Honey is more than a sweetener at Asal Bee—it’s the heart of the experience. The Yemeni cafe chain recently brought its honey-forward drinks, desserts, and hospitality to Burnsville, opening its first Minnesota location and giving the south metro a sweet new spot for coffee, conversation, and late-night treats.
Photo by Linden M. Bayliss
What’s Up
Yemeni cafe chain Asal Bee opened its first Minnesota storefront this year in Burnsville. Here, honey is the star of the show—heck, it’s even in the name, asal is Arabic for “honey.” Driven by a lifelong fascination with bees, founder Muaath Alghazali started the business back in 2004 as a specialty honey shop in Yemen called Jantan, expanding operations to the U.S. in 2016 amid a growing demand for rare varieties of the sweet, golden syrup. The first Asal Bee-branded customer-facing store opened in Dearborn, Michigan, in 2021, and, three years later, the honey shop evolved into a full-scale cafe experience showcasing honey-sweetened coffee drinks, smoothies, desserts, and more.
What’s Cooking? (And Brewing)
You’ll find many familiar coffee-shop favorites on the Asal Bee drink menu—lattes, cappuccinos, matcha, etc.—but many with a (you guessed it) honey-infused twist, such as the Pistachio Honey Latte and the Honey Macchiato. For my caffeine hit, I tried one of the several Yemeni coffee options, sampling my first-ever mofawar, a milky coffee infused with cardamom. The Signature Protein Waffle was everything the photos promised and more: loaded with berries, dripping with honey, and topped with a scoop of the cafe’s signature decadent mango ice cream—a pleasant surprise, albeit a lot to take in for breakfast. At least they made me feel healthy by putting “protein” in the name. If you need a break from all the sugar, deli sandwiches and savory baked goods like spiced meat pies round out the menu.
Photo by Linden M. Bayliss
What’s the Vibe?
Although the cafe is set in an unassuming strip mall off an Interstate 35-W frontage road, the decor transports you right to the Middle East. A colorful, cozy lounge corner drew my eye right away, and the cushiony leather banquette seating encourages conversation and good hangs with friends. Asal Bee is open from 8 a.m. to midnight seven days a week—making it one of the few late-night coffee shops in the Twin Cities—so you can get your daily dose of honey for breakfast and dessert.
Asal Bee, 14025 Grand Ave., Burnsville; asalbee.com
