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.

“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.”