Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to the I'm Not a barista podcast where you can get inspired by real life stories from the people behind the cup. Join us as we talk about everything to do with coffee, from having a career in this industry to brewing tips and how you can support this global community. Humanity runs on coffee and together we can empower the people behind the cup. Hello everyone, this is Miki Wang, your host of Amnaub Barista podcast.
Speaker: And today, we have a very special guest. We have shared her story on our Instagram. Her name is Andrea Lee. Andrea, originally from Moscow, she moved to Texas in the US in 2010. And she used to work as a software engineer. In her own words, coffee was always my best part of the day at my old job. It was like my best friend for eight years.
Speaker: today Andrea is successfully running her own coffee truck she's not just selling coffee she plays a very very important role Andrea managed to build the bridge between Mexico and the US by following her train so this is her coffee story good morning hi there good morning
Speaker: Welcome to the MDAL Barista podcast, Andrea. We are very happy to share your coffee stories on our Instagram a while ago. Please tell us, how did you start your coffee journey? I came to the US in 2010. I used to work for IT. I'm a software engineer.
Speaker: So I was more on the, you know, computer science thing. But for me, always coffee was my best part of the day. It was the you know, the moment that I being like happy or that I was, you know, having this relaxed moment with the coffee.
Speaker: Having like my best friend, you know, even when I was by myself drinking coffee, I was so happy. And I was like, oh my God, this is such a good moment. And that was for eight years that I worked for a company, for an IT company. So I just started like attending
Speaker: courses and attending some like coffee throw downs and I was just trying to meet like the coffee scene here in Texas to see what is going on and what they do and I was just you know as
Speaker: coffee enthusiasts. I was just going there and enjoying as a customer. But then I just realized that I was loving that. And, you know, being in the coffee shop for me was like, oh my God, I can, I can, you know, do this someday, having like a coffee shop or something. But that was like a platonic dream. He was like, no, but I'm
Speaker: I'm, you know, in I .T., I'm working like full time. I can do this. This is not for me. But then I started like feeling homesick. And in Mexico, we drink coffee like with the spices. It's called Cafe de Hoya. And I was craving that because you can feel like, you know, the very warm welcoming from your abuela or your people, your family.
Speaker: because it has spices and the sweetener that we call pilancilla, which is like between honey and molasses kind of. So I was like, I will find this cafe de hoya here in Texas. I will be very happy because there is no such a thing in here. And also I noticed that the coffee, the Mexican coffee in here is not as famous or as popular.
Speaker: So like, why if we are neighbors, you know, US and Mexico is like, we are next to each other is weird that we don't have that in here. Because I know the people in here is more like, let's have coffee from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, or many other places, and not Mexico.
Speaker: So I was starting also thinking I could be, you know, that person that brings Mexican coffee to US or especially to Texas and having, you know, the recipes from my family, like my abuela, my grandma, and mixing the spices in the coffee and things like that. So it started like that, like I was so,
Speaker: homesick and missing my friends, my family, my hometown. So I said, you know what, I could have this like a business opportunity and have something that I love with me like as part of my living, you know, if I start writing down what I need to open a coffee shop and if I do this and that. So it started like that. I was like,
Speaker: In Mexico, we used to have in every corner, very good coffee or very good Mexican drinks. Like real quick, you can just stop by and get your coffee like expressed. So that's why I was like, oh, I expressed, I expressed. Cafe de Oje expressed, like you can get it to go real quick, but very good. Probably if I do this like in a coffee truck, it's going to be easier for me. That's how it started.
Speaker: And it was like a spark that ignited to my heart because I was very motivated. Even when I didn't even start it, I was just thinking about this dream every day. So I started making that series.
Speaker: let's do this more seriously more like so I started attending like coffee training and coffee sessions with so many people that is you know like experts and I discovered like also the specialty coffee association and I was just trying to
Speaker: Be as informed or have us a more knowledge about it. Like what is this? What is that? All the coffee terms and all the things that we need to do to understand all the methods and things like that. So I was very, very happy every day discovering new things. So that's how OJ Express Cafe started just as a
Speaker: coffee enthusiasts and then I took a training to be a coffee barista and then I took another training to have more knowledge about the methods and then another one about the latte art. The first thing that I did was a Kickstarter campaign that failed.
