Garcia, originally from Uruguay, grew up in Denver, while Munoz-Corona is from Mexico. The couple met in 2013 while living in Singapore; they connected over music, married and lived abroad before moving to Los Angeles and eventually returning to Denver in 2018.
"[Leonardo] was ready to have his own place again — he’s very good at what he does. He wanted to manage things in the way he likes to do it, and he’s been wanting his own place for a while," says Garcia.
They decided not to open a full-blown restaurant, but rather a cafe with food options. Although it's currently waiting for permits for the hoodless vent for the shop's griddle, which will allow the team to prepare Mexican tortas and sandwiches, Munoz-Corona bakes pastries fresh in-house daily. "We have typical items like chocolate croissants, bear claws and different types of Danishes. One that I really like that’s hard to find here is a guava cream cheese knot," says Garcia. There are also weekend food specials like chilaquiles verde, available in limited quantities.
With Munoz-Corona on the food, Garcia took care of the coffee. After lots of taste-testing, she settled on Huckleberry because "I am more the connoisseur on the coffee side, so we wanted to do really high-end specialty coffee, but with a Latin American twist," she explains. Besides standard espresso-based drinks and drip coffee, a few specialty options nod to the couple's heritage. The café de olla features syrup made in-house with Mexican rock sugar and cinnamon that can be added to drip coffee, lattes or the signature café de olla au lait.
The shop also serves café lechero — a specialty from Veracruz, Mexico, made with espresso and milk that is heated up in a kettle. "It’s a whole show — in Veracruz, they come to your table and pull the milk in front of you, so you see the milk flowing," Garcia says. "For safety and health reasons, we aren’t doing that, but you can see what we do behind the bar." Heating the milk in this way gives it a toasted, almost caramelized flavor that is distinctly Latin American, she notes. "I tasted the lechero, and I’m like, 'This is what it tastes like in Uruguay, too.'"
Milk for cafe lechero is pulled from a kettle instead of steamed.
Viva! Mexico
"We want to be a spot where we have great coffee and great food with a Latin American twist, and a community spot with art and music," Garcia concludes.
Viva! Mexi Coffee Shop is located at 4900 East Colfax Avenue and is open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. For weekly specials, follow it at @vivamexicoffeeshop on Instagram or call 720-327-0267.
