In Conversation with Camilla of Leche Coffee

Leche coffee has been a personal favorite of mine since discovering it two summers ago and I had the pleasure of interviewing the founder and owner Camilla.

- Avery Wilson

Introduce yourself!

My name is Camilla I own Leche Coffee a small coffee counter turned pop up in Austin texas.

What inspired you to start Leche, transitioning from a coffee lover to a barista/business owner?

My journey in coffee started about 8 years ago I was really struggling with my mental health due to untreated OCD and stability wasn't a theme in my life so bouncing around the hospitality industry was the only option for me. Throughout my early 20s I fell in love with service and got inspired by passionate chefs and then someone I knew helped me get a job as a barista and my love for coffee started to develop.

Learning different ways to process coffee, different ways to build drinks, and make syrups I got to become obsessed with something I actually enjoyed doing for once and I started contemplating what I would do if I had a cafe...

What’s your go-to coffee order?

My go-to coffee order is a cortado or iced americano

Leche has been highly successful doing pop-ups, and you guys sell out so fast. With such a massive growth in popularity, some may be asking when you’ll have a permanent location. What has influenced the decision to keep Leche small-scale, and would you ever consider expanding Leche into a store/truck? 

(Leche actually started out in a vintage clothing store as a permanent coffee counter and we left about 4 months ago that's why Leche became somewhat popular we were open almost everyday for 8 months straight) But we have a new location on the way more to come on that soon!

What has been you’re favorite drink you’ve made so far, or the drink you’re proudest of? 

My favorite drink has been the black rice horchata the laborious process it took every morning reminded me of when my grandma Gloria took care of me and my brother and we would constantly be making food and drinks from her childhood in Monterey completely from scratch, she lived in a mobile home but she cultivated a beautiful garden that we could pull fresh ingredients from I think I learned that I was capable of doing hard things from her.

Aside from your drinks being delicious, I’m obsessed with the branding of Leche. You could've easily left the sides of your cups blank, but instead added that extra detail. Who designs the stickers on the cups, and how do you choose what to put on them?

I design every Leche sticker, my process is scrolling the internet for days until i see something that resonates with me... either sparks joy, speaks to my inner child or just feels comforting. stickers are such a small thing but they've made such a deep connection with my community and i'm happy that people appreciate them.

Do you have a dream collab?

Honestly my dream is just to keep having work, I'd love to collab with any other small businesses especially mexican owned businesses in austin.

As a writer, I have a creative process for writing pieces. Is there a specific creative process you follow when coming up with drinks/collabs?

I have a general process that I utilize for most things and it's going insane in my bedroom nonstop thinking about it for days, researching everything I can think of surrounding it, asking people what their perception would be, overall obsessing about it, and it's not the healthiest method but it does provide me with a lot of confidence and contentment in my decisions.

Matcha or Coffee?

coffee 100%

Besides yourself, do you have any favorite local coffee shops in Austin? 

There are so many amazing coffee, shops, and coffee trailers in Austin I love ghoul coffee, freewheelin, hecho amano, but there's so many more!!

How does your personal heritage inspire your ideas for Leche?

Being raised by and around mexican people has inspired so much of Leche. Starting with the name, my parents and grandparents instilled a lot of pride in us as children as well as never letting us forget the struggles of immigrating to america, this education along with things I saw in the media throughout my life made me certain that I was always going to uplift and represent mexican culture in my life, it's a lot deeper than just the recipes for me it's about pushing back on a racist system and exposing the goodness and beauty in a culture that is constantly disrespected, exploited, and vilified.

What’s one piece of clothing you can’t live without?

One piece of clothing I cannot live without would be my flip-flops yes I know it's wrong

Do you have any advice for aspiring business owners or individuals looking to bring their idea to life?

if I had to give anybody advice I would say do as much as you can to prepare but at a certain point you definitely just have to start even if it's bad or not fully fleshed out if you don't start when you're the most inspired you probably won't ever.