Shibam Coffee (Cleveland)

Shibam Coffee Co. takes its name from the Yemeni city of Shibam, and the company began in Dearborn, Michigan in 2022. Its own site now lists 22 locations in ten states. The one it calls Cleveland is at 26745 Brookpark Extension in North Olmsted, on a short commercial street that Cleveland Scene described in 2024 as one of the quickest-growing Palestinian small-business hubs in Northeast Ohio, with twenty shops owned by Arab Americans opened there this decade. The coffeehouse suits that street: somewhere to sit once the errands are done.

The menu is the same across the company and is unusually complete on the traditional side. Under Yemeni Coffee it lists Mufawar, made with milk and cardamom; Sana'ani; Jubani; Rad'ai; and Qishr, a tea brewed from coffee husks with ginger and spices. Saudi coffee with cardamom and Turkish coffee sit beside them. Under Yemeni Tea come Adeni Tea, a spiced milk tea simmered with black tea, cardamom and milk, a plain Yemeni Tea, Moroccan mint tea and ginger tea. The refreshers are the part of the menu that works as an evening drink in place of a cocktail: the Shibam Royal is an organic mango smoothie with evaporated milk, with date syrup as an option; Toot Shami is pomegranate-based; and the mojito is mint, lime and soda, described on the menu as alcohol-free. Sabaya, a flaky layered pastry served with honey, is sold with honeycomb, milk cake and basbousa.

Nothing on the menu contains alcohol. The company's page for this location gives the hours as 7am to midnight seven days a week; some listings show an 11pm close from Sunday to Thursday, so check before a late weeknight visit. Either way it is open well after most cafes in the western suburbs have closed. Two other Yemeni coffeehouses, Qahwah House and Baladi Coffee House, are within about a mile and a quarter, and the company's site also lists a second west-side cafe at 25651 Detroit Road in Westlake, with opening hours still to be announced.