Minneapolis - St. Paul Metro

https://archive.is/6WcVD

Blackeye Roasting Co. closed in March 2020, and since then, save for a brief stint as the coffee/real estate shop Forreal Coffeehouse, the once-bustling space at 3740 Chicago Ave. S. has mostly sat empty.

While it waited, dormant, Bichota Coffee’s C. Anderson was looking for his first brick-and-mortar space across town. Anderson lives in north Minneapolis, and that’s where he always thought Bichota would end up… that is, until the property manager they’d been working with mentioned another space—the former Blackeye—was available.

Once he realized the Chicago Avenue address was open, it felt like the only place the shop should be. “I could never picture Bichota being—like, all love to the North Loop, but I could never see it being there,” he grins. It didn’t hurt that the building had already been a coffee shop; with some fresh paint and small updates “for the vibes,” they were more or less ready to go. Bichota opened softly on October 4.

Anderson is Puerto Rican, and the name “Bichota” comes from the Puerto Rican slang term “bichote.” It is, crucially, not exactly the same as bichote, which refers to a powerful gangster or drug trafficker, typically a man. The term “bichota,” which took off thanks to reggaeton sensation Karol G, has a slightly different meaning.

“In Spanish, that ‘e’ vs. ‘a’ makes a big difference,” Anderson laughs. (Here’s Karol G explaining it to Jimmy Fallon.)

“What I take out of ‘bichota’ is this flirtatious confidence that you have being in a place not meant for you—a feeling of ‘this wasn’t meant for me, but I did it anyway,’” he continues. “It’s just sort of recognizing that coffee is grown in these Black and Brown communities around the world, yet coffee shops rarely reflect those cultures.”

Bichota’s tagline, “coffee in rhythm with its origins,” emphasizes that focus on culture. Bichota’s beans are imported from all over the world—Colombia, Kenya, Honduras, Ethiopia, Brazil, Mexico—and while the house blends (mezclas) will be regularly available, Bichota’s single-origin beans will rotate every few months.

Anderson wants Bichota to serve accessible coffee in a specialty way. He gestures to the moka pot behind the counter: “In the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, that’s the number-one coffee pot. It’s on our grandmothers’ stoves.” The range of expression, from accessible and approachable to experimental and unusual, is visible in the bags of beans that line the coffee counter. On the left is Mezcla Gufear, the goofy blend, a more experimental mix with double-fermented beans from China lending it an umami-rich flavor. “It always surprises people,” Anderson says. On the right, there’s the Mezcla Abuelita Moka, “which tastes like grandmother’s moka pot coffee. It’s more traditional.”

Bichota also serves a selection of loose-leaf teas; right now, they come via Whittier coffee shop Wesley Andrews, which imports tea from a small organic farm in Yunnan China. (Wesley Andrews is a part owner of the Bichota brand, though the coffee shops are wholly independent.) Bichota will eventually lean into Indigenous teas, working with the Indigenous Food Lab, which has also sourced their cacao beans.

The conchas come from nearby Marissa’s Bakery, and the shop will introduce an in-house pastry program of largely Latin American and African baked goods later this month. “Though I think we may always get conchas from Marisa’s,” Anderson says. There’s simply no substitute.

Bichota is currently open from 8 a.m. until noon daily and will host a grand opening on Sunday, October 13. Regular hours after that grand opening will run from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily.

As for whether he regrets taking the leap and moving the coffee shop across town? Not in the slightest. While Anderson says they might eventually open a second Bichota location in North, this sunny corner spot in George Floyd Square already feels like home.

“I think this shop reflects the joy that exists in this community,” Anderson says. “I think people who solely look at [the square] through the lens of tragedy are missing so much about this neighborhood—the vibrancy of it, perhaps even the lesson we should have learned … I don’t think I’m bringing vibrancy to the neighborhood, I feel like I’m just revealing the vibrancy.”

“It’s my strong belief that every neighborhood deserves a walkable coffee shop,” he adds. “It’s an essential element. It’s like having trees.”

Bichota Coffee

Address: 3740 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis

Hours: 8 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. daily