The Colombiano Coffee House (or CCH) philosophy dates back to 1923, when a very beautiful lady, known to her closest friends as "Coco from Costa Rica", looked at the beautiful blue horizon, at the end of the bluest sea she had ever seen in her life.
It was early at sunrise, one beautiful clear sunny day.
As she looked deep and far into that sunrise, she promised herself that one day, she will realize the dream of her grandmother, Lomalita, and serve great tasting coffee, healthy fruit juice and shakes, mouth watering desserts and ice cream, in addition to healthy sandwiches and salads to her closest of friends, in their own little coffee shop, in a happy and positive atmosphere; the same way her beloved Grand-Mama, Lomalita, would serve her friends and guests when they visited her at home.
Coco loved her Grand-Mama Lomalita the most.
After all, it was Grand-Mama Lomalita who raised her & taught Coco everything she knew after her parents and two sisters died in mysterious circumstances, when Coco was only 2 years old.
As soon as Coco was able to write, she always made sure to write down everything she learned from her Grand-Mama, everything, into her very own book of secrets.
Coco was also deeply impressed by the attitude & mood Grand-Mama "Lomalita" showed to her loved ones, her family and friends, her neighbors and guests, and by the way she served them the quality food and drinks that she loved to prepare.
Coco used to call it the "Aroma Cha-cha-cha" mood.
Coco could never forget the words of her beloved "Lomalita", her grandmother, always communicated with a great smile.
"Coco, my dear", she always said, "You are from Costa Rica".
You are a Latina.
Latinas and Latinos have always a positive look on life.
Life is short, & you know that very well, so you must live life happy; And to be happy , you must at least taste the taste of the happy life in your mouth.
"Coco my darling", she always said, "forget disappointments".
Focus on the positive issues of life.
Good food will help you think of the good and forget the bad.
So Coco, "live the good taste and you will taste the good life, live the Latin taste and taste the Latin life!!!"
Coco loved her grandmother the most.
But Coco wanted to open her own coffee shop not in her village, but in the big city – far far far away - where she would share with others, friends & guests, what Grand-Mama Lomalita was preaching her to do.
So she tried her luck to find wealthy people in her village and in the surrounding villages who would believe in her. But no one would!!
Her friends loved her food and her drinks but no one would believe enough in Coco’s business sense to help her start her own business.
Coco didn’t have the money to go out on her own. So she simply kept doing what she knew how to do best.
She kept serving great tasting food & drinks to her friends and guests with love , in a happy and positive atmosphere , out of her own little humble kitchen at home, and while doing so , she kept working hard, hard, and hard, constantly improving on the products she created.
Though Coco never gave up on her dream to open her own business, she simply was too poor and too scared to do it alone.
But as she continued to serve the best food and drinks to her friends at home, her reputation for serving quality food and drinks within a quality atmosphere grew stronger.
More and more residents from surrounding villages started coming to visit Coco and share the "Coco" experience.
As Coco’s fame grew in her village, her dream that, one day, she may actually succeed in making her dream a reality grew even stronger.
Coco loved her dream, and she finally had a name for it, if and when her own coffee shop would ever open.
She decided to call it: Coco’s Coffee Shop.
One summer day, Coco was wandering in the prairies surrounding her village when she noticed how a group of ants were helping each other stash the food for the upcoming winter season.
Coco suddenly realized that she could not make her dream a reality alone.
She needed to rely on her friends, on those who loved her truly.
So Coco contacted her closest of friends, from her old school days.
They had all moved to the BIG city & had all grown to become fairly successful in their field of specialty.
She shared her dream with them & convinced them to combine their collective knowledge & know how into a team of excellent food & beverages advisors, consultants and technicians.
She wanted them to help her lay the foundations of a successful business operation.
She still had no money to pay them, but she promised to give them all her eternal love and gratitude plus shares in the business, if they helped her make her dream come true.
They all loved Coco and agreed to help her for free.
With Grand-Mama Lomalita as their guiding light, her team of friends starting commuting on Week-ends between their City lives and the village where Coco lived.
The team worked hard – very hard - to develop the highest operation standards for eventual application in Coco's future coffee shop.
They all loved Coco and she loved them back.
They all worked out of Coco’s house & soon they all started feeling like family , rather than just good friends
Coco too felt that they became her family, so she decided to call her coffee shop, if and when it would ever open , in the big city – far far far away : Coco’s Coffee House!!!
After all, it’s at the house, and in her house, where family and friends meet.
