When Omar Abdelmoity was growing up in southern Overland Park, he remembers struggling to find a late night hangout.
In high school, he said he and his friends would often leave the gym late at night, not quite ready to go home after that. But there weren’t many alternatives.
Luckily, he said, that won’t be the case for much longer. With his new coffee shop’s proximity to multiple schools, gyms and sports complexes off 135th Street and Antioch Road, he’s hoping to fill that gap for kids who are looking for the same thing today.
“I saw it as a uniquely-positioned central location to a lot of community epicenters,” he said.
The shop, Mocha Point Yemeni Coffee, is gearing to open its doors by the end of the year in southern Overland Park. It will mark the Missouri-based coffee shop’s Johnson County debut.
Mocha Point is coming to 8641 W. 135th St.
- The coffee shop is moving into a space just off 135th Street and Antioch Road in southern Overland Park.
- There, it will operate near Chick-In Waffle and the OsLo development.
- Once it opens, Mocha Point’s regular hours will likely be 6 a.m. to midnight during the week, with potentially even later hours on weekends.
Mocha Point serves “authentic” Yemeni coffee
The beans used in Mocha Point’s coffee grow in Yemen, which is considered a birthplace of the coffee industry.
Yemen was one of the first places where coffee transformed from simply beans to a beverage — and for roughly 200 years, the Mokha port in Yemen was central to the global coffee trade.
At Mocha Point, coffee with that same origin story is used in beverages like cappuccinos, americanos and “signature” drinks like pistachio lattes and caramel macchiatos. Mocha Point also offers some non-coffee drinks like refreshers and matcha lattes.
The menu also features some drinks with traditional roots to Yemen — such as an Adeni chai, made with black tea, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg.
“We’re really being intentional about having a diverse array of drinks and pastries,” said Abdelmoity, noting their menu will feature vegan and gluten-free options as well.
The nod to Yemen won’t just be featured in the shop’s menu. Abdelmoity said the architecture and design of the space will reflect that of a typical Yemeni café — lots of arches, wrap-around benches, and earthy colors like cream and dark brown.
“(We want to) emulate what it would be like if you went to a traditional coffee shop overseas,” he said.
This marks Mocha Point’s debut in Johnson County
The shop’s flagship location opened in St. Charles, Missouri, roughly a year ago.
The new Overland Park location will be Mocha Point’s second location overall.
Beyond that, Abdelmoity said the brand plans to expand further with even more locations.
But right now, he said all of the effort will go into getting Mocha Point up and running in Overland Park.
“We want it to be a welcoming, safe, open environment for individuals of all ages to come, whether they want to study or they want to just hang out,” he said. “It’s the realization of a dream that I had for me for my friends when we were growing up, and now we’re able to bring in a unique — really the first of its kind — take on coffee to Overland Park.”
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