Speaker: It was in success. Well, peak study is very difficult. It was a lot of things for me when I failed. I was like, I'm not going to give up, you know, never give up. So I was like, okay, if I couldn't do with that, I'm going to start saving my own money from the IT work or the IT job that I had. I could quit now and probably spend my savings in my own coffee shop.
Speaker: And that's how I started realizing that I can do this for a living, you know, not just for a hobby. So I talked to my husband and he said, you know what, if you like that, I support you. So you can do it. You can try. Now that I know more about the coffee, I also went to
Speaker: to Mexico to travel through the regions, like Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz. Also, there is some part of the Jalisco, like my hometown, that has some good coffee. I discovered new things that they in Mexico were doing from so many years, from so long.
Speaker: So I was like, I can incorporate that to my concept and do like this Mexican concept about Mexican artisan drinks. Also incorporating this specialty coffee thing, like having very good coffee win from different regions like this, this and that.
Speaker: So I wanted the best of the best, not just having Mexican coffee, but being very selective on how I work with the, you know, the farmers or the producers. And now I'm partnering with different brands like Cafe Jiribilla with Carlos de la Torre. We are partnering, they are providing some coffee beans to us.
Speaker: That's very impressive. Yeah, now that I know more people that are making this amazing coffee in Mexico, I can be the coffee platform in here for the Mexican beans. That's how everything started and that's how we are now.
Speaker: Oh, thank you for telling us your story and especially the Kickstarter part. We know how hard it is to run a Kickstarter project. I'm so happy that you didn't give up and now you are a coffee entrepreneur and you have your own coffee business there in a coffee truck. So tell us more about the most sold coffee.
Speaker: Yeah, you know, when I started, I was making my own mixes, spice mix, like cinnamon, clove, different spices in there. So people was asking, this is amazing, this is great, but how can I get it for my house to make it at home? And I was like, well, you have this coffee, like this coffee bag, but you can, you have to incorporate all the spices at home. You have to mix it on your own.
Speaker: And they were like, oh, this is hard. So they were not buying. They were appreciating the flavors, but they were not buying the coffee bags. So I was like, how can I make the coffee with the mix of spices that I like?
Speaker: and have it like a final product for them. And they can make it on their own, you know, like very easy, very quick. So I started researching in my hometown and in different parts of Mexico, like different brands or different concepts. But they all mix sugar with the coffee. And for me, that's not a good thing because you're messing up with the coffee and everything.
Speaker: changes you know the flavor the aftertaste everything is changing so i was like no i need to find something like very natural way to incorporate it and have it you know with the same flavor i like
Speaker: So I started with a team in Mexico. They were helping me to frame it and have some tryouts on how can we incorporate the mixes or the spices, like naturally. So that's how we just found out that we can we can do that, you know, roasting the spices with the coffee. So that was a very good idea. And then we just
Speaker: met the point where the flavor and the quality was good. We started, you know, having our own coffee bags. I have so many here. But these coffee bags are now incorporating the spices like cinnamon, clove, ginger, and orange. And that's cutting the acidity on the coffee
Speaker: but still you have the flavor and the same quality of a coffee bean but this is ground so you can make it at home and it's very very good quality of cafe de hoya which is basically coffee with spices. We try to innovate it with some other things like in the south of Mexico they drink coffee with mezcal
Speaker: Mezcal is like Tequila's brother. I was like, I can sell something alcoholic in here. What about if we infuse it? And we experimented with that. So we infused the coffee with Mezcal and it gets a flavor. I tried before like rum infused coffee or bourbon or things like that.
