3 new coffee shops where culture is as strong as the brew

This week’s Roundup Review explores three new coffee shops, each with a strong cultural identity and limited food options.

Haraz Coffee House, Raani Coffee and Schaf Shop each opened within the past four months and primarily focus on beverages. Any of the three would serve well as a third space, that place between work and home where customers can spend a few pleasant hours working, reading or catching up with friends.

When it comes to food, most of their options can be found in display cases by the cash registers; these are pure coffee shops, not restaurants that serve coffee.

Haraz Coffee House sticks out in this Roundup Review as the only chain coffee shop. The Yemeni coffee franchise was founded in 2021 in Dearborn, Michigan, and has expanded to nearly 50 locations across the U.S., according to its website. It specializes in Middle Eastern coffee preparations and both savory and sweet pastries.

On its surface, Haraz is a perfectly nice coffee shop, light and bright with large, street-level windows looking out from its Midtown corner location onto Spring Street and Peachtree Place. The typical espresso and milk drinks found at most American coffee shops, like lattes and cappuccinos, are solid, and there are some interesting pastry options. The small, tidy samosas — especially the vegetable version — are heavily spiced and flavorful, while sweet options like Nutella milk cake are properly decadent treats. If you love the viral Dubai chocolate bar, Haraz has a version in stock.

I tasted the Turkish coffee and Saudi coffee as well as the Harazi Mufawar and Maleki from the “traditional drinks” selection. In each case, the coffee tasted thin and watery — a far cry from the thick, rich beverage so beloved in the Middle East.

Turkish coffee is brewed with very fine grounds and served unfiltered, often poured immediately after coming to a boil with a frothiness and sediment that gives it a little texture. The version served at Haraz came with plenty of sediment, but lacked the texture and depth of flavor I expected. The Saudi coffee, prepared by the same method but with the addition of saffron, suffered from the same issue, even though it was made by a different barista on a different day.

Harazi Mufawar is a coffee preparation native to Yemen that includes cream and cardamom, while Maleki is a lighter brew made with ginger and cinnamon. The spices in each cup of coffee were distinct, but the underlying brews once again tasted weak.

Haraz Coffee House. 930 Spring St. NW, Atlanta. 404-748-1084, harazcoffeehouse.com

Opened in December in East Atlanta, Raani Coffee Roasters is a bare-bones shop that serves South Indian coffee with amazing depth of flavor.

Raani is sparsely furnished but brimming with character. Its relatively short beverage menu includes several Indian coffee preparations, beginning with Madras kaapi. The lightly sweetened, creamy drink made with filtered coffee is expertly brewed and served with a light, frothy head. It has the texture of a decadent cup of hot cocoa and flavor to match, with very little bitterness and fruity, tropical highlights.

Raani, a common Indian name that also means “queen,” focuses on South Indian coffee beans, but the shop remains approachable for anyone looking for a cup of Joe. The knowledgeable baristas craft American-style espresso drinks with just as much care as they put into the Indian headliners. And most drinks are available with a variety of different milk options, hot or iced. Raani’s options should be able to satisfy all but the most esoteric coffee orders.

The food selection is also tightly curated, with options that lean into Indian flavors. Offerings include kaapi cake, a jaggery chocolate chip cookie and biscuits in flavors like Marsala cheddar and sun-dried tomato with curry leaf. The vegan golden milk oatmeal cream pie is destined to be a star on Instagram with its brightly colored filling, but a savory roll filled with haloumi and topped with za’atar and hot honey was my personal favorite.

Founder Praveena Sundarraj is a genuine coffee expert who is involved in every aspect of the shop’s supply chain. She visits the coffee plantations in India, roasts the beans at Raani and can frequently be found behind the register. She is also a certified Q Grader, a bit like the coffee version of a sommelier.

Each bag of Raani coffee beans is transparently labeled and the shop’s website offers a truly helpful brewing guide tailored to nine different methods.

Raani plays the role of a pleasant, welcoming neighborhood coffee shop, but beneath the surface, it’s a paradise for coffee nerds interested in an underexposed corner of the coffee world. The shop does not beat customers over the head with its values, but it’s clearly driven by a mission to uplift the Indian women who farm much of Raani’s coffee.

Raani has clearly caught on in the East Atlanta neighborhood, but it’s worth a pilgrimage for any true coffee lover in metro Atlanta. For its thoughtful approach to making truly excellent coffee, Raani Coffee Roasters is an AJC Critic’s Pick.

Raani Coffee Roasters. 720 Moreland Ave. SE, Atlanta. raanicoffee.com

Formerly a residency at My Sister’s Room in Midtown, Schāf Shop moved to its own location on Juniper Street in January. The combination cafe and skate shop offers a wide-ranging coffee menu and some basic bakery items, and its lounge-like atmosphere is meant to feel welcoming, especially for the LGBTQ+ community.

The space is set up so “people feel like they can stay here all day,” Lindzey Schaffer, one of the owners, previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Schāf Shop’s beverage menu starts out with a selection of common espresso drinks most would expect to see, but the options expand quite a bit on the Signature Schaf Drinks menu. There are options like the campfire, a s’mores-themed mocha latte, and the ATL, an iced peach espresso spritz.