Arwa Yemeni Coffee (Dallas)

Arwa Yemeni Coffee began at 888 South Greenville Avenue in Richardson, and the company still describes this shop as Texas' first Yemeni coffee shop and the home of the original Arwa. It has since grown to eleven Texas cafes — in the Dallas–Fort Worth area they include Frisco, Las Colinas in Irving, McKinney, Murphy, Addison and Arlington — plus others in Illinois, California, Massachusetts, Georgia, Florida and Connecticut. The Richardson shop is the one with the yellow coffee roaster, and the company says its outdoor courtyard lights up at night.

The Traditional Drinks section of the menu is the reason to come: Jubani, Qishr, Red Tea, Mofawer, Adeni Tea and Sanaani Coffee. The Dallas Observer's 2025 guide to the region's Yemeni cafes explains the style well — Adeni chai is a fragrant black tea brewed with evaporated milk, mofawar a dark roast with evaporated milk, Jubani a lighter coffee infused with warm spices, and qishr a less caffeinated drink made from coffee husks, ginger and spices. Arwa's own signatures are the Yemeni Latte, the Date Matcha Latte and the Sand Dune Latte, and the iced list adds a Dragon's Blood Refresher, a limeade and a ginger lime. A conventional espresso bar — drip, pour over, americano, cappuccino, lattes and a chai latte — covers anyone who wants something familiar.

No alcohol is served, and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's licence records show no permit under the Arwa name or at this address. The hours do the rest: 10am to 11pm Sunday to Thursday and until 1am on Friday and Saturday. The Observer's guide describes the area's Yemeni cafes as third spaces, where families talk late into the night and remote workers settle in for the afternoon, and this shop is a good example of a place to meet friends in the evening without a bar attached.