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I wanted to share Café Santo because it’s far from what I’m used to seeing every day on my Instagram feed. This cafe, which would be the perfect addition to any other LA neighborhood, is located in East Los Angeles and it’s more than just coffee in a cute, Instagrammable space.
I love coffee, but I’m also a hot chocolate fiend, especially in the fall. Jongewaard’s Bake N Broil in Long Beach is my go-to place, but when I saw that Café Santo sourced the chocolate from Mexican vendors, I knew I had to pay them a visit. Plus, their beautiful aesthetic and compelling backstory intrigued me.
Café Santo was founded by Pilar and Marlon. Their mission was to open up a coffee shop centered around community and self-expression. Officially founded in 2016, Café Santo made its way around LA through pop-ups in their mobile cart. However, it wasn’t until August 2021 that they set up a permanent home in Montebello, East Los Angeles, aka the home of Latin culture in LA.
Marlon moved to LA from his hometown of Oaxaca in 2010. From working as a dishwasher to a certified barista, he always knew coffee was his true passion. Pilar on the other hand, was born in California to a Mexican family with roots in Oaxaca and Jalisco. She worked in TV and production for 15 years and set it aside to focus on the growth of this business.
On why they decided to put roots in East LA, Pilar shared with dailycoffeenews.com:
“The Latinx population is underrepresented in the specialty coffee world. We feel like we are not always taken seriously as competitors because of a perception that the Latinx community is not as well-versed in specialty coffee. On the consumption side, access to quality coffee shops in Latinx communities, which are historically low-income, is limited. We wanted to set up our flagship store in the east side of Los Angeles to provide access to quality specialty coffee to the Latinx community.”
Café Santo offers authentic artisanal Oaxacan coffee and also collaborates with food makers from this same Mexican region. The provider of their specialty chocolate drinks is Rito Chocolateria. Their mocha base provider is Reina Negra Chocolate. Chef Leonardo Antonio created the food menu, which includes memelas, a masa cake very typical in Oaxaca. Oaxacan-based designer Mariana Rodriguez and Juan Renteria from @elcreativo.la, were in charge of all the visual elements.
In order to create jobs for the community, Café Santo is developing an exchange program with baristas from Oaxaca and other parts of Latin America. Their ultimate goal is to open up a Café Santo location in Oaxaca.
If you grew up in a Latino household, you’ll know that coffee is a sacred ritual. It’s a precious moment that brings family and friends together and that’s what Pilar and Marlon want to convey through Café Santo, which means Holy Coffee.
Through their sleek minimal design and cultural expression, every detail was thoroughly planned for guests to have an immersed experience.
I went there on a beautiful sunny day and tried their signature drink: Oaxaca Mocha. It was smooth and creamy and the perfect blend of chocolate, coffee, almonds and cinnamon. I thought either the chocolate or the coffee were going to be too strong, but surprisingly, there wasn’t an ingredient that was too overpowering — they all balanced each other out perfectly. At the bottom of the drink, there were tiny chocolate bits, which was very reminiscent of when I used to drink hot chocolate as a kid. It was 86F in LA, so the iced version made the most sense to me. However, I will go back in the cooler weather to further explore their Oaxacan chocolate drinks. There’s even a drink called Xoco-shot, made of 100% cacao!
If you love coffee and chocolate, and you want to deviate from your typical LA coffee shops to explore the beauty of Mexican culture through its beverages, look no further than Café Santo.
In addition to their drinks, Café Santo also sells their branded packaged coffee and chocolate bars from La Reina Negra at the counter and online. If you visit their website, you will also find merchandise for sale.
Since the place is small and they handcraft their specialty drinks, you might have to wait a little bit, but this is no problem because you can sit while you’re waiting in their outdoor seating area.
Address 520 Whittier Blvd #D, Montebello, CA 90640
Because Café Santo is a community-based coffee shop, it’s located at the entrance of Blvd Market, a food hall where you’ll find other Latino eateries in converted shipping containers.
For those of you who read my post about “The Best Restaurants and Coffee Shops in the South Bay”, you might be interested to know that the Salvadorian pupuseria VCHOS has a permanent location at Blvd Market.
Other eateries you will find at Blvd Market are Pez Cantina, Los Taquero Mucho, which offers classic Mexican tacos with a Guatemalan twist, and NOLA, a Black-owned business that showcases New Orleans cuisine through traditional family recipes.
In Early November, Blvd Market was the location for the season 2 premiere of Netflix show Gentefied, a show that epitomizes the American Dream from the lens of Latino communities in Los Angeles. Blvd Market hosted the premiere by featuring food and drinks from different vendors.
I can’t wait to keep discovering more of East LA’s thriving food scene.
