It’s past 10PM in Pittsburgh. Every business’s lights are off except for the dismal neon of the local dive bars. You don’t want to drink tonight—you’re driving, you’re trying to lose a few pounds, you’re on a sobriety journey, or you’re just plain not in the mood. You open your phone to the digital wasteland so many of us know: Open now near me Pittsburgh on Google Maps. All it sends you to is the GetGo convenience store. But now…there is a respite, in the form of Shibam Coffee on Centre Avenue.
Jubilant Arabic pop music plays over the speakers while people of all ages and creeds sit at marble tables backlit by golden lamps. Shibam is the rare coffeeshop that is actually more crowded at night. “The coffeeshop gets packed past sunset,” barista and local student Madalyn Pfug explained. During the day, the clientele is mostly college students, but by night during the spring, it becomes a go-to spot for the local Muslim population breaking the fast for Ramadan.
Shibam Coffee is Pittsburgh’s Newest Third Place
Shibam Coffee has locations all across the country, but originates in Dearborn, Michigan, where the large Yemeni population is more interested in cafés and lounges than in bars. (The flagship location in Dearborn is open as late as 2AM during Ramadan). The café gets its name from the ancient city of Shibam in eastern Lebanon, called the “Manhattan of the Desert” for its mud skyscrapers. The décor of Shibam Coffee pays homage to this through images of the old city. Coffee culture itself has a its roots in Yemen, where the coffee is typically lighter-to-medium roast and infused with spices.
Pfug said that the owner of this new location had family in Pittsburgh, which led him to open a café here. She enjoys being close to University of Pittsburgh and seeing that there’s a new place for students to hang out with a more varied menu.
The menu at Shibam Coffee has an extensive list of coffees including their signature with cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, Qishr (coffee husk), and cream. This drink is more suitable for people who like a sweeter, milkier coffee, but still want some flavor—it gets richer as you get towards the grounds at the bottom. You can also get classic Turkish coffee (dark roast coffee with cardamom) and twists on Yemeni coffee including the Sa’ani, Yemeni medium-roast coffee with cardamom.
Pastries and Inventive Cold Drinks
They also stock a number of Middle Eastern pastries, including the ultra-trendy Dubai chocolate and small slices of cake called basboosa. There are drinks for sale in the style of “mocktails,” though in the Arab world where alcohol sales are limited or prohibited, that’s simply a drink. Currently, you can get a non-alcoholic mojito, a delicious dragonfruit-based iced drink, and several iced versions of the existing coffees.
Spaces like Shibam Coffee and other Middle Eastern cafés opening up in the United States speak to a larger trend of interest in coffeeshops where you can really hang out and relax, not just grab and go or hunch over your laptop in silence. Such coffeeshops are “third places” that are neither home nor work and hark back to the history of the café, where people had intellectual debates, engaged in political discussions, and forged new friendships over cups of coffee. Shibam Coffee’s model offers a welcoming environment, and Pittsburgh welcomes it right back.
Story by Emma Riva
Photo courtesy of Shibam Coffee
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