New Coffee Shop Comes to the South End

Washington Street is making room for another café. Jaho Coffee & Tea will be opening its third location at 1651 Washington Street later this spring.

Jaho (pronounced ya-ho) has two other locations in Salem, which is where owner Anil Mezini went to college.

Mezini got the idea for Jaho after spending some time studying abroad in Japan.

“I went to Japan studying Japanese and the culture, and that’s what inspired Jaho,” he said. “I was spending a lot of time in coffee houses and tea shops, and when I came back there wasn’t really a place like that in Salem.”

The young entrepreneur opened the first Jaho fresh out of college five years ago to much success. The cafe sells coffee by the cup and offers different styles of brew, including drip coffee and French press. Mezini said they also have approximately 100 different types of loose teas, including varieties from China, Japan and India.

“We do a lot of traveling,” he said. “I try and bring back different beverages and recipes from places I travel.”

In addition to coffee and tea, Jaho will offer sandwiches and pastries, many made in-house. The South End location will also offer frozen yogurt.

Is Mezini nervous about moving in just a short walk away from acclaimed bakery and the ice-cream serving ?

“We’re a pretty different type of place than what’s around. Pastries are a part but not a big part,” he said. “I think usually the more businesses there are in the area, the better it is for the customer.”

Choosing the Washington Street location was a quick decision, Mezini added.

“To be honest, I was just walking around…and I saw the sign for a lease and I saw …and some of the other places down the street so I called the number [for the lease],” he said. “I wasn’t really planning on opening a new location over there.”

Mezini, who appeared at Tuesday night's Worcester Square Area Neighborhood Association meeting, said he hopes to open the South End location within the next two weeks.