Arya Café a Pillar for Ethiopian Coffee and Culture in Minneapolis

Arya Café Co-Founder Obsa Mohamed. Photo by Alexander Toast of Toast Photography. All images courtesy of Arya Café.

Ethiopian coffee and culture is at the center of a new Minneapolis cafe called Arya Café.

At the center of the physical space — a fomer Café Cerés location near Minnehaha Falls — stands a gold-tiled structural pillar that the owners want to turn into a literal pillar of the community. 

Customers snap Polaroids, tack them to the pillar and add handwritten notes about where they’re from or their hopes for the future. The goal is to eventually cover the entire surface. 

Local Oromo artist Lokho Kotile has also helped shape the look of the cafe through calming, place-based artwork.

Arya’s grand opening on Aug. 9 marked what co-founder and Ethiopian immigrant Obsa Mohamed described as a decade-long dream. The business is co-owned by friends and business partners Mohamed and Munir Ahmed, who serves as CFO.

“It was heartwarming seeing that many people from different walks of life just coming together over a cup of coffee,” Mohamed recently told Daily Coffee News.

Mohamed said he also spent time talking with neighbors before opening, gathering input from “Arya Insiders” on how to best serve the community.

During the recent federal government shutdown, which threatened SNAP benefits in November, Arya organized non-perishable food donations and promoted mutual aid.

After initially exploring options to become a franchisee, Mohamed said he chose to build something on his own, as he “didn’t feel comfortable with someone telling him how to dream his dreams.”

Mohamed, who immigrated to Minneapolis in 2003, said he wanted to create a community hub focused on people and Ethiopian cultural heritage, with coffee being a “bonus.”

Mohamed’s path into coffee has not been straightforward. His background includes roles in business, healthcare, insurance, restaurants and retail.

While coffee fueled him through it all, his appreciation deepened along international travels that began in 2016, including cafe visits in Turkey, London and Brazil. He wanted to channel the “third place” qualities he witnessed into a shop that feels like a break from daily noise.

Artwork from Lokho Kotile inside Arya Café.

“Once you come in through that door, everybody is treated equally, respectfully, with kindness, from our team to the ownership, to myself, to the first person that walks in, to the last person that walks out,” Mohamed said. “It’s a home away from home.”

On the menu, Arya offers a standard lineup of espresso-based drinks, plus house-made syrups and a set of refreshers. Pastries come from local Rustica Bakery. The cafe also serves blended drinks, including a popular chai, plus seasonal items such as a date-and-clove matcha.

“We’ve seen the prices of matcha go up regularly, but one thing we’ve done is we’ve kept the prices of our matcha the same,” Mohamed said. “Some other cafes have to do what they have to do to increase prices just due to the demand of it.”

Arya’s signature Ethiopian natural coffees are roasted locally by Folly Coffee Roasters, part of Fairwave Specialty Coffee.

Mohamed and Ahmed are also working on adding a brief Ethiopian-style roasting ceremony each morning or afternoon, with a long-term goal of offering classes.

“It’s just to get that aroma of the actual beans out there. There’s a visual aspect of Arya that’s there,” said Mohamed. “The taste is there. Now I want to capture the smell of that to complete that trifecta.”

Mohamed said a second Arya location is planned for downtown Minneapolis near Nicollet Avenue and 5th Street, though an opening date has not been finalized. Looking further ahead, he said the business may eventually expand beyond Minneapolis.

“We haven’t decided on the next city, but we do believe we possibly may end up going outside of Minneapolis for the third location, because Minneapolis already has two, as much as I love Minneapolis,” said Mohamed. “I want to get it to different cities as well.”

Arya Café is located at 4603 Minnehaha Ave. in Minneapolis.

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