Speaker: And I was actually very good for me. I was like, hmm, there is different brands that are making that. And I was like, if we do it with Mezcal, it's going to be great. And it turned out that it was very good too. So those are my my specialty from we are specializing in Cafe De Hoya. So these are my my star products. I started with the Cafe De Hoya. I started my own like syrup that's also natural. That's why
Speaker: we gain popularity because everything is natural. We use like very high quality ingredients. Thank you for sharing. It seems you're not just running a coffee business. You also have your own team back there supporting you and exploring and experimenting the new recipes. And among all those new coffees you are trying to make, what is your personal favorite coffee you drink every day?
Speaker: I personally drink also black coffee without anything. Sometimes I drink Cortados because I like just creamy. My everyday is coffee or my daily coffee is black. But when I want something sweet or I want, you know, have these memories back, I drink Caffe de Hoya because it's just that,
Speaker: warm feeling that you have in Mexico. That's very interesting. If I want to make the coffee, how can I make it at home?
Speaker: No, it's really easy actually. It just takes time because the principle for this coffee is make it in a pot because you're infusing everything. The hard part is just the time because it's time consuming. It's not something hard to do. It's easy, but it's time consuming. But if you want to make it from scratch, that is so easy. You can have that recipe. Yeah, you can have that recipe there. I can provide you that.
Speaker: It's easy. Yeah, there is like many different traditional coffees from every country, right? Like in Colombia, they have this called Tinto or the Turkish coffee or like in different countries, they drink the coffee differently. So in Mexico, the famous one is Cappe de Hoya.
Speaker: So you can have it with also cardamom, cardamom seeds or chocolate a little bit or different ones. But the best is cinnamon, peeling seeds and sometimes or some people mix it with orange or clove and it can vary. But
Speaker: The base is cinnamon, basically. That coffee sounds just amazing. I really want to try it and make it home. So when you bring the Mexican coffee to US, how does the local community respond to that? Yeah, we are finding that people doesn't know about Mexican coffee as much. But now that they are discovering that, oh, the neighbors are having very good coffee, let's try.
Speaker: Not only that, but the flavors, like they are very used to get like Caramel Macchiato or like, you know, like these flavors that are known for so many years. So many years is like Hasselnacht and things like that.
Speaker: and we don't have that in here but we have like different ones but we can offer like you know you can instead of having hazelnut or caramel you can have this or that and that's a good thing because they are like oh my god this is tasting differently and it's not artificial or something so it's great you can find in here like very good latte or very good
Speaker: chino or cortado americano without like any any flavors if you go to any coffee shop they have the same so in here it's just different flavors different spices and natural ingredients so that that makes the difference
Speaker: like huge difference maybe if you are driving and you see a coffee shop you go there because you're nearby so you have to drink that coffee because you are in that perimeter right like you're nearby you just stop what is different with us is they don't have to to drink me they choose to drink me
Speaker: because they choose to drive all the way from, I don't know, downtown or different places to my coffee truck. Even when I'm not like in a very, let's say, crowded spot, people come just because they want to have that kind of flavor, you know. I really feel very happy when that happens because they are telling me, you know, I drove all the way back from this place or this other place. If they are choosing you,
Speaker: is because of something right there is a reason behind and the reason behind is the flavors and also the the quality we we care i care about my customers the majority of the times yeah the majority of the times they are saying oh this reminds me.
Speaker: Mexico, my grandma, my family. So that for me is like, whoa, that was my objective or my mission that I was thinking of when I started. I tell my customers, we wanted to bring a piece of Mexico, you know, we wanted to bring a little bit of our culture and roots. And it's
Speaker: It's happening. It's so my purpose of starting a coffee shop and being in this industry as a coffee professional, I'm really happy as an owner, coffee barista, or just, you know, being, spreading the word mouth to mouth, like people is talking about it and how I feel or how the suddenly many like
Speaker: the press is coming from this magazine or this newspaper or the TV channel. I'm doing something good, I guess. You are doing more than just good, I believe.
Speaker: Ola Express is more than just a truck selling coffee. You are the bridge connecting Mexican coffee and US customers. And that is the most amazing thing. The coffee can bring people together. Apparently, this coffee journey isn't easy. And you have done a lot. You quit your job, start a new career, learn to become a barista, an entrepreneur. What does coffee mean to you and what motivates you every day?
