Bryan Siranaula, an Air Force veteran who first fell for specialty coffee at Indaba Coffee Roasters while stationed in Spokane, opened Cholita on Onderdonk Avenue in June 2023 with his sister Suzette. Cholita is the term for an indigenous woman who wears a pollera and sombrero in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
At opening, Choco Coffee Roasters of Athens, Georgia, owned by Ecuadorian-Americans, roasted the Ecuadorian coffee, and Obscure Coffee Roasters of Brooklyn supplied Peruvian and Puerto Rican bags. The house Comunidad Blend comes from Zamora-Chinchipe and Loja in Ecuador.
Framed prints line the walls and books and zines sit on shelves beside the counter of a narrow white room that runs back from the street.
