Yumi Yamauchi’s popular pop-up cafe, Yumi’s Coffee, will soon have a permanent home in Phoenix.
Yumi’s Coffee
When Yumi Yamauchi moved to the United States from Japan, she couldn’t find a cafe that was serving the kind of coffee or matcha she was used to drinking.
“There’s more flavored coffee, more sweet coffee and the matcha is not matcha,” Yamauchi recalls of her first visits to coffee shops in the U.S. “I was surprised by so many syrups.”
Wanting to test her theory that others crave the same kind of “simple” coffee and matcha she enjoys, Yamauchi bought a coffee cart and started popping up around Phoenix last October.
She’s brewed espresso and whisked matcha at other local businesses, including Dig It Gardens and in front of The Churchill’s Neighbor Market. Now, Yamauchi has secured a permanent spot for Yumi’s Coffee, which will open in Phoenix’s Coronado neighborhood on Wednesday.
Yumi’s Coffee will be part of The Carmody, a micro-mall located on 16th Street just north of McDowell Road. The collective space is home to Bloom Bodega, the Crystal Loft, Desert Grace Studio, Swoon Salon and The Proper Cut.
Yamauchi was raised outside of Tokyo and worked at the cafe 27 Coffee Roasters in Kamakura for several years. It was there that she met her husband, Brett Danehey. He was working abroad in banking and had popped into the cafe for breakfast with a friend. After seeing Yamauchi behind the counter, he quickly became a regular and “finally got her to notice me when I brought my dog.”
On their first date, Yamauchi shared her dream to open a coffee shop. When she moved to the U.S. with Danehey in March 2024, she set out to make that dream a reality.
‘A little corner of Japan’
Yamauchi’s cart, adorned with a dual-language menu and sign with a sunflower potted in a coffee mug, quickly drew devotees. Danehey helps her out on bustling weekends and occasionally posts on the Yumi’s Coffee Instagram account to share the latest with their customers or his own “proud husband” post. He says people appreciate his wife’s precise work to craft espresso drinks, pour-overs and matcha lattes made with Nekohama Matcha.
“She refuses to batch make anything,” he says. “She makes it from hand right there and everything’s measured out very precise.”
One example of that precision: milk tastes sweeter when it’s steamed, so Yamauchi accounts for that in her matcha lattes. If it’s a hot latte, she won’t add sweetener; if it’s iced, she’ll add a hint of agave.
She’s also partnered with Mameya Coffee Roasters, a Japanese roastery based in Southern California, on her own coffee blend.
For Yamauchi’s new space, “she wants to create a little corner of Japan,” Danehey says. To do that, she made a trip across the Pacific to stock up on Japanese matcha bowls, cups and decor, including noren curtains. An artist and calligrapher, she’s also making pieces to display at the space. There will be wooden stools out front for people waiting to order and Japanese magazines for browsing.
In addition to coffee and tea, Yumi’s will serve a selection of baked goods and desserts made by 350baked. Yamauchi is also testing recipes for puddings and other Japanese pastries to bake for the cafe.
“That’s my dream,” she says, aiming to create a space for people to “enjoy my coffee and my pastry.”
Yumi’s Coffee
Opens Oct. 1
1710 N. 16th St.
AloJapan.com