Yafa opens at Alloy Block

Brooklyn, NY According to Alloy Development (Alloy), Yafa, a family and minority-owned boutique coffee company that spotlights Yemeni coffee culture, has opened its second location downtown as part of the first phase of the Alloy Block. Located directly adjacent to the newly constructed and 44-story all-electric skyscraper at 505 State St., the small-batch roaster which will offer a wide variety of coffee options to customers, adds to the history of Yemeni businesses on nearby Atlantic Ave.

“Yafa is a truly unique family-owned company which blends the distinct culture of Brooklyn with their native Yemeni roots to create a one-of-a-kind coffee experience for their customers,” said Alloy CEO Jared Della Valle. “We are proud to partner with Yafa in their expansion and are grateful for the opportunity to bring freshly roasted traditional Yemini coffee to the residents of 505 State St. and to our neighbors in Downtown Brooklyn.” 

“In keeping with our mission of bridging homelands through coffee, we are thrilled to announce the opening of our new coffee outpost within Alloy Block,” said co-founder of Yafa Ali Suliman. “We at Yafa are proud to continue the long lineage of Yemeni businesses in the historic neighborhood and look forward to sharing many more cups of coffee with the Downtown community.”

The new 150 s/f café, designed by Alloy, is located adjacent to the residential lobby and will serve both tenants of the building and the adjacent neighborhood.

Founded by cousins Ali Suliman and Hakim Sulaimani in 2019, Yafa has quickly become a cornerstone of the Sunset Park neighborhood in Brooklyn. In creating Yafa, the founders stressed the importance of reclaiming the Yemeni role as the purveyors of the original specialty coffee and are part of a group of young Yemeni entrepreneurs working to modernize the trade. Emphasizing the family-owned and community focused aspect of the business, the founding location in Sunset Park sits down the street from a bodega on 4th Avenue that Sulaimani’s father owns and still runs seven days a week. Off the early success since its opening in 2019, Yafa has received notable recognition in multiple publications including being named amongst “The Best Coffee Shops in New York City’’ by Eater, as well as being profiled in outlets such as The New York Times and Food & Wine. 

Yafa is part of the first phase of the Alloy Block, a mixed-use development designed by Alloy that comprises five old and new buildings that will provide residential, office, and retail space. Once complete, the Alloy Block will be home to roughly 850 residences and include 200 permanently affordable apartments for residents as well as 100,000 s/f of Class A office space and 50,000 s/f of retail space. The Alloy Block also features two Passive House public schools, designed by Architecture Research Office – the new Khalil Gibran International Academy, a public high school founded in 2007 with a particular focus on both English and Arabic languages and culture and a public elementary school.