15 FEBRUARY 26-MARCH 4, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Not Your Average Joe THESE CAFES OFFER A TASTE OF GLOBAL COFFEE CULTURE, RIGHT HERE IN THE MILE HIGH. BY SARA ROSENTHAL Across Denver, international coffee shops are putting global fl avors from coffee-growing regions of Latin America, Asia and Africa on full display. At the same time, they give minor- ity communities the opportunity to tell their stories about the cultures behind the beans. Here’s a taste: Latin American Cafecito Culture “Denver has really good coffee, but rarely do you see the people from producing coun- tries like myself that are immigrants refl ected in those spaces,” says Vivi Lemus, co-founder of Convivio Café, who is from Guatemala. “It was important to us to refl ect the producers and the whole supply chain.” Convivio Café , which is located at 4935 West 38th Avenue, sources its coffee beans directly from small farms in Guatemala, where volcanic soil, high elevations and hand-picked harvests make for complex fl avor profi les. “Guatemalan coffee is very, very special,” Lemus notes. The shop’s best seller is its cardamom café con leche, inspired by childhood memories of Lemus’s grandmother giving her cardamom candy. There’s also Guatemalan-style black beans and tostadas, but the cafe’s menu ex- tends beyond a single fl ag with offerings like Colombian empanadas from zenys Street Food, Dominican fl an from the kitchen lead’s family recipe, and Mexican café de olla cold brew. “In Guatemala, you say, ‘Let’s meet for cafecito,’ and that means sitting and chat- ting for a couple hours,” says Lemus, and that practice is refl ected in the community atmosphere that she and her business part- ner, Kristen Lacy, have created at Convivio. This idea of cafecito is what binds Latin American coffee cultures together. “I’m used to making cafecito on the moka pot, whipping it up and sharing with people as we talk,” says Michael Solis, owner of the recently opened Café Tres at 2960 Champa Street. His cafe continues a family legacy that began when his relatives immigrated in the 1960s and opened one of Miami’s fi rst Cuban bakeries. Alongside traditional drinks like corta- ditos and café con leche, Solis serves fl aky Cuban pastelitos made using recipes and techniques passed down through genera- tions, laminated the tradi- tional way with pork lard, and fi lled with classic fl a- vors like guava, guava and cheese, and carne. “It’s important to me to show that there are differ- ent parts to Latin culture and Latin foods,” Solis says. The instinct to repre- sent rather than gener- alize is shared by Jorge Aguirre, owner of LaTinto Café at 1417 South Broad- way. Aguirre recognized the demand for Colom- bian coffee and baked goods when customers at his restaurant, La Chiva, began asking for them. “I wanted to bring a little bit of our culture to the Denver metro area and expose Colombian fl avors to the region,” says Aguirre. LaTinto – named after the small, dark coffee known as tinto – serves such Colombian spe- cialties as house-baked pandebono, almojábana and buñuelos. Like Convivio Café, it sources its beans directly from farmers, but LaTinto’s come from Colombia, where the high-altitude, nutrient-rich volcanic soil and year-round rainfall make it ideal for growing coffee. Refl ecting the broader demand for Latin- rooted coffee concepts in the city, Cafecito recently debuted its second location at Emily Griffi th Technical College at 1860 Lincoln Street, with a third location expected to open soon on Colfax. The idea behind the franchise is to high- light Latin American fl avors from across the diaspora with a menu that features drinks like Mexican mocha, café con leche, café de olla and cortadas, as well as food offerings like burritos, tamales, Mexican sweet bread and, soon, empanadas. “Where we used to go and visit our family up in the little village in the jungle of Mexico, they would prepare café de olla in clay pots and throw in all the Mexican spices that you can think of, like cinnamon and clove and even some orange peel,” says Elisa Morales, who opened the Emily Griffi th location with her husband, Jorge Gonzalez. “It’s important for people to not lose that knowledge and love of their culture, to truly feel pride for being Latino.” Asian Representation in Denver Cafes Across Denver, Asian-owned cafes are carving out space for the fl avors of their childhoods and the cultural representation