Legend has it the first cup of coffee was brewed in Yemen.

That tidbit is just a taste of the culture that the owners of a new coffee shop, Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co., want to share with Fresno.

Along with their actual coffee, of course.

Qamaria (pronounced “Kah-MAR-ee-uh”) opened about a month ago in The Marketplace at El Paseo, the shopping center near Highway 99 and Herndon Avenue. It took over the spot once occupied by Crave Cookie, in one of the outbuildings near Riverside Drive.

A case full of colorful pastries and cheesecakes greets customers. Its menu is full of coffee drinks with names that are familiar, such as a caramel macchiato. But there are also several that may be new to Fresnans that are flavored with cardamom and other spices.

A different kind of coffee

Though coffee beans were first discovered in Ethiopia, it was in Yemen where the first cup of coffee was reportedly brewed in the 15th century. The country became the epicenter of the coffee trade — there’s even a port named Mocha there.

Qamaria is part of a small chain with several dozen locations nationwide. But it’s not the first Yemeni coffee shop in Fresno.

Locally owned Bab Al-Yemen Cafe opened on West Shaw Avenue in 2021.

Fresno has among the biggest populations of Yemenis in California behind only Oakland. However, it’s a small population, with one database showing it at around 1,200.

Nagi Alazani and Shehab Zamzami — both born in Yemen — are the owners of this Qamaria franchise. They’ve been friends for years, and roomed together at University of California, Irvine.

It wasn’t until well into their friendship when one of their brothers did 23andMe genetic testing and they discovered they’re actually fifth cousins.

The pair is eager to share their drinks with newbies.

“Coffee is a big part of who we are,” Alazani said of the Yemeni culture.

The coffee is usually brewed with cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.

“In Yemen, cardamom plays a huge, huge role,” Zamzami said. If “we want to introduce the Yemeni flavor. It has to be cardamom.”

The sweet and floral spice shows up in one of the most popular drinks this summer, an iced Qamaria latte. It’s made with a double shot of espresso, cardamom, cinnamon and honey.

You can also get more Yemeni-style coffees, such as mufawaar, a medium-roast coffee made with cardamom and cream.

And if you’re looking for something lighter with less caffeine, try the Sheeba. It’s a drink made with cascara, the shell of the coffee fruit. It’s closer to a tea than coffee and goes down smooth.

As for food, a classic Yemeni option is honeycomb, a pastry stuffed with cream cheese, warmed and drizzled with honey.

It’s a Middle Eastern favorite that customer Asiyah Karim of Fresno likes to try everywhere she can.

“I love this little place,” she said. “It’s so pretty and it’s so clean.”

The coffee shop

The coffee shop has a drive-thru that is still in early stages of being used.

Qamaria is open late and has wifi. People are encouraged to stay a while. It opens at 8 a.m. daily and closes at 11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and at midnight on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

“The whole concept of this is for people to come together, to have a good time,” Zamzani said.

The name Qamaria is the Arabic word for moon. It’s a reference to the arch-shaped stained glass windows common in Yemen.

Kadie Hunter and Daniel Villafana of Folsom were on a roadtrip and found Qamaria online.

“Why not go to a Yemeni coffee shop?” she said. “I don’t know anything about it.”

Workers do a lot of explaining about their coffee, food and culture — and they’re happy to do it.

“We’ve had such a big turnout of complete and utter diversity — whites, Blacks, Syrians, Palestinians. We have a lot of Armenian customers,” Alazani said. “And that’s exactly what we wanted. Our main goal is to introduce this to everyone.

Details: Qamaria is at 6525 N. Riverside Drive, suite 101 in the Marketplace at El Paseo.