One of San Francisco’s most hyped coffee roasters, Mokhtar Alkhanshali, is teaming up with one of San Francisco’s most storied literary titans, Dave Eggers, to open a cafe at Art + Water, a new arts nonprofit set in a 70,000-square-foot space at Pier 29 in late summer or fall 2026. The Tenderloin-raised Alkhanshali, widely considered the pioneer of specialty Yemeni coffee in San Francisco, has spent more than a decade importing coffee to the Bay Area. He’ll handle a large cafe space inside the location, which will also serve as a home for a new coffee brand, offer free studio space for artists, and feature some 10,000-square-feet of gallery space, according to a long blog post Eggers posted to his literary arts company and press, McSweeney’s.
“[Eggers] noticed there was no coffee in that entire area,” Alkhanshali says. “He could have had 1,000 people open a cafe there. But what he wants to build, it’s going to be its own world.”
Eggers and Alkhanshali have discussed the idea of opening a cafe together for years. While there are not many firm details yet, Alkhanshali says the cafe is not going to be like anything San Franciscans have access to currently, referencing cafes from the 18th and 19th centuries like those in the cities of Sana’a, Cairo, or even old Boston as comparable examples. Fittingly with the nonprofit’s aims, cities where cafes stimulated revolution. Lots of ornate rugs and plants provided by San Francisco nursery Flora Grubb will decorate the cafe.
The menu is also TBD at this point, but Alkhanshali says his famous Port of Mokha roaster will not be featured in the space; instead, he is hard at work on what he calls the first luxury coffee company, utilizing his roasted beans, sourced from farmer partners across five regions. Drinks will be served alongside food accompaniments in a setup Alhanshali compares to high tea time or omakase-style service. There will be a food menu outside of pairings too, and chocolates and other specialty goods may be available to purchase…