Yellow Sun Brings Saudi-Caliber Roasting to Bushwick
Mohammad Wahid’s first taste of Ethiopian single-origin coffee in 2015 redirected his entire career. A decade later, he’s running a minimalist Bushwick cafe that rotates transparent single-origins every two weeks—bringing the precision he developed at Saudi Arabia’s Hemi Coffee to Brooklyn’s specialty scene.
Yellow Sun Coffee Roasters opened last September at 1434 DeKalb Avenue. The 400-square-foot space strips away distraction: natural wood, clean lines, and bright yellow accents that match the name. Wahid and business partner Khaled Sedeq designed it as a tasting room where the coffee speaks for itself.
From Riyadh to DeKalb Avenue
Wahid co-founded Hemi Coffee, a high-end roasting company in Saudi Arabia, before relocating to New York in 2023. That experience shows in Yellow Sun’s sourcing philosophy: every coffee comes with clear farm attribution, processing details, and flavour mapping that begins before beans even reach the sample table.
“We start with the flavour profile we want,” Wahid explained. “Then we work with trusted suppliers to find coffees that match—and cup everything internally before committing.”
The current rotation spans Yemen, Costa Rica, and Ethiopia. Yemeni coffees carry heritage weight in the specialty world, but they’re rare on Brooklyn menus. Yellow Sun’s willingness to source them signals serious intent.
Shared Roasting, Personal Touch
Rather than install equipment in the small Bushwick space, Wahid oversees a 15-kilogram Loring machine at Shared Roasting, a co-roastery elsewhere in Brooklyn. The arrangement lets Yellow Sun access professional-grade equipment without the capital expenditure of ownership—a model gaining traction among ambitious new roasters.
On the bar, a Mavam Mach 2 espresso machine handles drinks ground on a Mahlkönig E65S GBW. The espresso menu leans into chocolate and nut profiles, including a signature cardamom latte that nods to Middle Eastern coffee traditions. Filter offerings rotate biweekly, showcasing whatever’s freshest from the roasting runs.
Expansion Without Dilution
Wahid has already named future targets: Williamsburg, West Village, and Park Slope. The question for any specialty roaster scaling from a single cafe is whether quality survives growth. Yellow Sun’s early approach—rotating offerings, transparent sourcing, professional-grade roasting—suggests Wahid isn’t interested in shortcuts.
Why This Matters
Brooklyn has no shortage of coffee. Third-wave shops cluster on nearly every commercial strip in Bushwick, and the borough’s roasting scene includes established names like Partners, Parlor, and Sey. What Yellow Sun offers is specific: a founder who built his credentials in one of the world’s fastest-growing specialty markets, applied to coffees most American roasters never touch.
For drinkers curious about single-origins from Yemen or rare Ethiopian micro-lots, Yellow Sun provides the access. For the specialty industry, it’s another example of global talent gravitating to New York—and raising the bar when they arrive.
Yellow Sun Coffee is open daily from 7 AM to 6 PM at 1434 DeKalb Avenue in Bushwick.