Qahwah Palace - Coffee House Claim this business

About

Qahwah is the Arabic word for coffee, and this downtown spot builds its whole identity around the Yemeni version of it. The beans come straight from Yemen and are sun-dried before brewing, turned into cups most of the Upstate has never tried. Qishr is a light tea made from the coffee husk rather than the bean, and mufawar is a spiced coffee run through with cardamom. Adeni chai, steeped with cardamom and cloves, rounds out the traditional side. Alongside those old-country drinks sits a modern cafe menu that shifts with the seasons, so the matcha, the fruit refreshers, and the specialty lattes rotate while the Yemeni core stays put. It reads as a place equally at ease serving a longtime regular their usual and walking a curious first-timer through their first qishr. The room leans into the theme with white and gold decor and low, cushioned floor seating done in the traditional style, closer to a Middle Eastern sitting room than a standard coffee bar. It also keeps unusually late hours for the category, which has quietly made it one of the few downtown rooms you can settle into long after the dinner crowd clears. Reviewers have taken to it quickly, and the fairest way to find your footing is to skip the familiar latte on the first visit and ask which traditional cup to start with.