that there could be something along the
| lines of a bar but with no alcohol and some kind of structured
| activities for breaking the ice.
| Clubber wrote:
| Yes, coffee bars were popular back in the 1990s. One of my CS
| professors opened one up. In "Friends," they often go to a
| coffee bar. They had couches and comfy chairs to chill in. You
| just went there and had coffee and hung out. These were mom and
| pop shops and probably all got eaten up by corporate behemoths
| like Starbucks.
|
| Just goes to show, when a company goes public, you are no
| longer the customer, the shareholders are.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| >Just goes to show, when a company goes public, you are no
| longer the customer, the shareholders are.
|
| I read the same sentiment about when publicly listed
| companies go private.
| Clubber wrote:
| Yes I should have said, "has outside investors," or
| "institutional investors." It would have fit better. PE
| companies seem even worse. I often see them take a known
| brand, cut quality, jack up the prices and bleed the
| company dry.
|
| https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/private-equity-
| rol...
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| I think that depends on the means of going private.
| Original owners get together to take their baby back?
| Probably going to go well. Private equity firm swoops in to
| extract $$$? Probably going to crash and burn.
| satvikpendem wrote:
| NA bars exist, there are a few in NYC one been to.
| wenc wrote:
| Are you thinking of board-game cafes?
| simonw wrote:
| In the San Francisco Bay Area that niche has been partly filled
| with dessert cafes and boba places.
|
| The dessert cafes are _fantastic_. I always tell visitors to
| the city they they should try one while they 're here.
| kirici wrote:
| That is pretty much their history
|
| >The first coffeehouses appeared in Damascus. These Ottoman
| coffeehouses also appeared in Mecca, in the Arabian Peninsula
| in the 15th century, then spread to the Ottoman Empire's
| capital of Istanbul in the 16th century and in Baghdad.
| Coffeehouses became popular meeting places where people
| gathered to drink coffee, have conversations, play board games
| such as chess and backgammon, listen to stories and music, and
| discuss news and politics. They became known as "schools of
| wisdom" for the type of clientele they attracted, and their
| free and frank discourse.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeehouse#History
| trgn wrote:
| Claimed two abandoned storefronts after covid killed our
| downtown. Also more yuppie primped clientele, compared to most
| other coffeeshops in my area.
| tra3 wrote:
| Curious how this works. I generally don't drink coffee late..do
| people come in for coffee and stay a while? I never really
| thought through the business model.
| giantg2 wrote:
| A younger me would get it. The older me wonders why people can't
| be content alone. Do I really need to go socialize at 2am?
| Probably not, and even less so without alcohol. But I get that
| others are different.
| nimih wrote:
| Neither of the coffee shops profiled in the article are open at
| 2am, so I would hazard to guess their proprietors agree with
| you.
| idlewords wrote:
| I'd be shocked if you can't find qat at these places. It's worth
| a try; I'd describe it as amphetamine salad. It's at about the
| midpoint between a strong cup of coffee and adderall.
|
| An odd thing about qat is that despite being a stimulant it fills
| the role of alcohol in Yemeni culture--it's what men blow their
| salaries on, go on benders with, sometimes even destroy their
| families over. It's fascinating to see a drug with completely
| different physical effects exhibit so many of the same social
| pathologies as alcohol.
|
| Don't chew it too often or it will stain your teeth.
| satvikpendem wrote:
| Reminds me of the betel nut such as in paan, but it's not
| nearly as strong it seems like, more akin to caffeine or
| nicotine in strength. It's cancerous though (and will stain
| your teeth too) so don't eat too much either.
| Scoundreller wrote:
| I also think any absorbed-through-the-mouth stimulant probably
| causes dental problems... probably by constricting blood
| vessels? Maybe could be combined with some topical-acting only
| dilator?
| idlewords wrote:
| Don't say dental problems-say dental _opportunities_.
| lazide wrote:
| Gotta love those oral tumors!
| lobochrome wrote:
| It's also what they blow about 80% of their irrigation water
| supplies on while the overall population battles malnurition...
| citizenpaul wrote:
| According to wikipedia it is not legal to sell or consume in
| the US.
|
| >In the United States (US) and Turkey, the botanical specimen
| (plant) Catha edulis is not prohibited, but the consumption and
| distribution of harvested leaves or possession for recreational
| use is illegal.
| blacksmith_tb wrote:
| Hmm, I think that's not too likely, unless someone is growing
| it in TX. Qat needs to be very fresh - flying it halfway around
| the world is less practical than unroasted coffee beans.
| ignoramous wrote:
| Not just the social fabric, but Qat / Khat (which is mildly
| narcotic) is wreaking havoc on Yemen's water resources. Don't
| support its production by purchasing it. My Yemeni relatives
| hate it.
|
| https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/14/from-khat-to-c...
| / https://www.goethe.de/prj/ruy/en/dos/eco/25379240.html
| the__alchemist wrote:
| Do people drink the coffee late? I would never get to sleep after
| doing that!
| xrd wrote:
| My general takeaway from a bunch of comments is that there were
| two death waves for these late night places. But, I have a great
| fix.
|
| First, Starbucks committed coffeeshopicide by targeting local
| hangouts that were successful, and then spraying their own burnt
| grounds, driving up real estate and making it impossible for a
| small, less efficient shop to survive. I saw this happen at
| several great places in Portland. Then, obviously a career
| climbing executive at Starbucks tried to get promoted and
| tightened up hours.
|
| The second wave of late night coffee shop deaths occured with
| COVID and homelessness (really McKinsey and Purdue opioids, read
| "When McKinsey Comes to Town") because of safety. No one, big or
| small, can offer a space and decide which hipster can stay and
| which has to leave because he is now addicted to drugs and not
| just Instagram dopamine.
