Amaiks Delicate Pastries

Amaik in Yuma, AZ is not a coffee shop that happens to sell food. It is a family bakery and specialty market that happens to have a cafe menu. Once you understand that, everything clicks.

The shop is tucked inside a small shop complex and not visible from the street. You have to walk in a bit to find it. When you do, the reward is a cozy and beautiful space run by a Mexican family whose warmth comes through in everything on the shelf and in the display case.

The desserts are the reason to come. Recipes go back generations. The grandmother and mother make them and some of those recipes trace back to the great grandmother. That kind of lineage shows up in the food. You can also pick up house made jams (multiple varieties) and local honey.

On the beverage side, the coffee beans come from Over The Road Coffee, a Yuma-rooted roaster you will typically find at the local farmers market rather than a storefront. Espresso is pulled from an Ethiopian single-origin bean and whole bean bags are available to purchase. The cafe menu covers espresso drinks, matcha, affogato, dalgona and a solid tea list that includes masala chai, cardamom and lavender among others. Aguas frescas round things out nicely.

The food menu has grown beyond sweets into light savory territory. Salads, sandwiches on a panini press, acai bowls and a soup of the day give the place real lunch potential. The avocado strawberry toast is worth trying.

If you walk in expecting a precision espresso bar, this is not that. But if you walk in for a cranberry pepita oatmeal cookie made from a family recipe, a jar of homemade jam, a bag of Ethiopian single origin beans and a masala chai, Amaik will absolutely deliver. Yuma is lucky to have it.