A new cafe has a $17 latte service and they only make 7 a day

Walking into most coffee shops, the transaction is always the same: the customer orders, waits for their name to be called, grabs their item, and finds a seat or goes about their day. The founders of Nūr Coffee Bar, which opened its doors in Addison in early June, believe that the typical formula was never enough and are challenging that.

After noticing a gap, cofounders Onyi Odunukwe (CEO and cofounder), Cedric Ogbuehi (president), Jonah Ott (COO) and Lisa Nguyen (director of food and beverage) wanted to offer coffee lovers a new, more personal experience. The Dallas Observer spoke with Ogbuehi and Ott to discuss their vision, what visitors can expect at their café, and expansion plans for the establishment.

It’s bigger than coffee

Nūr Coffee Bar sits next to Earth Nail Spa, and that proximity is not a coincidence.

“Onyi, my partner, actually owned the building, so we started Earth Nail Spa first, me, Onyi, and Porter. Earth Nail Shop, we started that first, and the plan was to put a coffee shop beside it,” Ogbuehi said. “It wasn’t, the plan was literally just to have like a little mom and pop coffee shop, like for the community, whatever. And then as we built our team, as we met Jonah, it was like, OK, this can actually become a thing, right? And we can actually, our mission to be someone’s light can actually be, we can be the light to a lot of different people in a lot of areas.”

The ownership group itself reflects the diversity on which the brand is built. Three of the four co-founders are immigrants, and the team behind the counter has been central to what Ott describes as a genuinely collaborative effort.

Ott, who has owned Viewfinder Coffee Roasters, a roastery and education space, for five years and consulted on numerous café openings, came aboard after being recruited through a mutual connection. Nguyen cultivated the food menu, while Ott brought his coffee and operations experience to the business.

Nūr means light in seven languages. The community that has shown up since the soft opening reflects exactly the kind of room the founders envisioned.

“The word ‘nur’ means light in a lot of languages, seven to be exact. It stuck out to us ’cause what better kind of word to bring community, bring culture,” Ogbuehi said. “We’ve become a very, very diverse coffee shop or experience, and we love that. And even this word being Arabic, we have a lot of Muslims come in, and we actually really love that. Now, again, we’re not an Arabic cafe, but I think having that word invites them as well.”

The owners’ expansion mindset is already in motion. Their next three to four locations will each pair the café and nail spa concepts, although Ogbuehi said that will not be the model for every future location.

Hospitality as a standard, not a perk

For Ott, who has been in the food and beverage industry for a decade, the problem he noticed with most coffee shops is not the coffee; it is everything surrounding it.

“True hospitality needs to taste good, needs to look good, and needs to feel good,” Ott told the Observer. “The bar is on the ground with quality in cafés. I think so many people have beautiful shops, but then what they get is like, ‘What am I even drinking?’ [and] ‘Why would I spend any money on this?’”

At Nūr Coffee Bar, the experience does not end at the counter because the staff brings orders directly to guests on a tray, a detail that sounds small but signals something larger about what the team is building.

“We don’t call out names like you would hear in Starbucks. Where they’re just like, ‘Hey, Steve!’ No, we don’t do that. We actually find you. Hospitality should be a wonder. You should wonder, ‘How did they know where I was sitting?’ It shouldn’t be confusing. You should be ‘this is amazing,’” Ott explained. “If you do the little things right, nobody’s going to notice. But if you do them wrong, that’s the only thing they’ll see. We’re super intentional from the start to have that attention to detail in every single thing, in how we find you, how we approach you, the vernacular, the words that we actually speak to make your experience better. It’s about not just caring about any one thing. It’s about caring about everything.”

The menu

Nguyen designed the food menu, and it shows a kitchen that is not playing it safe. Alongside a $5 drip coffee, Nūr offers an $18 smoked-salmon English muffin, Blue Majik wellness cups, and a $17 white-glove latte experience that the shop limits to seven orders per day. The English muffins are made to order through a partnership with a local bake shop.

“Full credit for the food menu goes to our co-founder, Lisa Nguyen. She put her whole heart into that,” Ott mentioned. “Having an English muffin program, which is really not done, everybody’s doing toast or bagels, but we wanted to find something creative. We are working with a local bake shop to make our custom English muffins. They’re not just like what you’re getting from the store or whatever. It’s all made to order, all made fresh.”

The menu is also designed to keep guests in their seats. Customers can open a tab and order throughout the day without returning to the line.

We ordered a Blush Matcha and Feel Good wellness cup with hazelnut butter. Both items were presented on a tray with a napkin and the necessary utensils. The Blush Matcha, a mix of their ceremonial matcha and a berry blend topped with vanilla cold foam, had a sweet raspberry flavor that drowned out the earthy notes matcha typically has. It wasn’t too sweet, which was nice.

The Feel Good is açaí, granola, banana, hemp seed and a choice of nut butter (hazelnut, almond or peanut), which was refreshing and somewhat filling. The texture was smooth with a crunch from the granola. The serving sizes were appreciated as well. Staff were not only helpful for a first-time visit, but also attentive.

The $17 latte experience

Not everyone who walked through the location’s doors on a recent weekday morning planned to spend $17 on a latte, but for Desiree Browden, it was the whole point.

“I actually saw that they were releasing the $17 latte today, so I wanted to be one of those seven, so I ordered it, and I was truly amazed with the whole experience. They came out on a tray, the white-glove service,” Browden said. “They brought it to my table. There was even a card detailing the details of the coffee inside the latte. The latte tasted good. It was nice and balanced, and the croissant was just an extra touch. So, 10 stars.”

Her friend Chandra Middlebrooks ordered the white glove latte as well. The presentation caught her off guard in the best way.

“As soon as I walked in, the ambiance was beautiful: the lighting, the décor. It’s very inviting. As soon as we got in line, we were serviced quickly. Everybody behind the counter was smiling and very informative about, ‘Hey, this is what we have. This is what this is,’” Middlebrooks said. “The whole experience of them bringing it out on the tray, with the physical white gloves on, just a beautiful touch. They made sure that we knew what we were getting. They detailed the card, told us about the gold flakes on top of this latte, in the martini glass, may I add.”

Middlebrooks also mentioned that employees returned to the table after delivering the order to ask about their experience and whether anything could be improved.

What’s Next

Monthly latte drops are coming, designed to give regulars a reason to keep coming back.

“There are certain things that we just want to do to keep people excited, but also to strengthen our creativity,” Ott added. “If you come once and then you come again, you’re going to get the same level of experience, but you will encounter something new almost every single time.”

A note for first-timers: It gets busy. The 9 o’clock hour tends to mark the rush, and indoor seats can be scarce by 10 a.m. The shop does offer outdoor seating as well.

Nūr Coffee Bar is located on the city line of Addison and Carrollton at 2741 E. Beltline, Carrollton, TX 75006.