|
| The solution: cities should offer a tax break to a coffee shop
| that stays open late. And, cities should offer a match where they
| create a space nearby for homeless people to congregate late
| night. I'm sure there is a correlation between the number of
| homeless and soon-to-be homeless creative types.
|
| I'm saddened late night coffee shops have largely disappeared,
| these Yemeni shops look terrific. And, they bring the social back
| to meeting places, and I don't mean social media and laptops.
| aprilthird2021 wrote:
| The first one is fine, but small, less efficient shops were
| never open very late. Also, Yemeni coffee shops are basically
| the same as Mom and pop coffee shops. Why are they able to be
| open late in the same environment?
|
| Second one, how come Yemeni coffee shops don't have the issue
| of keeping out the homeless?
|
| EDIT: Yemeni coffee shops are having the same success in the
| bay area where these problems are both exacerbated.
| alach11 wrote:
| > Yemeni Coffee Shops _in Texas_
|
| Here in Houston, law enforcement is pretty strict on homeless
| people causing problems. Maybe that's the reason?
| NitpickLawyer wrote:
| Probably because they're small "family" businesses, and the
| owner is there more often than not. And they have no problem
| saying "no" to anyone for any reason.
| quercusa wrote:
| > _several great places in Portland_
|
| R.I.P CoffeePeople
| ChumpGPT wrote:
| On a tangent....I remember the only place you could get a coffee
| in Texas was Waffle House or Denny's. In the early 90's the DFW
| area didn't even know what an espresso was. Starbucks finally
| came around 1995 and it was such a joy. Now there are some
| amazing cafes serving amazing coffee, especially in college towns
| like Denton.
| lobochrome wrote:
| In Japan, most specialty coffee shops limit customers to a
| maximum of one hour to accommodate as many people as possible.
| This is partly because people can enjoy a cup and a cake very
| slowly. Some shops even ban laptops.
|
| Due to the small size of apartments, finding places to work,
| study, or read outside the cramped family home is a significant
| challenge. This is also why love hotels exist.
|
| Starbucks, however, has no such policies, making it extremely
| popular for these activities. I always wonder how they manage
| with such low spending per occupied seat.
|
| Additionally, Starbucks service quality in Japan is exceptional.
| The staff is friendly, and regular customers receive incredible
| attention to brighten their day with a smile.
| buzzert wrote:
| If anyone's looking for one of these in SF, my favorite place is
| Delah Coffee[0] near Yerba Buena. They're open until 11pm. Try
| the Kunafa Cheesecake!
|
| [0]: https://delahcoffee.com/
| aprilthird2021 wrote:
| My city (Oakland) has like 3 Yemeni coffeeshops within 10 min of
| me, and every time I go at night they're usually packed.
|
| There's just nowhere else open late at night that isn't a bar,
| period.
| anu7df wrote:
| May be I am an aberration, but I actually seek out coffee shops
| for good coffee. A nice espresso, cappuccino and on occasion
| black drip or pour over. I will never be as comfortable at a
| coffee place as I am at home, so why bother. But yes, I
| definitely like a comfortable place to sit while I am drinking my
| brew. Don't really care for another conversation at the time --
| My coffee an I are having one. Also, for anyone in Houston try
| out Catalina coffee on Washington. The coffee shop I judge all
| other shops by. Best espresso drinks ever. Also, in Seattle, the
| starbucks reserve (I think that was what they were called. Its
| been a few years.) had some really good beans and well made
| drinks, way way better than the usual starbucks swill.
| TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
| The best coffee I've was a Turkish Green from, if I recall
| correctly, Jerusalem Sheshkebab House - 131B Hidley Street,
| Adelaide. Now permanently closed as a result of the corvid
| lockdowns. Basement level, red booths, open late, no dickheads,
| nicest proprietor.
|
| Also the best hummus, falafels etc.
| tetris11 wrote:
| We had a few Kahve Dunyasi's over here, but they're sadly
| closing down.
|
| The irony is that a lot of the english breakfast tea places are
| all Turkish
| nobodywillobsrv wrote:
| What is it like for women?
| lots2learn wrote:
| ^Found the Islamophobe
| defrost wrote:
| Or a wanna be pickup artist looking for new prey.
|
| On the question asked, the article has a photo that appears
| to show 4 male customers and ~ 10 (11?) female customers (two
| all female tables and a confusing backdrop).
|
| https://img.texasmonthly.com/2024/12/yemeni-coffee-
| shops-5a....
| etothet wrote:
| https://archive.ph/mW3GN
| teleforce wrote:
| Fun facts, the word coffee come from Kahve, the bastardization of
| the word Kahwa meaning coffee in Arabic since Turkish lacks "w"
| and normally replaces it with "v".
|
| Another related fun facts, the now universal European word cafe
| also come from the same word originally meaning coffee drinking
| place or shop [1].
|
| [1] Coffee and qahwa: How a drink for Arab mystics went global:
|
| https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22190802
| ginko wrote:
| >Another related fun facts, the now universal European word
| cafe also come from the same word originally meaning coffee
| drinking place or shop.
|
| Isn't that pretty obvious? It's literally the French word for
| coffee.
| meltyness wrote:
| Hey this is brilliant thanks for the tip
| CMCDragonkai wrote:
| Austin has bennu coffee places which open 24 hrs, and taco shops
| that open 24 hrs too.
| tonygiorgio wrote:
| TIL, one near me too. Are they pretty open to late night
| working/studying or more of a social hangout at nights?
| YoungGato wrote:
| I work morning to night and don't have an office. It's really
| nice to be able to get out of the house and the yemeni coffee
| shops provide a way for me to get out and stay out for a while.
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