Community Fuel
Latino-owned coffee shops are gathering places for all.
Step into a coffee shop owned by a Latino, and one thing becomes clear — it feels like you’ve stepped into another world. That’s because you have.
The music, the murals, the plants, and, of course, the recipes — including café de olla, or café con dulce de leche or tres leches — evoke nostalgia for many in the Latino community who find themselves far from the people and places of home.
You see, coffee is a rite of passage for Latinos. Children often start their day off with café con leche in the mornings before school. The women read one another’s fortunes from coffee grounds in kitchens, while intellectuals in bygone eras such as Gabriel García Márquez, Pablo Neruda, and Mario Vargas Llosa would sip their coffee with friends as they shared the latest world news or local gossip.
Areas of Origin
Coffee grows across vast portions of Mexico, Central and South America, and even in the Caribbean, so many Latino memories involve the dark, rich, complex, and earthy beverage.
That’s how Café con Papi in Downtown Reno came to be. Owner Jose Delgado didn’t start drinking coffee until he was a teenager, but it became a way for him to bond with his father while learning about running a business. Previously a mixologist, Delgado shifted from alcohol to arabica beans to create new drinks such as steamed café con plátano, which includes banana powder and syrup.
“All of our coffee beans are single origin from Latin America,” he says, reciting locations as far away as Perú and Nicaragúa as well as Mexico, from which he receives imports.
Coffee still is popular among Latino Americans, as shown in a recent study from the National Coffee Association that found 74 percent of Latinos drink coffee daily. However, only 13 percent of coffee shop owners are Latinos, per a study from Mayorga Coffee.
Luckily for Northern Nevada, local Latino coffee shops are thriving.
At Mendoza’s Coffee Shop in Sun Valley, talk about law schools battled for attention with the cumbia music playing on the speakers and the dueling hisses of steaming milk and whipped cream being swirled atop hot or cold horchata beverages. At the counter, strings of chocolate and pistachio syrup are dripped onto strawberry-covered mini-pancakes.
This café, replete with a rear sitting room and patio, also has become known for taking a political stance; a sign on its door reads, “Immigration officers are not permitted to enter.”
Over in Northwest Reno, at the sun-soaked La Victoria Coffee, Buena Vista Social Club melodies keep readers, writers, and out-of-town visitors comfortably inside as baristas prepare café de olla, chocolate de México, and cortado.
According to owner Monica Salcedo, her mother craved coffee while she was pregnant with her. While Salcedo herself didn’t start drinking the caffeinated potable until her teenage years, she loved seeing her mom, tías, and abuela partake in the usual daily ritual.
Salcedo says her younger self would be proud of those women’s dreams coming true — the community welcoming a Latina business owner who brings people together over coffee, in a place named for victory.
“Victory. To me, it’s about the little everyday interactions and connections with someone that can make a difference,” she says about her coffee truck and shop with the same name. “It’s about how we interact with one another and the impact that can have.”
RESOURCES
Café Con Papi
495 E. Sixth St., Reno
Find Café Con Papi on Facebook and Instagram
La Victoria Coffee
1620 Robb Drive, Reno
775-221-6373 · Lavictoriacoffee.com
Mendoza’s Coffee Bar
5425 Sun Valley Blvd., Sun Valley
775-360-6663 · Find Mendoza’s Coffee on Instagram
Noel’s Coffee & Apothecary
31 Hwy. 50, Ste. 102, Stateline
775-310-6635 · Find Noel’s Coffee & Apothecary on Instagram
El Dicho Café
3665 Tamarack Ave., South Lake Tahoe
530-600-0107 · Eldichocafetahoe.com
