Coffee | Culture & Community | Economic Development | Arts & Culture | Wooster Square | Culinary Arts
Barista Spencer Knoll during a quiet moment. Jadan Anderson Photos.
Sun streamed golden and orange through the large, front-facing windows of Kaiyden’s. A little past one in the afternoon, passersby stopped to grab a drink on the go. Inside, one patron on a yellow suede sofa typed steadily on his laptop, intermittently sipping his beverage.
Welcome to Kaiyden’s, the Wooster Square coffee shop that Chidi Onukwugha is nurturing at 595 Chapel St., in the former home of Lincoln Flower Shop. After 11 months of paying rent and holding expectant residents in suspense, Onukwugha finally opened Kaiyden’s doors to the Wooster Square community in September 2021. Despite pandemic related setbacks, he is optimistic that New Haven’s newest coffee shop will be a hub for the neighborhood..
“I made Kaiyden’s to serve the community’s needs,” Onukwugha said in an interview at the shop last Wednesday. “I want it to be a place for the community that I love so much.”
Walking through Wooster Square, one might not even realize this bright place is a coffee shop— the business’ sign is small and pasted to the door instead of the shop’s large windows. That was an intentional design choice, made for the sake of preserving the customer’s enjoyment of natural light.
Chidi Onukwugha and his six-year-old grand niece, Kaiyden. Contributed Photo.
Inside, it’s warm and cozy, with a few tables around a barista’s station fitted with coffee machines. On quieter days, the baristas—last Wednesday, Macy Musik and then Spencer Knoll—read novels in between orders.
Onukwugha is also a fixture in the shop, where he’ll chat with patrons in a classic-looking button-up and newsboy cap. “How’s your coffee?” he’ll ask. What he really means is, “Let me know how we can make it better for you.”
Onukwugha’s self-proclaimed love for coffee began in Nigeria, where he grew up drinking tea as his father drank coffee at the same table.
“I was always wanting to be like my father,” he reminisced on a recent Wednesday. “We’d have breakfast together, he with a cup of coffee and me with a cup of tea. He told me that I couldn’t drink coffee until I turned 13 years old. So, for 13 years I just smelled his coffee.”
Customers with Macy Magik, who was a barista in Nashville before she and her husband relocated to New Haven. Jadan Anderson Photos.
After his 13th birthday, Onukwugha never went back. In college, he lived on coffee. On multi day road trips with his wife, he savored the smell and sloshing sound of pouring drip coffee into a gas station to-go cup. “And when I’d shop for cologne, the best part was smelling the coffee beans in between scents,” he said.
After pausing, he smiled. “They didn’t know I was actually just there to smell the coffee beans.”
Onukwugha’s love for coffee is rivaled by his love for the cafe’s namesake. Kaiyden is his now 6-year-old great niece, whom he lauds as joyful, playful, loving, and full of energy.
“I love kids, and Kaiyden is special,” he said. “I’ll just say that she has done a lot more for my life than I could ever do for her.”
Before opening shop, the cafe’s name underwent multiple interactions, most with some noun indicating its product—like, “Kaiyden’s Coffee” or “Kaiyden’s Cafe.” In the end, “this is all Kaiyden’s,” he said. “So I decided to name it just that.”
The name of the shop was just one of the few decisions Onukwugha needed to make to successfully launch his new business, which marks his first professional venture. Prior to running Kaiyden’s, he was in social work. “But I’ve always wanted to be in business.”
Barista Spencer Knoll during a quiet spell in the shop. "I decided to apply to be a barista here because when I saw that it was opening, I knew I was either going to spend a lot of money here or make money here," they said. Jadan Anderson Photos.
Onukwugha credited part of Kaiyden’s success to the support of a community that rallied around the business. He praised consultant A.J. Crosby, who conducted employee training, as well as Wooster Square Alder Ellen Cupo and neighborhood booster Charlotte Murphy for their support. His soon-to-be sister-in-law helped create the website. There were baristas who gave input on the menu and decor, and next door neighbors and businesses who enthusiastically received the new cafe.
Onukwugha said that New Haven’s Economic Development Administration has also been a friend to Kaiyden’s. The city was not only receptive to the initial idea, but has continued to reach out and support Kaiyden’s growth.
“Recently I even got a text from the Director of Economic Development asking me how everything is going,” he said. “Everyone likes to bash on the government, and maybe I will, too, someday. But from where I sit, the City of New Haven has really stepped up.”
“Chidi is just fantastic,” said city Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli. “And it was an honor to do a ribbon cutting for Kaiyden’s.”
After he received feedback from the Economic Development Administration about his idea, Onukwugha hit the ground running with determination to see Kaiyden’s open its doors.
“Kaiyden’s has arrived on the scene in a big year,” Piscitelli said. According to the City of New Haven’s Economic Indicators Report, Onukwugha’s business venture idea was just one of 22 successful hospitality-related business openings in the year 2021.
Like Onukwugha, Piscitelli is optimistic about the future of Kaiyden’s.
“We are finalizing three new housing developments where Chapel St. and Olive St. meet,” he said in a recent interview with the Arts Paper. “This was done in an effort to close the vibrancy gap between downtown New Haven and Wooster Square.”
When residents fill those new housing developments, Piscitelli said that new population could “create a real market” for Kaiyden’s and other Wooster Square businesses.
How has Kaiyden’s held up? So far, swimmingly. Less than six months after its grand opening, Kaiyden’s has already amassed a loyal patron base as well as the praise of New Haven coffee appraisers. One, whom Onukwugha and the baristas call “The Mocha Critic,” visited Kaiyden’s only the second day after it was open for business. Under the Instagram handle @ratingmymocha, the Connecticut-based critic called Kaiyden’s mocha “the sexiest mocha” they’ve had so far, raving about the rich, chocolatey color and sweet, undiluted taste.
Two teachers from Conte West Hills Magnet School, just a three-minute walk from Kaiyden’s, called themselves fans of the coffee shop since its opening. Reflecting with one another, one teacher—carrying an iced caramel Americano with milk—recalled walking “past this shop while the ‘Coming Soon’ sign was still up. When it finally opened, we were so excited to try out the coffee, and we’ve been coming here ever since. It’s convenient, and the coffee here is great!”
The other teacher, cradling a delicate-looking almond croissant, nodded in agreement. “I can’t believe more people don’t stop by.”
Onukwugha’s ultimate vision for Kaiyden’s is as a hub where friends can meet and hang out. Given both the pandemic and a want for a bigger business space somewhere down the line, he moves toward this vision with small but intentional decisions about sourcing and business partnerships.
Kaiyden’s sources its coffee from a roastery in Newent, Connecticut and tea from a New Haven-based company. The cafe also displays the work of New Haven artist Paul Duda, whose portrait studio studioDUDA is located right in Wooster Square. Looking out of the window toward the three new apartment construction sites on Chapel Street, Onukwugha added that he does what he can to support development in the area.
Even after years of drinking coffee and now owning his own shop, he’s not a coffee snob. He makes an effort to try new things, including different roasts at Kayden's. To his patrons, he’ll recommend Kiayden’s dirty chai, chai tea with a shot of espresso.
“Coffee is a 24-hour drink,” he chuckled. “Just make sure that enough of that coffee is decaf.”
Kaiyden's is located at 595 Chapel St. in New Haven. Visit its website here.