Years and years passed until all involved were finally satisfied that they have developed the best combination of coffee based drinks, hot and cold; fruit based blended and crushed iced drinks and shakes, appetizing pastries, desserts and ice cream, as well as fantastic sandwiches and salads.
And, again and again, Coco always made sure to write down everything she learned from her team of friends, everything, into her very own book of secrets.
One day, Coco realized that she and her team of friends were now ready to share the goods with others, in the big city – far far far away.
But Coco still had no money.
And she did not want to wait to go the big city – far far far away –
So one sunny day, also at Sunrise, Coco simply put a small wooden sign above her house main entrance door. It said: Coco’s Coffee House.
Bienvenidos a todos Y a todas
(Everyone is welcome)
and Everyone WAS welcome!!!
Coco and her "Family" embarked on inviting everyone they knew, well or not too well, to Coco’s house in order to share the taste and feel of their newly upgraded products.
They invited all their individual friends from the village and from the surrounding villages, as well as those very few , but very close friends from the city – from far far far away – and who were willing to come to Coco’s village for a taste of what Coco had to offer .
They invited all those they knew would love to enjoy quality food and drinks with a quality "be-happy" mood, the "Aroma Cha-cha-cha" mood of Grand-Mama Lomalita.
More and more people came; More and more people experienced the Good food & the good mood, and Coco’s fame grew more and more.
But One day, suddenly, Grand-Mama Lomalita grew too old and decided she could no longer wait to receive her family, guests and friends in their own little Coffee House!!!
It was time for her to leave & let Coco continue on her own.
Coco could never forget the words of Grand-Mama Lomalita on her deathbed.
"Coco-my dearest," she said, " think of your grandmamma who will always love you.
"You are from Costa Rica.
You are a Latina.
Latinas and Latinos have always a positive look on life.
Life is short, & you know that very well , so you must live life happy; And to be happy , you must at least taste the taste of the happy life in your mouth.
Coco my darling, forget disappointments.
Focus on the positive issues of life.
Good food will help you think of the good and forget the bad.
So Coco, live the good taste and you will taste the good life, live the Latin taste and taste the Latin life!!
Coco loved her grandmother the most.
When she died, Coco promised to promote the message of Lomalita wherever she could.
She promised herself (and her Grand-Mama) that if she would ever be able to open her coffee shop, in the big city – far far far away – one day , she would call it Coloma’s Coffee House, to commemorate for eternity her name, Coco, and the name of the person who left the most impact on her life, Loma lita.
But Coco still did not have the money, and nobody believed enough in her business sense to invest with her until one day, one man, changed her life.
Few years had passed since Lomalita had passed away when Coco met Fabiano, a 60 something, but a very athletic 60 something, wise, Italian gentleman with a long history of success in the restaurant and food business.
He was driving through Coco’s village when his car suddenly stopped, in the middle of a tiny village road, unexpectedly.
It was the first time he ever takes that road, and he had never seen that village before.
He was mesmerized by the beauty of the scenery, the beautiful smell in the air, the smoothing sounds surrounding him.
While waiting for the village expert to bring life back into his car, he heard the village people talk about Coco and Coco’s quality food and drinks.
Everyone he met while strolling around the village talked about the Beautiful Coco, the Aroma that her food emanated, and the Cha-Cha-Cha spirit that Coco displayed.
He became curious and decided to experience the "Aroma Cha-Cha-Cha" for himself He went to visit Coco –
He entered Coloma’s Coffee House.
One look into Coco’s eyes, one sip of her fruit frescatas, one bite of her great pastries, one taste of her scrumptious sandwiches, one smell of her Smooth coffee and Fabiano was hooked on Coco.
By the time the Village expert had come to tell him that his car mysteriously came back to life, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with its engine, Fabiano had made up his mind.
He decided to finally do what Coco needed most.
He decided to support her and make her dream come true and invest with her what was needed, in terms of seed money, time and connections to help her to start her own business.
Fabiano never asked for anything in return.
He simply had fallen in love with Coco but was too discreet to show it.
He thought he was too old for her.
Coco never revealed her feelings to Fabiano either, and to this day, no one ever knew that she loved Fabiano back.
She too was too discreet to show it.
She thought she was too young for Fabiano.
Fabiano helped Coco move to the big city – far far far away – and in that city, he helped develop for her the operational and financial systems & procedures to make her business a success.
He also arranged for her to open her first shop, Coloma Coffee House!!
It was a huge success!
Coco finally realized that her dream was coming true.
