Zamalek's Yam is Egypt's First Yemeni Café

When we think of Arab coffee, our minds usually picture the classic cup of Turkish coffee with a familiar Egyptian coffee house backdrop, but Turkish coffee is actually not the original Arab coffee.

In the sixth century, Yemenis were the first to adapt coffee cherries into the drink we so heavily depend on today – well, a variation of it, anyway. In Yemen, coffee trees are grown over 8,000 feet above sea level. Instead of peeling open the cherries and drying the coffee beans naked (which is what the Turks did after occupying Yemen in the 19th century), Yemenis left whole coffee cherries for four weeks on their rooftops, then broke them open to get their precious beans. The result was a drink that constantly surprised, playing with a variety of notes.

Coffee fanatics say that the beauty of Yemeni coffee is in the fact that an air of mystery surrounds each cup, some are more chocolate-y, while others carry notes of various fruits or earthy spices. It is this thrilling variety that popularised Yemeni coffee across the Middle East, and even led to some Arab leaders outlawing the drink in the 1500s, based on the claim that “people were having too much fun in coffeehouses”.

Today, Yemeni coffee is no longer outlawed, and is instead wildly sought after. People all over the globe seek the unexpected twist of these meticulously-prepared beans, and they’ve finally made their way to Cairo (again), with Yam Speciality Coffee, the first fully Yemeni café in Egypt.

Yam abandons the usual (now redundant) minimalism of your average Cairo coffee house for a more distinct look. They offer several blends, each with its own unique set of notes, hailing from different Yemeni cities: Harazi, Hamadi, Hawari and Haimi. Which makes Yam the perfect spot to explore coffee as our generation has never experienced it before.