Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co. (Little Canada)

Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co. opened at 3 Little Canada Road East in the inner northern suburbs, soft-opening on 4 May 2024 and holding its official opening on 21 June. It was Minnesota's first Yemeni coffee cafe, and it arrived ahead of the wave: Qahwah House and Haraz both reached the metro afterwards, and Qamaria itself went on to add Blaine and Eden Prairie locations. The Little Canada shop is run by Mohamed Hagi with his cousin and business partner Ibrahim Haji Said. Hagi told Sahan Journal in June 2024 that the pair "always wanted to incorporate a space here where it was an untapped market," and described the draw as being about more than the coffee — "It's more so an experience," he said, adding that the room "really reminds me of home." Sahan Journal reported that the opening drew a crowd large enough to strain the counter.

The drinks list follows the Yemeni coffeehouse template. Qishr is the traditional hot drink brewed not from the bean but from the husk, with ginger and often cinnamon; Mufawaar is coffee prepared with cardamom and cream; Juban is a lighter regional preparation; and Aden tea is the black-tea-and-spice drink that most of these shops treat as their signature. The house Qamaria latte is spiced with cardamom and cinnamon, and a pistachio latte, refreshers, smoothies and a conventional espresso list sit alongside. Food is pastry-led rather than a full kitchen: honeycomb bread, pistachio milk cake and Dubai chocolate are the counter's best-known items. No alcohol is served anywhere in the building. The hours are the reason this reads as a going-out room rather than a cafe — midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 10pm the rest of the week, in a suburb where almost nothing else non-alcoholic is open past nine. Seating is arranged for groups rather than for solo laptop work, and the room fills twice over on a weekend evening — once after dinner and again after ten. For anyone in the north-eastern suburbs looking for a place to sit with friends for two hours that is not a bar, this was the first of its kind in Minnesota and it is still the nearest one to downtown Saint Paul.