they almost never experienced outside of their homes. “Growing up in Denver, we rarely saw Vietnamese coffee represented outside of pho restaurants,” notes Shominic Nguyen, who owns Tí Cafe at 30 Broadway with her sisters, Sashaline and Shasitie. “Opening Tí was our way of honoring our heritage while expanding Denver’s understanding of what international coffee can look like.” Tí Cafe’s ca phe sua da (Vietnamese iced coffee) starts with robusta beans imported from Vietnam, which are bolder, more caf- feinated and slightly more bitter than the arabica typically used in American coffee. The beans are brewed using a phin, a traditional Vietnamese drip fi lter that slowly releases the coffee directly into the cup, where it can be balanced with sweetened condensed milk. “It’s a ritual that represents patience,” Nguyen notes. “Coffee isn’t rushed in Viet- nam, both the brewing and sipping process. It’s something you sit with and enjoy on sidewalks, in conversation or during long afternoons.” As the daughters of Vietnamese immigrants, the Nguyens use fl avors refl ective of their child- hood like pandan, black sesame and ube, while mixing in some modernity with such items as ube lattes and fl an-topped Vietnamese iced cof- fee. Even pastries including sesame balls, pate chaud and barbecue pork buns are inspired by the snacks they ate growing up. The same goes for the food at Filipino- inspired cafe Coffee Sarap, where co-owners Hannah Cambronero and Chelsey Solem- saas, both half-Filipino, created a menu inspired by traditional desserts like puto and sago using staple ingredients such as ube and pandan. “The Mestiza is our Filipino-style horchata, but Mestiza means to be Filipino mixed with a Caucasian race, so that was a little refl ection,” Cambronero says of their background. Other drinks carry family trib- utes, like the Lolo (which translates to grand- father) made with mango, lychee and coconut; it was inspired by Cambronero’s memories of watching her grandpa peel and eat mangos at his kitchen table. Pastries like mamon and pandesal are sourced from Filipino-owned Cakeheads Bakery. Many menu items are named in Tagalog, including the shop’s namesake, Sarap, which means yummy or delicious, offering custom- ers a subtle cultural lesson with each order. Cambronero and Solemsaas grew up in Lake Stevens, a predominantly white suburb outside Se- attle. “We basically only knew of each other be- cause we were some of the only Asian kids in town,” Cambronero recalls. After moving to Denver, they found themselves missing the Filipino fl avors that fi lled their families’ kitchens, so they set out to build the kind of place they had wished for growing up. They launched Coffee Sarap as a mobile cart in 2022 before opening a brick-and-mortar at 3460 Larimer Street in January 2025. “Thinking about our past and how we grew up, it was important for us to create something for our kids to be able to see something that’s part of their heritage and who they are,” she adds. Ethiopian Brews from the Birthplace of the Coffee Trade Ethiopian coffee joint Harar Beans Coffee debuted at 12101 East Iliff Avenue in Aurora last October; it offers a variety of espresso beverages, teas, smoothies and Ethiopian baked goods. Named after the ancient city of Harar in Ethiopia, which is widely regarded as the birthplace of the coffee trade, the cafe uses Harar beans grown in the country’s Eastern Highlands. Traditionally processed naturally, or sun-dried, the beans produce a heavy-bodied brew with bold notes of blueberry and a wine-like acidity. Alongside espresso drinks, the cafe incor- porates traditional ingredients like honey and warming spices such as clove and cardamom. The food menu features traditional snacks made in-house using family recipes, like sam- busas (crisp pastries fi lled with spiced lentils or beef) and pasti (a sweet fried dough). “By sourcing and highlighting specifi c Harar beans, Harar aims to give credit back to the farmers and regions that produce the world’s most sought-after coffee,” says Ben Eyasu, a Harar representative. “The shop aims to educate the Aurora community on the origins of coffee while providing a home away from home for newcomers and locals alike.” Email the author at [email protected]. CAFE FIND MORE FOOD & DRINK COVERAGE AT WESTWORD.COM/RESTAURANTS Convivio Café’s owners feel it’s important to show representation for immigrants from coffee-producing countries. AMANDA LOPEZ
