An East Side building that once housed tax preparation services and a pet grooming salon will now host the neighborhood’s only locally-owned coffee shop after more than a year of menu work, furniture carpentry, and license haggling. Colibrí Coffee—named after the Spanish word for hummingbird—soft-opened last Friday and is preparing for an official grand opening on Saturday, March 29.
Owner Anaís Robles’s mom, María, had the idea to open the cafe after she noticed that there were no local coffee shops in the neighborhood, other than chains like Dunkin’ and Starbucks. The closest local cafe, Sol Y Luna Café near the 92nd Metra Station stop, closed in 2007 after being open for less than ten years. María also noticed that a nearby coffee shop in South Chicago, Dulce’s, across the street from Immaculate Conception Church, had a lot of business and foot traffic and hoped that it could be replicated in East Side.
Robles and partner, Juarez Monegain, had experience running a restaurant, called Notcho Fries, near the Southern Illinois University Carbondale campus between 2022 until they moved back to Chicago in 2024. They’ve relied on what they learned there to bring Colibrí Coffee to life.
Colibrí is truly a family effort. Robles is owner and general manager, sister Idaima Robles handles operations and accounting, brother Jaime was in charge of interior design and making the tables, and Monegain, who is a back of the house veteran and worked under the mentorship of Chef Cleetus Friedman, runs the food program.
The owners of Colibri want as much of the work to be done by them, from the tables they made from locally-sourced lumber, to the menu, which seeks to minimize as much food waste as possible. The coffee syrups use nuts that can be sold as snacks, orange peels for another syrup can be candied, and stale bread can be used to make French toast. Food offerings will include a bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich, a spicy ham sandwich (which has already proven to be a hit with customers) and a turkey basil sandwich.
Their Girasol coffee is a unique blend offered by Ixxa Coffee, based in Whiting, Indiana, another woman- and minority-owned business. “They’re great coffees from Chiapas,” said Ixxa’s roaster Jose Marin, who was a customer during Colibrí’s soft opening. “From the Mexican side, Chiapas, and then from Huehuetenango on the Guatemalan side.”
They’re using their unique blend to make drinks such as a latte with cajeta, a Mexican goat’s milk dulce de leche that they make in-house, and a coco-cinnamon latte.
One of the challenges that come from opening ambitious projects like these is that they often take a lot of time, capital, and personnel to ensure success. Both East Side Tap, which has been renovating an old Schlitz tied house for a new bar, and Skyway Coffee nearby, have pushed back openings since they announced their businesses in 2023.
Colibrí has had help from Dishroulette Kitchen, a city-funded nonprofit that helps BIPOC- and women-owned businesses focusing on hospitality and which has helped businesses like Smash Jibarito via grants, workshops, and how-to guides. Anaís saw an Instagram post and attended a workshop on menu pricing and marketing. Colibrí has also been featured on their page.
The buzz has been widespread. Their soft opening on March 21st generated between 150-200 customers in the first two days. “We were slammed. It was insane for a soft opening,” said Robles.
“We’ve never really had anything like this before, so I wanted to make sure to make my presence known and come,” said Erika Gonzalez, who was the first customer to come in on their soft opening date. “That makes me really excited.”
The East Side contains a limited number of “third spaces,” areas outside home, work, and school, where community members come together. These include parks like Calumet and Rowan and the Vodak-East Side branch library, as well as nearby bars Crowbar and O’Hara’s (which also regularly host events) and barbershops, though these primarily serve male-presenting clientele.
Colibrí is a new option for people of all expressions who do not drink alcohol.
“I’ve been following them on Instagram. I’m a huge coffee shop fan, but I just think they’re important for community and for a place to gather,” said Davis Brown, another customer from their soft opening. “I was a teenager when they kind of became big in the States, when it wasn’t just Dunkin Donuts. I spent a lot of time in school, doing homework, catching up with friends, just an important place for people to be.”
Along with the coffee and food offerings, Robles hopes to transform the location to host community events, such as a potential meeting spot for a local run club, paint and sip events, and a book club.
In addition, they hope to showcase and sell art from local artists, such as Nathalie Sánchez, who painted their mural inside, and barista Lisette Zetina.
Colibrí will do its grand opening on March 29 from 8am–4pm, with a ribbon cutting at noon.
Francisco Ramírez Pinedo is a journalist, photographer, and artist based in South Chicago.