She was grateful to her Grand-Mama, she was grateful to her friends, her family, but she was mostly grateful to Fabiano, the man she secretly loved.
One day, she decided to finally share her secret with him.
She decided to tell Fabiano how much she loved him.
She wanted to spend the rest of her Life with Fabiano, as Mrs. Fabiano.
So she chose to share her feelings with Fabiano the following day, in the morning.
It was supposed to be a special day, a day of many positive surprises.
It was exactly 365 days to the day the first Coloma Coffee House opened.
But Fabiano loved sailing!!!
That day, exactly 365 days to the day the first Coloma Coffee House opened for business, Fabiano went sailing alone.
It was the bluest sea he had ever seen in his life, and It was indeed a beautiful and clear sunny day
He was an expert of the sea.
He sailed all the time, sometimes every day, and always early at sunrise, but that day, Fabiano never came back.
His sailboat was never found and no one ever saw Fabiano again.
Fabiano’s closest friends thought he simply ran away from Coco because he could not handle to remain so close to her, yet so deeply in love & so secretly so.
Fabiano knew he loved her, but he thought Coco could never love him back.
Coco knew she loved him, but life was indeed too short & she was never allowed to let Fabiano know that she truly loved him back.
That day, when Coco got the news that Fabiano’s boat went missing, she ran to the Ocean front and looked at the beautiful blue horizon, at the end of the bluest sea she had ever seen in her life.
It was late in the evening, but it had been indeed a beautiful clear sunny day.
She looked and looked and looked deep into the beautiful blue horizon, but Fabiano never appeared again.
Coco went again , day after day , to the Ocean front ,early at sunrise, and looked deep and far at the beautiful blue horizon, looking for Fabiano , and hoping that one day he would return again , and she did so day after day after day after day …., but Fabiano Never – ever –returned
Fabiano left without saying goodbye to Coco.
Fabiano left without allowing Coco to tell him how much he meant to her.
Coco counted the days ……, waiting for Fabiano, hoping that she will see him again, but one day, Coco realized that she will never see him again, at least not in this world .
So Coco did one thing to show her gratitude and love to Fabiano.
Exactly 730 days to the day after Fabiano’s disappearance, when Coco gave up hope on ever seeing Fabiano again, she changed the name of her first shop.
Instead of Coloma Coffee House, she called it: CoLomBiano Coffee House!!! Coco-Lomalita- Fabiano coffee house.
She believed it was the best way for her to commemorate for eternity the names of the two people she loved the most, Lomalita and Fabiano.
Alone, with Fabiano gone, Coco no longer trusted anyone but herself.
She never allowed her heart to weaken for any other Man again.
She decided to continue her life, her dream, alone.
Her dream now became to develop her business into a worldwide franchise to best promote the names of the two people she loved the most , for all people to remember them .
So she invested all her time, in her One and Only CoLomBiano Coffee House, into creating a very efficient and pro-active Bistro-Café concept and developed a highly professional operation, with a team of Food & beverage experts & professionals, to whom she defined clear values, a clear vision, a clear mission and more, to help them make her dream, & that of her grandmother and Fabiano, become a reality.
She made sure to write down everything, everything, into her very own book of secrets; so that she can easily pass the information that she collected to others, and trains them well.
Time went by in a second.
Suddenly, Coco realized that she was ready to launch her Bistro-Café worldwide, but she also realized that she became too old, too tired and too much – for too long - alone.
With both Lomalita and Fabiano both gone, she was ready to join them.
She simply missed them too much.
She bid goodbye to all those who helped her in her Coffee House.
She closed her One and Only shop, her One and Only CoLomBiano Coffee House
She prepared herself to move on.
It was too late for her to continue alone.
Her only sense of gratitude was that she always made sure to write down everything she learned from those she loved, everything, into her very own book of secrets.
But now, she felt that It was simply time for her to join the only two people she loved the most.
Without children or family, and in her very old days, Coco remembered her Grand-Mama’s words and looked back at her life and how she lived it.
“Latinas and Latinos have always a positive look on life”. And Coco did
Life is short, & you know that very well , so you must live life happy; And to be happy , you must at least taste the taste of the happy life in your mouth. And Coco did.
Coco my darling,” -she always said, “forget disappointments. Focus on the positive issues of life. And Coco did.
Good food will help you think of the good and forget the bad.
So Coco, live the good taste and you will taste the good life, live the Latin taste and taste the Latin life!!!” And indeed, Coco did!!!!
