A shout of “Hola!” rang out as a new customer walked into Chí Kapé’ on a recent Saturday morning. Behind the counter of the brightly decorated shop, owner Esly Divas is preparing bean and chicharron pupusas as well as coffee drinks — lattes, pour-overs and a Cafe Cubano made with steamed milk and dulce de leche.
A display case is packed with cakes, Guatemalan cookies and empanadas filled with either savory-sweet picadillo or apple wrapped in flaky, buttery pastry. Nearby shelves are stocked with gifts and food products from local companies like Cultura Chocolate and Frescos Naturales beverages launched by immigrants to Colorado.
It’s easy to miss Chí Kapé’, hidden as it is behind a 7-Eleven in a strip mall of Latino businesses that includes a hair salon and Polleria La Fogata, a grilled chicken eatery. That hidden gem quality is emblematic of how Divas approached life and business when she first moved to Longmont in 2019. She wanted to support her family, not to be a cultural ambassador or advocate.
“When you come to this country as an immigrant, you never are thinking: ‘Oh, I’m going to open a business and share a passion,’” Divas says. “You always try to blend in and be in the shadows.”
Despite that, Chí Kapé’ has become a bright spot for many since launching as a Main Street counter in 2022. The shop’s warm hug-like vibe has welcomed customers originally from Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Poland and many other nations.
“I feel like everybody is trying to separate us by groups and race,” Divas says. “Let’s just all sit down together over a plate or cup and prove to the world that we can all work together.”
Coffee from heaven
International flavor is reflected on the menu, which features Caribbean, Central American and South American cuisines. Divas’ Cuban sandwich layers sliced, slow-roasted pork, mustard pickle sauce and more on soft slices of bread. She also fills an empanada with the same ingredients.
“I had a customer from Cuba ask me: ‘Are you from Cuba?’ I said: ‘Not in this life, but probably in the previous one.’”
Divas says she hopes to add more empanada flavors, breakfast arepas, specials and baked sweets from various countries.
But the real star is the coffee — hence the name.
“In one of the Mayan languages in Guatemala, ‘chí kapé’ — pronounced chee kah-pay — essentially means ‘coffee from above,’ as if it comes from heaven,” Divas says.
Finding Grandma in Hawaii
Coffee is a family business and tradition, according to Divas. Her parents owned a coffee farm on the border between El Salvador and Guatemala where she recalls spending days at her grandmother’s house.
“I’ve been drinking coffee since I was little,” Divas says. “She always had a full coffee pot on the wooden fire: no fancy equipment. You just dipped your mug into the pot. I remember seeing beans drying outside under the sun. She would collect them, toast them on the fire, grind them and put them straight into the pot. That was the best coffee I ever tasted, right from the tree.”
After moving to the United States, Divas was frustrated by the coffee she sampled — that is, until she left the lower 48 and went to Hawaii.
“I went in this little coffee shop. I’m sipping the coffee, and it took me back to grandma’s house,” she recalls. “I went back the next two days to figure out what it was about this cup of coffee that makes me feel alive inside.”
Ultimately, Divas says she learned that the flavor arose from how the coffee was grown, harvested and brewed using traditional methods. Good beans don’t hurt, either, but they were hard to come by when Divas first launched Chí Kapé’.
“I didn’t know the reality of the system,” she says. “I tried to bring green coffee directly from Guatemala, and it was very hard. It was too expensive to have someone roast the beans for me.”
Divas eventually found a women-owned Guatemalan coffee company, Chica Bean, to supply her beans. Chica Bean treats farmers fairly, she says — which she learned the value of after witnessing the predatory relationship between her family’s small farm and international suppliers.
“Growing up in Guatemala, I saw how my dad had to sell the coffee to big companies, not getting paid enough,” she says. “He worked a job all week in the city to sustain the farm, and eventually he had to let it go.”
All in the family
Divas’ father is still her closest coffee advisor, providing consults all the way from Guatemala.
“He’s the one who introduced me to coffee,” she says. “I still ask him, ‘How was this done in the past?’ Now, I have the crazy idea to buy a coffee farm and have my Dad retire and take care of it.
“Then he can ship his beans for me to serve in Longmont.”
As Divas chats with customers, her teen daughter delivers coffee drinks to a table where her grandmother has gathered a group of seniors to play a board game. It’s quiet and unassuming, and that’s how Divas likes it.
“In reality, Chí Kapé’ is very small with only a few tables,” she says. “To me, it’s not about this space or how fancy my equipment is. It’s just about getting everybody together.”