It’s surprising that some Salvadorans don’t know that El Salvador has great coffee. Kim from Cafe Zelaia is on a mission to change that. She shares some coffee drinking pro-tips, talks about the ups and downs of owning your own business, and the difficulty of getting immigrant parents to understand the risks we take to follow our dreams.

Kimberly Zelaya is a bi-coastal entrepreneur and founder of Café Zelaia, Salvadoran specialty coffee and mobile coffee bar. She grows all her coffee at her family’s coffee farm, Finca San Pedro, in El Salvador.

• Finca San Pedro near Ruta de Las Flores – family owned coffee finca
• Bi-coastal coffee business
• Getting by with help from family
• Learning different demographics between LA and NY Salvis
• Where’s the support from Salvi Yorkers?
• Restoring the finca, starting from scratch
• Pacamara, Bourbon, Icatu, Geisha varieties
• Factors that affect taste of coffee
• Consistency in agriculture
• Medium roast is best roast!
• Won best fincas in el Salvador
• Testing the quality of your coffee in Switzerland
• Acidic coffee? Maybe it’s mold (yuck)
• Benefits of coffee drinking
• Eat before you drink coffee to save your stomach
• Latte classes coming!?
• Changing careers and going all in on your business
• Getting parents to understand our dreams
• The burden of our vision
• BE authentic to yourself
• Getting started with your own business
• Be patient and the answer will come to you
• Finca tours coming soon!?

Show Resources:

• Cafe Zelaia Instagram
• Cafe Zelaia TikTok

Music:

“Bajo el Volcan” by Vudu Boy