The owners of Santa Cruz’s most creative and communal café go from best friends to business partners
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GENEVA RICO
Coffee is a powerful elixir. It wakes us up and goes with an array of foods. It’s a staple in many cultures, and it has a special way of bringing people together. For best friends Chelsea Cabrera and Tram Vu, coffee’s magical attributes are what sparked the creation of downtown Santa Cruz’s one-year-old Mariposa Coffee Bar.
This region has no shortage of quality beans, thanks to the thirdwave coffee movement of the early aughts that birthed purveyors like Verve, 11th Hour and Cat & Cloud. Still, Mariposa (butterfly in Spanish) brings something different, the integration of Cabrera’s Cuban roots and Vu’s Vietnamese heritage, which manifest as a vibrant menu inspired by the coffee and foods both founders grew up with.
“We both grew up with a very dominant matriarch in our families, and we’re trying to create an environment that represents our families’ cultures and foods,” says Vu. “My mom had a coffee shop when I was born, so it’s been cool to see history repeat itself. I used to try and steal her coffee all the time, and my daughter is trying to do that right now.”
The duo took to the woods to gain clarity, but instead stumbled upon an entirely new path.
FLAVOR FUSION
Mariposa’s menu balances the traditional with the contemporary. Cuban-inspired beverages include the Cafecito, a double espresso with whipped organic cane sugar, and Cabrera’s new Bella Bon Bon, a cortadito with condensed milk that tastes like an elevated salted caramel macchiato, named after her great grandmother.
Vietnamese-style drinks range from Vu’s signature Mint Drip, coffee steeped with fresh mint leaves for 12 hours, to Cafe Sua Da, a classic iced number made with a drip filter called a phin and served over condensed milk, which can be served tableside. “We set up the entire Vietnamese iced coffee experience, including the filter that sits over the condensed milk,” says Vu. “You let it drip for 10–15 minutes and then pour everything over ice.”
The food also reflects staples found in both founders’ kitchens and combines family and new recipes. Bold flavors and fresh ingredients abound in classic bakery items like Vietnamese pâté chaud, a savory puff stuffed with plant-based beef, onions and garlic, or Cuban guava and cheese pastry, to entrées like Vietnamese spring rolls, vermicelli noodle bowls and Cubano sandwiches (here made with soy-based “ham,” house-made mustard, Swiss cheese and pickles, and a “midnight” version with roast pork-style jackfruit). Across the menu, one thing is consistent: Everything is vegetarian.
“Cubanos are typically pretty meaty,” says Cabrera. “We don’t skip out on flavor, and we try to make everything taste the way the original would. That provides a much wider window for people to be able to eat our food, whether or not they want to eat animal protein.”
METAMORPHOSIS
Mariposa opened last fall, but the idea began percolating years earlier. Cabrera grew up in Miami and dreamed of starting a vegan Cuban food truck before pursuing a nursing career that eventually brought her to Santa Cruz. Vu, a native of San Jose, dove into the food industry at age 15. She eventually moved to Santa Cruz and opened The Sandwich Spot in the space that eight years later would become Mariposa.
The two women became friends in 2019, bonding over their love of coffee, food and music. When the pandemic hit, they both faced career challenges—Cabrera burned out from life as an emergency room and trauma nurse, and Vu was unable to keep the sandwich shop open due to state regulations. The duo took to the woods to gain clarity, but instead stumbled upon an entirely new path.
“Growing up, I drank a lot of Vietnamese coffee, but I always heard that Cuban coffee was the strongest, so when I met Chelsea, I had to try it,” says Vu. “We would go camping and Chelsea would make the coffee, and I would wake up to the smell of espresso in the air. That’s when we realized this was something special and the idea was born. Let’s put two of the strongest coffees together under the same roof.”
In September of 2020, they held their first Cuban coffee pop-up, with Cabrera whipping up drinks on a single espresso machine and the friends using a megaphone to entice passersby. Soon after, everything paused when Cabrera traveled to Miami to be with her grandmother, a significant inspiration for Mariposa, during her final days. After her passing, Cabrera returned to Santa Cruz and doubled-down on the coffee business—and her best friend was ready and waiting.
Cabrera and Vu resumed operations in January 2021, and by early July, they launched a Cuban food menu featuring the pastries and sandwiches that remain fixtures today. The enthusiastic response led the friends to think bigger—a permanent location, an expanded menu that included Vietnamese delicacies and a robust calendar of events. By September 2022, they were on their way to making their dream a reality.
BREWING COFFEE AND COMMUNITY
After securing a brick-and-mortar location, Cabrera and Vu got to work. Expanding the menu to include Vu’s Vietnamese creations was easy compared to the extensive remodeling the space needed, most of which they did themselves, learning as they went. “We gave the entire space a facelift, redid the floors, learned how to drywall, painted the walls, did the baseboards, and are renovating the bathroom,” says Vu. In addition to serving their favorite dishes, Cabrera and Vu are also creating a convivial atmosphere. That’s why all of the seating is open, there is no Wi-Fi and a huge redwood community table serves as the café’s centerpiece.
“It’s become such a culture to be productive at a coffee shop, but in Miami and Vietnam, most coffee shops are full of people chatting over their drinks,” says Cabrera. “We have friends who bring projects here, and the next thing you know, the entire redwood table is like an assembly line. And that’s what we want…people creating and collaborating.”
Cabrera and Vu are also infusing this energy into Mariposa’s night life. On First Fridays, the coffee shop features a rotating lineup of DJs, plus a new mocktail menu and food served until 11:30pm. They’re also hosting curated poetry readings, called Glow Mic, so people can speak their truths and tap into radical self-expression. Whether Cabrera and Vu are hosting dance parties reminiscent of Miami’s nightclubs or serving up some of the strongest coffee in town, what remains true is their commitment to letting their delicious dreams unfold.
“It started with coffee, then we added food and now it’s taken on a whole new life,” says Cabrera. “The butterfly is not a mistake; it’s very intentional. We’re constantly metamorphosing and thinking of ways to make things more comfortable and pleasurable.”
Mariposa Coffee Bar
1010 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz
mariposacoffeebar.com
About the author
Ashley Drew Owen is a writer and Massachusetts transplant. Her passion for learning about local food is only overshadowed by her passion for writing about or eating it. Safe to say, she is a lover of food and words, and also driving very fast in the left lane.
