{"id":261554,"date":"2026-04-22T19:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/261554\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:04:15","slug":"searching-for-the-perfect-cup-of-coffee-in-houston-with-nayeli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/261554\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching For the Perfect Cup of Coffee in Houston (with Nayeli)"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know who drinks a lot of coffee? People at work. \u00a0A 2011 coffee industry survey said 65 percent of workers drink coffee on the job, a number which is probably higher 15 years on, with a younger, coffee-savvy workforce in place and services like DoorDash and Uber Eats now busily delivering lattes and drip coffees to job sites everywhere. In that same report, 40 percent of workers said they wouldn\u2019t make it through a typical workday without coffee.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this, or have read the first <\/a>two installments of this series seeking Houston\u2019s best coffee<\/a>, you probably can\u2019t make it through a typical workday without coffee, either. Maybe, like me, you\u2019ve made a work bestie to share all that coffee with, someone you\u2019ve bonded with over the craft shops\u2019 signature drinks or the stuff poured straight from the pot in the company breakroom. And maybe, if you\u2019re lucky like me, that person has gone from work bestie to cherished friend, someone you know and trust because they know and trust you \u2013 and, you both know and trust coffee.<\/p>\n

For me, that person is Nayeli Plata, a lifelong coffee drinker (and I do mean lifelong) who is so dedicated to the good stuff she even has a blueprint for the dream coffee shop she\u2019d build right alongside some Pinterest plans for her dream glam room. Nayeli and I have worked together at a couple of law firms now (our day jobs) and when we met five years ago, one of the first of many things we found we had in common was our devotion to coffee. A 30-year age difference might have suggested coffee wasall we had in common, so before we both realized how interesting, hilarious and badass each other was, coffee was a starting point. She\u2019d bring a hot coffee (black, the way we both take it) in the morning, then I\u2019d buy us iced coffee after lunch for more cafecito and chisme.<\/p>\n

Nayeli grew up in Galveston, where I was born and have lots of family, many of whom she knew before she and I ever met. She went to school with some of my cousins and one was actually her fifth-grade teacher. Small world! Like me, she married her high school sweetheart (hers is Jon, mine is Tish). Like me, she also has an adorable niece she dotes over (her is Juliette, mine is Annemarie, both impossibly cute) and, like me, she is a huge music nerd who turned me onto Spanish rock and pop, loves karaoke and can sing practically any song played at the piano bar.<\/p>\n

\"\"Nayeli Plata Credit: Jesse Sendejas, Jr.<\/p>\n

As we shared more coffees, she shared more of her story, the real-life stuff that\u2019s cross-generational and goes beyond the surfacy co-worker chit-chat. When we met, Nayeli and Jon were leaving behind some things they\u2019d felt suppressed their freedoms and they were eager to get on with all life had to offer. They were pretty punk rock in that way and now they\u2019re the only two people in my large friends\u2019 circle who have actually seen live all the punk bands my kids play in. \u00a0Tish and I have buddied up with them to do lots of stuff and it\u2019s been a privilege watching them both grow and brave new, exciting adventures.<\/p>\n

We work at different law offices these days. She\u2019s at the place where they push and you win and I\u2019m elsewhere, so we agreed to a bastardized version of coffee badging, the social work trend in which remote workers get together for a cup of coffee before heading back to their respective job sites. We met at Caf\u00e9 Ion<\/a> in Midtown\u2019s Ion District to chat and she chose iced vanilla lattes for us both. We got into her coffee origin story, which involves her parents, some very nice folks my wife and I have also met for coffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, my origin story with coffee goes back so far that it\u2019s before I even have any recollection of having a memory, but my parents, obviously, drank coffee every day, still do, like morning and
afternoon and night, sometimes. I\u2019ve never remembered not having coffee in my life,\u201d she said, noting they would share their coffees and pan dulce with her when she was just a little. \u201cI know, probably not great on my parents, but I would get the caf\u00e9 con leche, which is mostly milk, but still some coffee in there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, my little niece, she loves coffee, too and if we ever go to a coffee shop, I let her try my coffee and then, at some point, she almost takes over my drink, like it\u2019s no longer my drink anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s a family thing?\u201d I asked. \u201cIt\u2019s just been passed down the line?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMm-hmm,\u201d she said and took a long sip of her latte. \u201cBut yeah, I just can\u2019t live without it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"L-R: Sugar Bean\u2019s Caramel Macchiato and Sticky Bun latte Credit: Jesse Sendejas, Jr.<\/p>\n

