Coffee shops in Edinburg and Brownsville provide friendly environment
Adalia Garza | THE RIDER
Grind Coffee Co. in Edinburg and Angelita’s Casa de Café in Brownsville aim to create an effective study environment for students to feel at ease while providing a tasteful brew to enjoy.
Grind Coffee Co., at 315 W. University Dr., provides students on the Edinburg campus an accessible location to study and hang out. Owner Maryann Piñón said she intends to create a place where people feel comfortable and can build a community.
“We try to have events where they can, kind of, build a community and gain friendship through that community,” Piñón said. “It’s happened; it’s actually really beautiful. Our regulars are very diverse. They join together to talk about coffee or just ask each other what they’re doing. … I think that’s something very unique that we offer.”
Piñón said the shop is intentional about how it accommodates its student demographic, from music, offering 10% discounts with a student ID, to the amenities that offer students the ability to study and work effectively.
“We’re intentional with even the kind of music that we play,” she said. “We put lo-fi music to help people study. “It, kind of, sets the mood. In movies, music is like the other main character that no one sees. In our life, music, kind of, sets the scene for what you’re doing, so we’re very intentional about that.
“We have electrical ports at every table, things like that, that we know people are going to need. We try to make it so that it’s easy to come in and have the tools that you need to sit down and study for a while.”
Piñón recalled moments when students gave her coffee shop recognition for being the place they needed when they were in college.
“We’re here for good vibes and good coffee,” she said. “We’re here to create a place where … you feel proud to be from Edinburg, or go to school here in Edinburg. We’ve had those people [that said], ‘I wouldn’t have graduated if it wasn’t for Grind.’”
On a similar note, Angelita’s Casa de Café, at 2200 Boca Chica Blvd., Suite 116, has been the hot spot for students on the Brownsville campus. Owners Martin Leal and his wife, Angelita, aim to provide their customers with a place to call home.
Leal said that it is a place where people come to relax as if it were their own house.
“We’re very much a chill place, we’re kind of like your third home, you know?” he said. “Most of us have our home, where we go home, sleep, shower and, kind of, unwind. Then, we have our work home because we spend a lot of time there. … We’re, kind of, like that third place where you go in and you kick back.”
Being teachers at Stell Middle School, both owners are passionate about education. Leal shared their vision for the coffeehouse.
“My wife and I decided it was going to be a place for intelligent conversation,” he said. “Big changes in society came about in two places: They were either done in coffeehouses or they were done in pubs. Any place where people can get together and exchange ideas. That’s what Angelita’s is all about, exchanging ideas.”
Their mission to provide a safe space for ideas has enabled them to foster an environment for students to study and work toward finishing their degree. Leal said that many students come to work on their assignments.
“Some of [the students] have told us that at home there is too much activity, with their little brothers and sisters having to stay home and do their online learning,” he said. “So, they escape to our place during the day and they’re able to study. The environment is there.”
The coffeehouse provides technological amenities, quiet areas and even a library section where people are free to read at their own leisure.
Caleb Salazar, a management junior at UTRGV, said the coffee shop intentionally attends to the needs of students.
“They have free Wi-Fi,” Salazar said. “They also have a printer there, which I think is an ingenious idea to put a printer inside a coffee shop, so that students can go and print out stuff if they need to.”
He said it feels like a second home to him because of how personal it is.
“It’s very comfy,” Salazar said. “I also like the personalness of it, ’cause I’m also close with the manager, Marty, and we get to talk a lot. So, it’s very personal. It feels like a second home, very comforting. It’s very chill. … You get the quality of a high-end coffee shop but at a relaxed atmosphere.”
Angelita’s Casa de Café offers a venue for music students to showcase their talent, as well as a space for art students to display their work. Ultimately, there is a place for everyone, Leal said.
“Angelita’s is a place that you have to experience,” he said. “We create an environment where everybody is welcome. Everybody feels wanted and needed. … It doesn’t matter whether you’re a teenager or 99. There is a place for you at Angelita’s.”