A Michigan-founded Yemeni coffee chain is setting up shop just south of the University Boulevard intersection on Rouse Road in Orlando, marking its first location in Florida. Shibam Orlando will serve coffee, matcha and refreshers alongside a menu of traditional Yemeni drinks, positioning itself as a spot for University of Central Florida students to meet, work, study or relax.
According to WhatNow, Shibam Orlando will open at 3370 Rouse Road, near Chick-fil-A and the Knight Library, with the brand promoting updates through its @shibam.orlando Instagram account. Shibam Coffee, which was founded in Michigan, already operates locations in Ohio, West Virginia, Texas and Pennsylvania, per the same report. Commercial real estate records list a 900-square-foot retail space at 3370 Rouse Road, according to a listing on Cityfeet. The property is zoned RSTD C-1 and was built in 2022, per that listing.
Late-Night Hours Target a Massive Student Population
Located roughly one mile south of UCF's main campus, Shibam Orlando plans to operate daily from early morning until midnight to serve as a student study hub, according to a video posted on Facebook. UCF had a fall 2025 enrollment of 70,674 students, ranking it as the second-largest public university campus by enrollment in the United States, per Wikipedia. That scale of student traffic makes the Rouse Road corridor an attractive target for a chain built around late-night gathering.
The menu itself leans heavily into tradition. Per WhatNow, Shibam Orlando's offerings include Jubani, a Yemeni-style brew with a deep smoky flavor; Qishr, a coffee-husk tea spiced with ginger; and Mufawar, a Yemeni milk tea infused with cardamom. The chain sources its beans from Yemen's highlands and roasts them at Shibam Coffee Co., the outlet notes. The coffee is described as having a naturally sweet and warm-spiced flavor profile.
A Name Rooted in Yemen's Ancient Skyline
A Name Rooted in Yemen's Ancient Skyline The Shibam name carries its own history. It takes its name from the ancient walled city of Shibam in Yemen's Wadi Hadhramaut, famously dubbed the “Manhattan of the Desert” for its historic multi-story mud-brick skyscrapers, according to Shibam Coffee Atlanta. Those mud-brick tower houses date back centuries, and some exceed 100 feet, per the same source. The coffee plant originated in Ethiopia, while Yemen was where coffee was first cultivated as a crop and brewed as a beverage, according to Shibam Coffee Co.
Shibam says all of its food and drink items are prepared without alcohol or non-halal ingredients. That halal preparation fits a broader pattern: Yemeni coffee shops have grown rapidly across the country as alcohol-free “third places” and late-night gathering spots for young Muslims and non-drinking patrons seeking social venues, according to The Star, which notes the term “third place” was coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg to describe social hubs distinct from home and work.
Orlando Joins a Fast-Growing National Wave
The Orlando debut lands amid explosive national growth for the category. Market research firm Technomic reported that the number of Yemeni coffee shops operating across the United States grew by 50% in 2025 alone, according to Hoodline previously reported. Other Yemeni coffee concepts have also expanded nationally.
Locally, Shibam won't be the first coffee shop to enter the Orlando market. Shibam Orlando enters that already-warming market as it looks to carve out its own share of the university crowd's caffeine budget.
Competition for that student market has intensified elsewhere near campus, too. In East Orlando, UCF alumni opened Weekday Coffee & Matcha in August at the site of a former campus Starbucks on Memory Mall, timed to the first day of UCF's fall 2026 semester, per Hoodline's earlier coverage. Whether Shibam plans further expansion elsewhere in Central Florida remains an open question, as does the chain's exact grand opening date and local hiring plans for the Rouse Road location.
