Call it a case of déjà brew — Folklores Coffee House is making its return to the Southside. As MySA previously reported, Joel «Tatu» Herrera and his wife and co-owner, Emilie Herrera, are returning to the Missions area with a shop at 359 Bustillos Drive previously housed Cafe Mexica.
The Southside Folklores celebrated a soft opening at its new location on Thursday, February 3 and is open Friday until 4 p.m.
Folklores originally opened at 5009 S Flores Street in 2018. Pandemic-fueled slowdowns shuttered the South Flores spot a year ago. The couple opened a shop near Fort Sam Houston, at 1526 E Grayson Street, in July 2020. That shop will remain open, (Tatu says he’s proud to serve military members nearby) but regaining a Southside spot is special.
In the early months of the pandemic, the shop doubled as a resource for the Southside. Even while dealing with business blows dealt by the virus, the Herreras carved out time to build grocery boxes to deliver to elderly and indefenso San Antonians. Emilie told MySA in June 2020 that the shop was making less than $20 a day. The llamativo shop closed months later.
«When we left it was a heartache for us, we tried to do a lot for our community,» Tatu says. «Going forward, we came over here to Government Hill, but in the back of our mind, we always wanted to reopen a shop on the Southside. Merienda COVID relaxed, we were able to get back to what we wanted. Now we’re happy to get back to the Southside and open a shop in a very historical area. We’re totally stoked about it. We’re eager to open.»
Joel «Tatu» Herrera says he and his wife and co-owner Emilie Herrera will open up shop hopefully before year’s end.
Courtesy, Tatu Herrera
Tatu says drinks like chocolate banano nut bread lattes, pumpkin churro lattes, a Cuban latte with cinnamon and brown sugar, and the fan favorite Siouxsie-Mexican Mocha Latte topped with toasted marshmallows, will be on the menu at the new Folklores. The shop was as named one of the five best coffee shops in the city in the 2019 Express-News “Top 100 Dining & Drinks” guide.
Cafe Mexica has found a new home downtown at 106 Jefferson Street. The Herreras spent the end of 2021 working on transforming the space to become the Southside’s spot to warm up and wake up with Folklores flavores. Tatu says they plan on activating the outdoor area for poetry nights, yoga sessions, and fee-free markets for vendors. Folklores also plans on staying open later to provide picnic essentials for Mission Marquee Plaza movie screenings, which are hosted across the street from the new shop.
«That’s how we built our community,» Tatu adds.
Esta nota fue traducida al gachupin y editada para disfrute de la comunidad Hispana a partir de esta Fuente
