Watch: Touring the Haraz Coffee Menu Near Naperville

In this Living in Naperville episode, Dan Firks visits Haraz Coffee House, a Yemeni coffee house on the Route 59 corridor near Naperville, and tours the full menu with one of the owners, Beshear. They talk through the history of Yemeni coffee, then taste the Adeni tea, the signature Rasa Latte, and a table of handmade desserts including the Dubai Brownie, the saffron milk cake, and a honey-drizzled cream cheese pastry.

Read the full guide: Haraz Coffee House Near Naperville →

Video Transcript

Dan Firks: Hello and welcome to this episode of Living in Naperville. Today I have the pleasure of checking out Haraz Coffee House. Perfect day for it. It’s cold outside, and I heard they have amazing sweets and amazing coffees and teas. Let’s go check it out.

Dan Firks: Beshear, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us today. I’m super excited to learn a little bit more about Haraz Coffee.

Beshear: Sounds good. I’m Beshear, one of the owners of Haraz Coffee. I’m glad you guys can come join in and learn a little bit about our coffee shop today.

Dan Firks: It’s absolutely beautiful in here. Very relaxing, very quaint, and very trendy. You did a great job with the design and architecture. So what inspired you to bring Yemeni coffee here? What’s the tradition behind it?

Beshear: I didn’t want to bring just another coffee shop to Aurora. That’s something that’s been done over and over again. I wanted to go back to the history of Yemen, which is the origin of coffee itself. There was a city in Yemen called Mocha, with a K, and that’s where the word mocha comes from. It goes back hundreds of years, to where coffee itself originated. I thought, what better way to share that piece of history than through a Yemeni coffee shop? So when someone takes a drink of our coffee, it’s not just coffee, it’s kind of a staple of history itself.

Dan Firks: That’s incredible. And what I really like is that coffee and mocha were all discovered in the same area, in Yemen.

Beshear: It’s all over Yemen. Another cool little history tidbit is that Yemen and India used to trade a lot. On that trade route, Yemen was known for its coffee and India was known for its teas, and India shared a tea blend with Yemen. So there is a lot of history that goes back between Yemen, its coffee, and India. This map depicts that whole process of where coffee and tea came together, and how it brought everyone together.

Dan Firks: And you call this the Adeni tea. Tell me a little bit about it and let’s try it.

Beshear: It’s a premium black tea with a little bit of milk, but it has a very distinct flavor. It’s tradition for the host to give the guest the first cup. It’s our premium black tea blend with a couple of spices, cinnamon and saffron, and then a little bit of milk to enhance the smoothness of the flavor. It’s best to just taste it yourself and see what it’s all about.

Dan Firks: That is absolutely delicious. I love that cinnamon taste in there. Very smooth. And it’s definitely going to keep you warm on a winter’s day like today.

Beshear: Be careful, it’s hot, and it will keep you up. There’s a lot of caffeine in here. Black tea is known to have a lot of caffeine. This one is very light, too. We have an iced version of it as well, topped off with some cold foam.

Dan Firks: Well, this is delicious. So tell me, what other flavors are popular here at Haraz?

Beshear: In general, Yemen has three distinct flavors that we go through: cinnamon, saffron, and nutmeg. We also have a Haraz spice, which is basically a cultivation of all those flavors. Our signature latte, the Rasa Latte, is that spice blend with milk and our medium roast. You don’t get too overboard a flavor, just a little sweetness, but you still get that hint of the Haraz, Yemen-distinct flavor. It tastes absolutely delicious.

Beshear: Next we’ve got the Milky and White Chocolate lattes, which are two of our bestsellers and specialties for us.

Dan Firks: This looks absolutely delicious. Thank you very much, I didn’t know I was going to get treated. All right, Beshear, tell me a little bit about this amazing looking dessert. What do we have here?

Beshear: This is our Dubai Brownie. It’s basically a sheet of brownie, and then the middle layer is a pistachio filling with coconut for that crunchy, phyllo-dough texture. And then the top layer is another sheet of brownie, nice and soft and very moist.

Dan Firks: Oh, you get that crunch in the middle with the brownie. I’ve never had anything like this. Absolutely amazing. I love these pistachios. Very moist, very chocolaty, and the flavors all just go together. It’s a nice blend of chocolate with a little bit of nuttiness. You could definitely share it, it’s a big piece, but it’s absolutely phenomenal.

Dan Firks: All right, what do we have here, my friend?

Beshear: This is our saffron milk cake. It’s a play on tres leches, but with a saffron-infused flavor and a few crushed pistachios on top.

Dan Firks: Is there lemon in there? What am I tasting?

Beshear: No. It’s very light, not too sweet, not overdone. Just a little hint of sugar, milk, and saffron, with the pistachios on top.

Dan Firks: Phenomenal. Absolutely delicious. And what do we have over here?

Beshear: The last one is another traditional dessert. It’s dough with cream cheese in the middle, and then honey drizzled on top. It’s a pretty popular one. You get this little ramekin, so you just drizzle a little bit of honey over the top.

Dan Firks: Oh, it’s got crunch. And that honey totally makes it. You guys need to hurry up and get down here, this is definitely delicious. I honestly can’t say which one’s my favorite. If I had to, I’d probably say the chocolate, because I love my chocolate, but every one of these is amazing.

Beshear: You can see how each dessert is pretty big in size. So come down here with your family and friends and share it, some dessert with some coffee. These are all basically appetizer-sized plates to share. For a family of four, this could feed about twelve people.

Dan Firks: Beshear, as Haraz Coffee grows, how do you want people to know what’s happening here in the community?

Beshear: For me, Haraz was always more than just a place for getting coffee. It’s where you can get handmade, authentic Yemeni pastries and desserts that pair beautifully with our drinks. But not only that, it’s a place where people can connect and engage with their community. The best way to follow along is through our Instagram account, @hrzcoffee.aurora. That’s the bigger picture for Haraz. We want to give back to the community and make this a place for people to come and hang out. Last week we had a couple of small vendors come in for a really cool night, with henna drawings and jewelry. We want to be as engaging with the community as possible. We also plan on doing events like Coffee with the Cops, and we’d like to bring out the fire brigade for kids to come see.

Dan Firks: And we’re in a private room here in the back of the coffee house. Tell me a little bit about this room. It seems like it has a lot of different opportunities.

Beshear: I haven’t seen a coffee shop have a private room yet, so this is a first, and I was part of building it. It’s where people can come in and take their Zoom calls or their Microsoft Teams meetings. And not only that, a lot of people have come in and done birthday parties, and I’ve even had someone do an engagement party over here. It’s a nice private room that can host a lot of the things you might want, and it’s open to the public.

Dan Firks: I love it, absolutely love it. Beshear, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me today. And you guys need to get down here and have some delicious coffee and sweets. Have a good day.

Read the full guide on Haraz Coffee House near Naperville →