Speaker: I think coffee is life. Coffee is love. For me, it's my motto, my happiness every day when I was in IT. You know, I was happy because I was making money, but I was happy just from the outside because the inside was not as happy as I wanted. And when you do what you love,
Speaker: You don't feel that working. So for me, working in coffee is like the best part of the day. So it's the whole day. So every time, every day, I feel like this is what I wanted to do. This is what I wanted to experience, like this dissatisfaction, this feeling of I'm satisfied with this and that.
Speaker: but I also feel very motivated to make more things. So what I wanted to have this melancholy thing or nostalgia that we offer as experience, having a piece of Mexico here, now I'm like, how can I innovate? And, you know, Mexican coffee, amazing, just not having this point of, I met what I wanted and I'm good.
Speaker: but what I want is actually have like modern you know ways to do it or methods like the newest or things that you can feel this is different from the others and it's Mexican coffee. Many people believe that being a barista or open a coffee shop is not the best business idea because a low return of the investment and it's a very difficult job to run a coffee shop as well.
Speaker: You were an IT girl and then you create your job, move to the coffee industry, start your business. I believe that there are so many other people who share the same passion for coffee just like you. What would you suggest the other coffee lovers who want to start a coffee business or what is the tip that you want to give to others? They have to believe. Believe that it's possible wherever they want.
Speaker: Sometimes you feel like I'm just a coffee barista. How can I make my own, you know, company or I'm just like in my case, I'm just an IT person. How can I make my own business? You know, like it's going to be hard. I'm not for that, but.
Speaker: If you have that in your mind or in your heart, you can do it because nothing impossible. There is a lot of resources in the city. In the city you are, you can find resources to support you because there is small businesses around the world that are making profit or that you can make a good money with your own business. But just follow it because the first thing that we, or that
Speaker: stop us is fear you know if you're afraid of start your own company even if it's coffee or if it's another thing if you're afraid you're not gonna do anything but especially with coffee i really feel that if you're making this you have to prepare have like a lot of training and start thinking ahead like what i want to do how how can i
Speaker: you know, trade and make my customers happy. Because this is also about service. We are in an industry that we have to care about customers and the coffee service because it's the most important thing. The first thing that you have to think or remove from your mindset is no fear.
Speaker: go and follow your dreams because it's possible, you know, it's something that you can do and you'll be happy with it.
Speaker: We often hear that, follow your dream, follow your passion. People give a lot of advices just to motivate others, but we believe you are a real case here. We can really see the results and then you truly show how capable we are. If we have no fear, start doing things. Thank you for sharing your coffee journey with us.
Speaker: Thank you so much for having the time and give me the opportunity to showcase my story and my business. Every time that I'm reading stories from your Instagram, it's like, oh my God, there is so many people you know in coffee. So I'm so happy because it's just inspirational for me and I feel for everyone. I'm so happy to hear that. Thank you so much. The last question, where we can find you in real life?
Speaker: Yeah, I have two spots. One is downtown and one is in the north area of the city. I move when I have events and so yeah, I'm pretty mobile.
Speaker: to all the listeners today. If you want to try Andrea's especially coffee, you can follow Andrea's business account on Instagram is Ola Express, O -L -L -A Express. I'm sure you will like her coffee truck. It's so cute. And you will like her coffee as well. So thank you, Andrea. Thank you for sharing your coffee journey and all the best luck to your coffee business. Thank you so much.
Speaker: I hope Andrea's coffee journey could inspire you. Always be you, follow your passion and do what you want to do. So focus on the positivity, the happiness, what makes you smile and go forward in life. I believe the right people will understand and recognize that. Good luck.
Speaker: Thank you so much for tuning in to the I'm Not a Barista podcast, where people get inspired and connected through coffee stories. If you want to join our community, then please subscribe for future episodes and follow us on our Instagram to get connected. Until next time, keep smiling and most importantly, keep drinking coffee.
