With New Berkeley Location, This Yemeni Coffee House Is Expanding Fast
Written by Sarah HoltzPublished Mar. 01, 2023 • 2:00pm
Arts & Culture
Delah Coffee serves traditional Yemeni cakes and pastries, including a chocolate fudge cake. | Courtesy Delah Coffee
On the heels of launching two successful locations in SoMa and Uptown Oakland, a Bay Area Yemeni coffee house chain has announced plans to expand to Berkeley. If all goes smoothly, the third location of Delah Coffee will open on the north side of UC Berkeley’s campus by June.
The announcement from Delah Coffee’s founder, Omar Jahamee, comes only weeks after he unveiled his second location in Oakland at the beginning of February. Delah Coffee made its Bay Area debut in SoMa back in July 2022.
Specializing in cinnamon and cardamom-spiced Yemeni lattes and chai, Jahamee’s team also bakes fresh baklava, rose milk cake and a cheesy pastry called kunafa.
For this third location, Jahamee told The Standard he chose the commercial corridor along Euclid Avenue, which is steps away from UC Berkeley, in the hopes of drawing in students.
Following the blueprint he laid out at his first two cafes, Jahamee said the Berkeley coffeehouse will offer the same traditional Arabic seating, with low couches and armchairs atop ornate carpeting—in addition to a bar, which will serve coffee and tea. Jahamee said he also hopes to transform the space into a live music venue and host regular performances.
Delah Coffee is poised to be one of the only places in Berkeley to order a Yemeni breakfast, and certainly the only such place in the neighborhood. Nuha’s Cafe in Downtown Berkeley serves Yemeni coffee, but not Delah’s array of traditional Yemeni drinks and baked goods.
Jahamee said the new Berkeley location won’t be his final expansion, and he hopes to eventually operate Delah Coffee locations in all corners of the Bay Area.
“We’re trying to show our traditions and bring people together,” he said.
Delah Coffee
Sarah Holtz can be reached at [email protected]