Still, her only regret was that life went way too quick and she missed her chance to best promote the names of the two people she loved the most, all over the world.
She had always made sure to write down everything she learned from her loved ones, everything, into her very own book of secrets.
But she suddenly realized that she had no-one to share it with.
Without children or family, and in her very old days, Coco, alone , and ready to join those she loved , decided to take a last stroll at the edge of maybe the Bluest sea she had ever seen in her life.
It was also maybe the most beautiful sunrise she had ever seen in her life.
There, at the edge of the Bluest sea, she noticed a young man, a Traveler.
Maybe he reminded her of someone she lost many years ago, maybe he did not.
But she felt she needed to stop and talk to him.
She stopped indeed and talked and talked and talked and talked………..
Alone on that beach , a young man and a very old lady , both sat at the edge of that Bluest sea, both looking deep and far at the beautiful blue horizon, and they both noticed two rays of light surrounding the beautiful sunrise.
They both focused on those two lights, at the very very very end of that blue horizon ,while Coco talked , never- ever - removing her eyes from the end of the Horizon, or from those two rays of light.
She told him her story, she shared with him her secrets, she confided in him her dream, but most importantly, she insisted on detailing to him the wishes that she was never able to achieve.
Maybe they were her last wishes.
Hours passed…
It was becoming dark and the young man – the traveler - was falling asleep, while Coco still talked and talked and talked and talked.
Strange, the young traveler thought.
It was getting dark, early in the evening, yet those two rays of light were still there, at the end of the horizon, at the end of the most beautiful Bluest – darkest bluest – Sea.
Slowly slowly, the young traveler felt dizzier and dizzier, and he fell asleep, at the edge of that Bluest – darkest bluest – Sea.
When he woke up, maybe seconds later, maybe minutes later, or maybe hours later, Coco was gone.
The traveler looked at the horizon.
It was dark buy now, but the two rays of light had become three, still very far far far away, at the end of the horizon.
Yes they were there, THREE rays of light, at the end of the horizon, at the end of the most beautiful Bluest – darkest bluest – Sea.
He looked around. The old lady was gone.
He could only notice footsteps ending into the that Bluest sea, and no other footsteps at all.
Was it a dream?? Or was it real??
Did Coco just leave or did she walk straight into that Bluest – darkest -sea??
As he tried to stand up, he felt that he was actually sitting on a book, a very old book, lightly buried under the sand.
Maybe it was left there for him by Coco, maybe it was left there by someone else.
Maybe it had been there long before he actually came and sat on that spot.
Maybe it was buried in the sand a long long time ago
On its cover a sentence was written:
Bienvenidos a todos Y a todas : mi libro de secretos
( Everyone is welcome : My book of secrets )
The Traveler took the book, still unsure if it was a dream Or if it was real.
But he felt sure of one thing.
He realized that he had a new journey to take.
He was compelled to make Coco’s last wishes a reality, assuming Coco was real.
But was she real?? Was she a fiction of his imagination??
Oh no!!!, she was real!!!!!!!! Or so he felt!!!!
He realized that he should do his best to develop what he truly believed was the business of Coco, the business of Colombiano Coffee House, into a worldwide franchise to best promote the names of the two people Coco loved the most, Lomalita and Fabiano.
He embarked on his new journey, at Sunrise, on the morning of the following day….!
Many years have passed since that mystical encounter with Coco.
Was it just a spirit??
Was it really an old lady telling a story to a stranger, a traveler, before she walked into the sea??
Where these TWO, and then Three, rays of light somehow linked to Coco, Lomalita and Fabiano??
Was it just a dream??
No matter!!!!
The traveler took the decision to realize the wishes of that old lady whom he met on the beach, or whom he may have met in his dreams.
The Traveler decided to focus on developing the Colombiano Coffee House network all over the world.
Maybe he is a dreamer, maybe he is on a mission, guided by the wish of an old lady that he really met, or maybe he is guided by the wish of her spirit, or the motivation of a dream.
Many years have passed since that mystical encounter and to this day, at Colombiano coffee house, we work hard to make the dream of the Traveler, or maybe the dream of “Coco from Costa Rica” come true.
For in reality, we all believe that the spirit of Coco, together with the spirits of Lomalita and Fabiano, meet at the edge of every ocean, all over the world, early at sunrise, each beautiful clear and sunny day, & look deep and far at the beautiful blue horizon, with pride that their collective dream, gradually but surely, continues to become a reality, thanks to the team of Colombiano Coffee House.
