'Coffee is community': How an Eritrean immigrant serves a taste of home in Phoenix
She never questioned her dream.
Not once.
Aisha Tedros was determined – resolute – to open her own coffee shop.
Tedros fulfilled that dream in April 2013 when she opened A.T. Oasis Coffee and Tea in Phoenix. This year brought another landmark: Tedros' coffee shop earned a spot on Yelp’s list of top 100 coffee shops in North America.
Tedros worked hard for this. But she’s overwhelmed by and appreciative of the honor.
“I want to keep sharing the culture we have and share the love we have for the people of this community,” Tedros said. “I’m blessed to be here.”
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From childhood in Ethiopia to owning a coffee shop in Phoenix
After starting her life in Eritrea, Tedros' family moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when she was 10.
Coffee was part of her life from the time she was young. It wasn’t supposed to be. But after her father – who taught her how to be grateful and trust in God's provisions – slipped her coffee under the table when her mom wasn’t looking, Tedros never started another day without it. She was 7 years old.
"When my mom was traveling, my dad would give me a little cup," Tedros said, laughing. "In the mornings, I’d be sleepy and he would give me a little cup of coffee under the table. He had to tell my mom, 'I trained her to have coffee, let her have coffee.’ I got addicted to it."
Coffee was part of her upbringing from the start, though. She grew up in a town where coffee ceremonies were tradition. Coffee was served daily, not just for the taste but for the community it created among Tedros and her relatives.
Her family would sit in a circle, drinking coffee and sharing bread, for one to two hours at a time, often three times a day. These are memories she still savors today.
When she came to Phoenix 20 years ago – largely to be with family – she started working as a server. First at an Ethiopian restaurant in Tempe, and then at Mimi's Cafe in Mesa, where she worked for seven years before starting her coffee shop.
While working at Mimi's, she met Abdul Mahmoud through mutual friends. They married in 2012. Back then, he was a driver for hotels. But when they married, he not only became Tedros' life partner but also her business partner, leaving his full-time job to run A.T. Oasis alongside his wife.
"He told me, 'I’m there to support you in anything you do.’ Without him, I wouldn’t make it."
It all started in a coffee shop at Arizona Mills mall
Tedros' coffee shop started with the generosity of a stranger.
On an ordinary Saturday in late 2012, Tedros and Mahmoud went to Arizona Mills mall in Tempe to buy a gift for a friend. Mahmoud sat and waited in a Gloria Jean's coffee shop. Years before, when Tedros first came to the States, she had learned of the shop.
"I would sit in that chair and dream of what kind of coffee shop I was going to have," she said.
It was around this time that she had begun looking for a roaster and an espresso machine – two basics she would need to open her coffee shop. She asked the store owner for advice and, as it happened, he was going out of business.
Tedros had one question: Could she buy his coffee machine and grinder?
"And you know what he tells me? He said, ‘You know what? I opened my business for my wife and it’s not going the way I wanted it to go," Tedros said. "'But I see it in your eyes. You’re going to make this huge.' And I started crying."
"And then he said, ‘I’ll sell it for whatever price, because I know you’re going to make it. You’re going to make a difference in the coffee shop business.’"
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How one man changed Aisha's life
That day he sold her everything in his shop for one-third the price it would have cost if she had bought it all new – the roaster, the grinder, all the coffee machines and even the furniture. To this day, her coffee shop contains most of his belongings. Some furniture is tucked away in storage for when she opens a second location.
But to this day, she hasn’t been able to thank the kind man – and show him exactly what he did for her.
Tedros teared up again.
“I lost his phone number,” she said. “If there's a way that I can find him, I want to say thank you. Hopefully one day I will find him.”
It was the kindness of this man who pushed Tedros to open A.T. Oasis just six months later – and its opening was surrounded by the love and support of her community.
Up until two days before it opened, Tedros continued serving at Mimi's Cafe. Several people she had regularly served at Mimi's attended the opening.
She’d served at business lunches, and a real estate agent from one of those lunches helped her find her shop location. An attorney she had served helped her get the licensing she needed. An insurance worker helped her get the shop insured.
"I learned by asking questions and communicating,” she said. “I am not shy to repeat and ask questions to get to know. When you want something, you make it happen. I taught myself a lot.
“We did everything from scratch. We worked really hard. We love this place like our baby. The shop really is our baby.”
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What's on the menu at A.T. Oasis Coffee and Tea
All the coffee in the shop is imported from Ethiopia. Every year, Tedros travels there to visit her family and test the beans. She selects all the coffee sold in the store, visiting the farms, testing and choosing the beans she wants.
Once the green coffee is in the U.S., she sells it wholesale across the country. One shipping container of coffee – which she picks up in California – contains 322 bags, about 42,000 pounds of coffee, Tedros said.
She sells three types of coffee in the store. Yirgacheffe is a smooth Ethiopian Arabica bean with a citrus flavor. Sidamo offers a floral aroma with notes of chocolate and light spices. The third is Tedros’ favorite – her secret recipe – a ginger coffee that she blends by hand.
All coffees can be bought by the pound, as a cup or even in a pack of Keurig cups. The coffee is naturally processed and roasted in house.
Other menu highlights include a hibiscus tea – which Tedros put on the menu per her father’s request; a chai tea she makes from scratch; a black spiced tea; and a green mint tea.
“It’s customary for there to be coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon,” Tedros said.
The shop serves sandwiches and homemade baked goods including samosas, apricot scones and “our famous coconut cake,” Aisha said.
'I can't go anywhere else'
Tedros and Mahmoud are at the shop at 6 a.m. every day, ready to greet customers who walk in when the shop opens at 7 a.m. Odds are, if you call to ask a question, Tedros is the one answering the phone.
The proprietors greet the strangers who wander in for the first time and give hugs to the regulars, like Patrick Stewart who has walked to A.T. Oasis every morning for a cup of coffee since he moved from Texas almost two years ago.
"I can't go anywhere else," Stewart said.
But that may change. Tedros and Mahmoud have plans to open a second location one day soon – and, hopefully, a third and a fourth and a fifth. They want to shops across the Valley, their home. And they want customers to feel at home.
"Coffee is community, coffee is love, coffee is unity," Aisha said. "We sit around a table and welcome people with coffee. We sit and enjoy it in our houses. It’s part of our lives. It gathers us. I love coffee – and I love people. I want A.T. Oasis to be a home for everybody."
Details: A.T. Oasis Coffee and Tea Shop, 4613 E. Thomas Road, Phoenix. 602-957-2054, https://atoasiscoffee.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Best coffee in Phoenix: The story behind this Ethiopian shop
