{"id":296493,"date":"2026-05-02T11:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296493\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T11:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:34:08","slug":"a-viral-berkeley-cafe-just-opened-in-sf-it-doesnt-serve-coffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296493\/","title":{"rendered":"A viral Berkeley cafe just opened in SF. It doesn’t serve coffee."},"content":{"rendered":"

For Muhammad \u201cMojo\u201d Joyo and Zainab Joyo, the chai commonly found at\u00a0cafes<\/a> across the U.S. bears little resemblance to the beloved drink they grew up with.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI think pretty much any South Asian person you talk to is very frustrated with the landscape of chai,\u201d Mojo said. \u201cGoing to a cafe and asking for chai \u2014 what you get is always very disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the young married couple, who both were born in Pakistan, decided to take matters into their own hands. In 2024, they opened their own chai cafe in Berkeley, called Elaichi Co. Unlike the chai lattes found in many cafes across the U.S., Elaichi Co. doesn\u2019t add a premade chai concentrate to steamed milk. Instead, the proprietors brew their chai directly with the milk, creating a more tea-forward, creamy drink that highlights the boldness of the spices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The concept was a hit \u2014 so much so that on Saturday the Joyos are celebrating the grand opening of their second Elaichi Co. location in San Francisco. Through the city\u2019s Vacant to Vibrant<\/a> program, they are opening in the Yerba Buena<\/a> neighborhood at 360 Third St.<\/p>\n

\"Co-owner<\/p>\n

Co-owner Muhammad Joyo holds a cup of chai tea during the soft opening of\u00a0Elaichi Co. on Third Street in San Francisco on April 29, 2026. The cafe is San Francisco\u2019s first dedicated solely to chai.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE\"Packages<\/p>\n

Packages of chai tea are available for purchase during the soft opening of Elaichi Co. on Third Street in San Francisco\u00a0on April 29, 2026. The cafe is San Francisco\u2019s first dedicated solely to\u00a0chai.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE\"Customers<\/p>\n

Customers dine during the soft opening of Elaichi Co. on Third Street in San Francisco on April 29, 2026. The cafe is San Francisco\u2019s first dedicated solely to chai.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n

Unlike the Berkeley cafe, which also serves coffee, the new SF cafe plans to only serve chai \u2014 potentially a first for San Francisco. (SF\u2019s David Rio, which no longer has any storefronts, specialized in chai, but also served coffee.) Mojo said that despite serving some of the better coffee in the area at their Berkeley cafe, it\u2019s only about 20% of their sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can get coffee at any coffee shop pretty much anywhere, but there\u2019s only a handful of places where you can get authentic chai,\u201d Mojo said. \u201cSo I think very quickly our customers kind of decided for us: We\u2019re here for the chai.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pop-up nature of Vacant to Vibrant also made them feel more free to take a risk and experiment with nixing coffee, he said.<\/p>\n

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The Joyos both worked in tech before opening their first cafe \u2014 Mojo still has a full-time job as a software engineer, while Zainab has since pivoted and focuses solely on Elaichi Co. Part of the reason they wanted to open a chai cafe was to create the sense of community they missed during the early pandemic.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A sign lets customers know about the May 2 grand opening during the soft opening of\u00a0Elaichi Co. on Third Street in San Francisco on April 29, 2026. The cafe is San Francisco\u2019s first dedicated solely to\u00a0chai.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE\"Jade<\/p>\n

