Where do you order a cardamom-spiced tea or a honey latte on Main Street at 10:30 on a Thursday night? A year ago there was no clear answer. This fall there are two, and both arrived within a few weeks of each other in late summer 2026.
Moka & Co., a Yemeni coffee café at 15 W Main St., was scheduled to open on Saturday, Aug. 29, according to NJ.com. Patch confirmed it was open by Sept. 10. A few blocks' worth of storefronts away, Middlemist at 30 East Main St. added a full coffee program to its meadery in August and moved its opening time to 7 a.m. Each one is set up as a full-day space. Together they stretch downtown Somerville's café hours from breakfast to midnight.
The posted hours, side by side
Moka & Co. and Middlemist both post hours that look more like a restaurant's than a coffee bar's.
| Day | Moka & Co., 15 W Main St. | Middlemist, 30 E Main St. |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Thursday | 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. | 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. |
| Friday | 7 a.m. to midnight | 7 a.m. to midnight |
| Saturday | 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. | 7 a.m. to midnight |
| Sunday | 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. | 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
Moka's hours come from its official Somerville location page. Middlemist's come from the Visit page on its website. On weekdays the two schedules match almost exactly. They differ on weekend mornings, when Moka opens at 11 a.m. and Middlemist's posted hours start at 7. That split decides which door you walk through first on a Saturday.
Moka & Co. brought the oldest coffee tradition to Main Street
The name points to the historic Port of Mokha in Yemen. The company describes it as a major coffee trading port and the gateway through which coffee reached the rest of the world. According to Patch, the brand began as an idea inside a Yemeni restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan. The pandemic paused it, and it officially launched in 2024 as what the company calls "a modern lifestyle brand centered around the world's oldest coffee culture."
Moka says its beans are 100 percent organic Yemeni coffee and are never blended with lower-grade beans. It also says farmers handpick the beans on mountain terrain and sun-dry them on rooftops without chemical inputs. The company describes its drinks as running from traditional Yemeni brewing methods to modern specialty orders.
Moka's brand-wide menu lists traditional drinks you won't find at most local coffee counters. Among them are Mufawar, Maleki, Sana'ani, Jubani and Saffron Adeni, along with Arabic and Turkish coffee. Two of them are worth knowing by description:
- Qishr is made from coffee husks blended with ginger and cinnamon.
- Adeni Chai is black tea with milk, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, cloves and cinnamon.
Those descriptions come from the company's general menu. Ask at the counter which ones the Somerville shop is pouring this month. The online pickup link on the Somerville page currently goes to a different branch, so the counter is the most reliable place to check.
The late hours matter here. Spiced tea and husk-based coffee are easier to drink at 9 p.m. than a double espresso. Moka keeps serving until 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on Fridays.
Middlemist moved its clock in the opposite direction
Moka arrived with late hours built in. Middlemist got to the same schedule from the other end. Somerset County's first meadery opened on April 18 as an evening tasting room for honey wine and cider. In August, owner Ilija Melentijevic told Patch that the borough had approved earlier hours and coffee service.
"With the space, we overall had a vision of creating a community third space, and coffee lets us fill that in for the morning hours instead of just the evening kind of happy hour vibes."
Melentijevic said that to Patch and described the goal as "a whole day hangout type of atmosphere." The room holds 130 people and is set up so guests can stay, work and meet.
The coffee program has a local story behind it. TAPinto reported that it is led by Seth Jay-Choynake, a Somerville native who started making coffee in 2015 at Dragonfly Café on Main Street, then worked at Starbucks in Bedminster and Ambee Coffee in Warren. He played an impromptu keyboard set on Middlemist's opening day, got to talking with the owners and was running all of its nonalcoholic drinks three months later.
The drinks borrow from the mead side of the house. Jay-Choynake uses beans from regional roasters and works in local honey. His Honey Nut Latte and Honey Cinnamon Churro Latte have been popular, according to TAPinto. The broader menu covers drip coffee, espresso drinks, cappuccinos, specialty lattes, teas and hot chocolate, with honey foams and more varietal honeys planned. Back in August, the business said coffee flights of its signature lattes and fall flavors were coming soon.
After dark, the taproom's rotating mead menu takes over. Recent pours have included Local Wildflower Mead, Orange Blossom Mead, Citra Hop Mead and Blueberry Honey Wine, along with honey cider and nonalcoholic honey sodas.
Check before you go
Middlemist's own website hasn't fully caught up with the change. The Visit page lists a 7 a.m. opening every day. The homepage still shows the older afternoon openings: 5 p.m. on Mondays, 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and noon on weekends. In mid-August, TAPinto reported that the specialty lattes were served during limited morning hours, with full coffee service "coming soon." Before an early visit, check the business's Instagram at @middlemistmead, which the owner named as the best place for calendars and new drink announcements.
The morning regulars still anchor the early hours
The new late hours add to a downtown that already had a solid morning lineup:
- Ambee Coffee, 37 W Main St., serves organic coffee and tea and baked goods, with seating and Wi-Fi.
- Bliss Coffee Lounge, 14 E Main St., serves handcrafted coffee, matcha, breakfast, lunch, pastries and adaptogen elixirs.
- Dosti & Chai, 24 Division St., is a chai lounge built around handcrafted, spice-forward tea. Patch reported its brick-and-mortar plans in January 2026.
- Blue Sheep Bake Shop & Creamery, 84 W Main St., pairs baked goods and homemade ice cream with specialty coffee, iced lattes and dirty sodas.
What changed this summer is the other end of the day. Downtown already had places for a weekday-morning latte. Now a cup of Adeni Chai at 11 p.m. on a Friday, or a honey latte before a board game night, is possible too.
A week on Main Street, by the posted clock
Put the posted hours together with Middlemist's weekly events and the new schedule looks like this:
- Monday night. Middlemist hosts board game night, and both cafés stay open until 11 p.m.
- Tuesday night. Trivia at Middlemist. A late Qishr at Moka works for anyone skipping the quiz.
- Friday. Middlemist has live music every Friday, and both businesses list closing at midnight.
- Saturday morning. Middlemist's Visit page lists a 7 a.m. opening, four hours before Moka's 11 a.m. weekend start.
- Sunday. Both close at 10 p.m., the earliest night of the week for each.
Middlemist is also adding daytime programming because of the earlier hours. TAPinto listed open mics, mahjong and pilates as possibilities, and the space takes private bookings starting at 7 a.m. It hosts baby showers, birthdays and corporate happy hours. If you're planning a morning gathering downtown, Middlemist now takes bookings for hours it didn't keep last spring.
Downtown changes like these, in hours, foot traffic and what Main Street offers after dark, are what I watch as a Somerset County agent, because they shape how a place feels to live in. If you'd like to talk about Somerville or the streets around it, Cheryl Brunetti is glad to compare notes over coffee at any hour Main Street is open. Let's Connect.