Yaro Roastroom will open in Glassell Park at 2857 W. Ave. 35, in November or December 2026, according to co-owner Melanie Moradi. Moradi owns the coffee shop with her girlfriend, Monika Aghajanyan.
Moradi said she grew up in LA and remembers coffee shops as places to do school projects and hang out, an environment she said is hard to find in her neighborhood of Silver Lake. Moradi said she wants Yaro Roastroom to be more than a place to grab coffee to go.
“I feel like nowadays, coffee shops don’t really have that culture of come [and stay],” Moradi said.
Moradi said part of the reason the couple loves coffee shops is that they met in one. Aghajanyan said she was the manager of a coffee shop called AfroLab Specialty Coffee Roastery in Yerevan, Armenia, when she met Moradi. Aghajanyan said they have since been together for five years and decided to open a coffee shop in Northeast LA (NELA) with Aghajanyan’s old boss, Kima Abrahamyan, who remains in Armenia.
“I like working with coffee and making good drinks for people,” Aghajanyan said. “It’s my hobby and my passion.”
Moradi said Aghajanyan has been sampling different coffee beans from various places, like Colombia and Rwanda, which they will roast themselves. According to Moradi, the couple has also been experimenting with making their own syrup and cold foam in house.
“We’re definitely just trying out absolutely everything right now to find the best of the best,” Moradi said.
Moradi said she and Aghajanyan have tried pastries from different bakeries to get ones they think best fit their cafe.
“The pastries have to be as good as the coffee,” Moradi said. “They can’t be subpar or mid.”
Armen Arutyunyan, the couple’s contractor and a close friend, said they have worked hard to design their menu.
“I know whatever they end up choosing, it’s going to be something really incredible and worth trying,” Arutyunyan said. “It seems like they’re not settling for anything but perfect.”
Arutyunyan said the couple has poured a lot of effort into designing the cafe environment. According to Arutyunyan, Aghajanyan chose the lighting and artwork and created the design for the cafe.
“It kind of feels like you’re in a different world when you step inside the space,” Arutyunyan said. “You want to go in, order a drink, just sit and just enjoy the ambiance.”
Moradi said they plan to separate Yaro into two halves: one half to order and make the coffee, and one to enjoy the ample space and comfy seating. According to Moradi, they also plan on using the space as a place where Armenian artists can feature their work.
According to Moradi, “Yaro” is a reference to the word for “my love” in Armenian. Moradi said their coffee shop is going to be a space for everyone with some Armenian themes.
“We do want to honor our Armenian heritage by putting sprinkles of Armenian-ness here and there,” Moradi said. “But we definitely want to stay away from heavy branding just so that it doesn’t seem like a cultural spot, but a place for everybody.”
Moradi said she wants to keep their menu confidential pending their opening.
“We want people’s first impression to be when they come to the coffee shop to try everything,” Moradi said. “It’s kind of like when you go see a movie without ever seeing a trailer.”
Moradi said she wants Yaro to be a third space where people go to enjoy the environment instead of just grabbing coffee.
“Before we picked the name Yaro, we were talking about possibly naming it ‘Stay,’” Moradi said. “We really want to create an atmosphere here where people feel like this is their second happy place, and somewhere they can come to escape or just get out of the house.”
Contact Nathan Bae at nbae@oxy.edu