Jade Valderama pours a cup of chai from a kettle during the soft opening of Elaichi Co. on Third Street in San Francisco on April 29, 2026. The cafe is San Francisco\u2019s first dedicated solely to\u00a0chai.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in Pakistan, me, my friends and cousins, we would stay up late into the night at chai cafes and just talk and laugh and make fun of each other and just have a good time,\u201d Mojo said. \u201cThat feeling was centered around that space and those experiences, so that\u2019s what I kept yearning for. I was like, I feel like we could create something like that here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Elaichi Co. fostered community in Berkeley by hosting regular pop-up markets on its patio, as well as a huge annual block party \u2014 but also, by openly sharing its story with customers on social media. On Instagram, Elaichi Co. currently has 57,000 followers, and shares everything from silly videos on \u201cWhat it\u2019s like working with your husband?<\/a>\u201d to detailed breakdowns of how much they\u00a0spent on opening the cafe<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were kind of just figuring it out as we went,\u201d Mojo said. \u201cThat was part of our journey and part of our story, so we just started sharing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside an emerging movement of people \u201cbuilding in public\u201d online, Mojo said they found that videos where they shared their journey as new business owners resonated the most with their audience. A few even went viral, collecting millions of views<\/a>. For the opening of the SF cafe, they decided to share daily videos documenting their experience.<\/p>\n

\"Kettles<\/p>\n

Kettles on warmers are full of chai tea during the soft opening of Elaichi Co. on Third Street in San Francisco on April 29, 2026. The cafe is San Francisco\u2019s first dedicated solely to chai.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n

In one\u00a0video<\/a>, they talked about how the $10,000 grant they received from SF New Deal only covered a small portion of their expenses. An ice machine cost $1,600, while chai equipment like kettles, pots and strainers cost $5,500. They spent $8,300 alone on a TurboChef countertop oven to heat up all their pastries. In total, opening costs for Elaichi Co. added up to over $37,000 before the grant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Mojo said that when researching buildout costs, he couldn\u2019t find much clarity online. So he wanted to pay it forward and potentially help other new business owners by sharing what he learned. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any reason to be cagey or gatekeep around these things,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While he said other business owners might choose not to share this information out of fear of competition, that\u2019s never been their mentality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re like, the more, the merrier, you know?\u201d he said. \u201cLike if there\u2019s more chai cafes popping up next to us, perfect. That means there\u2019s more people drinking chai. That means the market\u2019s expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple has been surprised at how many customers have already visited Elaichi in SF during their soft opening \u2014 during our interview, the cafe had a near-constant trickle of young professionals filtering in for a late afternoon pick-me-up. They\u2019re expecting 1,000 people to show up to their grand opening celebration<\/a> on Saturday, where they plan to serve free chai courtesy of fintech company Mercury, as well as music and games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n

A customer orders a drink during the soft opening of Elaichi Co. on Third Street in San Francisco\u00a0on April 29, 2026. The cafe is San Francisco\u2019s first dedicated solely to\u00a0chai.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE\"The<\/p>\n

The pistachio cake and Elaichi Bun during the soft opening of Elaichi Co. on Third Street in San Francisco on April 29, 2026. The cafe is San Francisco\u2019s first dedicated solely to chai.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE\"Co-owner<\/p>\n

Co-owner Muhammad Joyo holds a cup of chai tea during the soft opening of Elaichi Co. on Third Street in San Francisco on April 29, 2026. The cafe is San Francisco\u2019s first dedicated solely to chai.<\/p>\n

Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n

After the grand opening, Elaichi Co. plans to expand its menu beyond its staples of karak chai (the cafe\u2019s signature chai, which is creamy and lightly spiced with cardamom), oat milk chai and Kashmiri chai (a pink-hued chai from the Kashmir region of India). Some upcoming additions include the spicier masala chai, which it only offers seasonally in Berkeley, and a trendy banana chai einspanner (chai with caramelized banana syrup and salted banana sweet cream). Elaichi Co. also makes its own pastries, from the cardamom-spiced Elaichi Bun to the delicate pistachio cake.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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If the San Francisco cafe is as successful as the Berkeley one, Mojo says he and Zainab would love to eventually open up even more chai cafes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day, I really want my mom to be able to go into a store and ask for a chai and get exactly what she\u2019s expecting,\u201d Mojo said. \u201cMaybe we\u2019re a little bit far away from that, but that\u2019s my dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elaichi Co.<\/a>, 360 Third St., San Francisco. Open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m.-9\u00a0p.m., Sunday, 8 a.m.-7\u00a0p.m.<\/p>\n

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