Flor de Café
Grettel Cruz of Amesbury, Mass., was raised on a coffee farm in Costa Rica, where her whole family would pick the coffee cherries during the harvest months from November to March each year. After enrolling in the Kaba Coffee Center in Costa Rica, Cruz eventually took her passion for coffee to the United States. Flor de Café (flordecafecoffee.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @flordecafecoffee), which literally means “coffee flower” in Spanish, was later born — the business originated in early 2019 as a mobile coffee cart that appeared at several local events and pop-ups before Cruz pivoted to home deliveries and wholesaling as a result of the pandemic. She works with local coffee roasters La Mulita Coffee of Rye and Kaha Coffee Roasters of Amesbury, offering a menu of 32-ounce bottled iced lattes in a variety of flavors, from vanilla, caramel and mocha to violet-mocha and white-chocolate strawberry. Other items include multiple flavors of chocolate milk from lavender mix to orange vanilla; Bloomed Cold Brew, which blends her cold brew with honey, orange, strawberry, lime juice and ginger; and golden coconut chai matcha with turmeric, organic spices, orange peel powder and a touch of your choice of milk. Free deliveries are made every Tuesday and Friday (with ordering deadlines midday the day before) to Seabrook, South Hampton, Amesbury, Newburyport, Newbury, West Newbury, Merrimac and some areas of Salisbury, Mass. The Scene recently caught up with Cruz to talk about Flor de Café and a few of her personal favorite coffee flavor infusions.
How long has Flor de Café been around?
Since the beginning of 2019, so this is my third year.
What makes Flor de Café unique?
I consider everything that I do to be almost backward. Customers don’t come to me — I go to them. My mission is to bring specialty coffee to people where there is little to no coffee access, [such as] farmers markets, festivals or even your house. … When I have my bike at events, I’m literally a coffee shop on wheels.
What is your personal favorite menu item that you offer?
My cold brew will always be my favorite, and then my special cold brew is always super fun and delicious. For example, I had one in the winter that was super quirky. It was cold brew with sage leaves, maple syrup and some apple cider.
What is a menu item that everyone should try?
I would 100 percent recommend the special cold brew. People sometimes don’t expect coffee to go along with the flavors that I’ve done, so it’s always mind-blowing for coffee lovers. It’s also an easy way to introduce coffee to someone who doesn’t love it.
What celebrity would you like to see ordering from Flor de Café?
Joaquín Sabina. He’s a Spanish singer that I’ve loved since I was a child, pretty much.
What is an essential skill to running this type of business?
I think it’s a mix of being able to connect to customers and understand what they like, along with having a lot of discipline in your work.
What is your favorite thing about being on the Seacoast?
Coming from Costa Rica, I love the four seasons here. I also really like how every season makes us crave different flavors, and I have so much fun making drinks with the flavors that are unique to that season.
— Matt Ingersoll
Featured photo: Courtesy photos.