Nayeli is no coffee snob. She\u2019s happy with an iced Dunkalatte or the French toast latte from La La Land. Being a skydiving, judo and fitness buff, she\u2019ll go for a Starbuck\u2019s protein latte, if it\u2019s handy. But, I pressed her for her top three coffee spots and learned the emotions attached to her favorites are as key as what\u2019s being served.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, my three are going to start with Sugar Bean<\/a> in Evia Village in Galveston,\u201d she said. \u201cFrom them, I usually do the sticky bun latte. Overall, you\u2019re going to see that my favorites have some cinnamon. That one\u2019s my favorite. They actually had a non-coffee drink that was a green apple smoothie that I really enjoyed but they discontinued that. So, I was very upset when that happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

I told Nayeli maybe we could convince Sugar Bean to return it to the menu with her glowing review. The shop at 11 Evia Main in Galveston is very laid back, decorated in soothing pastels, and will always be a favorite of hers\u2013 green apple smoothie or not \u2013 because of some big life events that occurred there.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot necessarily at the coffee place but they do have a really nice lake view and like a gazebo in the lake, if you will. I did get engaged there, so it obviously has to be on the top,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was special but it was also the place where we had our first date, so it was kind of like a full circle moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, I have Coco\u2019s in the Heights, which we both enjoy,\u201d she said, and I confirmed, having tried many coffees from the donut shop and coffee bar<\/a> at 2026 W. 34th. \u201cFrom them, I think my favorite would be the hot Mexican mocha \u2013 which, cinnamon again! I love that they have the little marranito with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coco\u2019s serves more than coffee, donuts and food, it also serves one of Houston\u2019s hottest communities with interesting programming \u2013 book clubs, craft nights, salsa and bacahata dance nights and even floral workshops, which Nayeli may have recently nabbed some ideas from for her own Galentine\u2019s party with some special girlfriends.<\/p>\n

\"\"Future coffee shop owners, Nayeli and DaVinci Credit: Nayeli Plata<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s super convenient, it has a drive-through, which is nice to have on your way in to work. And they\u2019re pretty consistent, too. I feel like I\u2019ve never had a bad coffee there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Someone who started drinking coffee as a toddler might have a hard time choosing just three top coffees. As honorable mentions, Nayeli enjoys Cari\u00f1o Coffee <\/a>, 708 Hogan, the coffee shop which goes full bar as Rabbit\u2019s Got the Gun in the afternoon, and Las Perras Caf\u00e9<\/a>, 3401 Harrisburg, the Segundo Barrio specialty caf\u00e9 that is Latina-owned. As a proud Mexican and feminist, the sense of liberation there is as important to her as the delicious, unique drinks (try the \u201cMamoncita\u201d \u2013 an Evergreen matcha with milk, topped with vanilla cr\u00e8me anglaise brulee).<\/p>\n

I asked Nayeli about her own Latina-owned coffee shop idea, which allowed her to discuss one of her favorite subjects, her 11-year old Schnauzer, DaVinci.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaVinci\u2019s Coffee Shop. If I was ever to own a coffee shop, that would be the name, of course, because it can\u2019t be anything else but DaVinci,\u201d she said of her baby. \u201cI guess people would imagine DaVinci as the artist but I think of DaVinci as the Schnauzer, so it would have pictures, like the Mona Lisa, for example, but it would have DaVinci\u2019s face on it. And there would be not just DaVinci\u2019s famous paintings but the classics that we know from anybody like Picasso but with DaVinci\u2019s or Schnauzers\u2019 faces on them. There\u2019s going to be a specific portrait of DaVinci with a top hat and a monocle, wearing a suit. And then, there will be coffee there too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve thought that far ahead,\u201d she said of a signature drink at DaVinci\u2019s. \u201cYou know, I drink a lot of coffee but I\u2019m not great at making it, so I still have to figure out a good recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Campesino\u2019s caf\u00e9 con leche (hot) and horchata iced latte Credit: Jesse Sendejas, Jr.<\/p>\n

\u201cCampesino,\u201d she said of her final choice. Nayeli has recently spent a lot of time in Mexico City, where she was born before becoming a Houstonian with good taste in coffee (and friends). When you go to CDMX, she recommends stopping by Dr. Simi\u2019s museum, where the cafeteria serves a cappuccino with the Mexican retailing icon\u2019s face on it, or maybe Sanborns, a Mexican chain of stores where you can buy enchiladas, tattoo balm, TVs, \u00a0kitchen appliances and coffee, all in one visit.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s very attuned to the struggles immigrants face acclimating to life in the States and always hopes our neighbors are aware of how we all benefit from the diverse richness and gifts immigrants bring to our shared experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, if I\u2019m not mistaken, it is kind of pro-immigrants, trying to do their part in general,\u201d she said of Montrose\u2019s Campesino Coffee House, <\/a>2602 Waugh, a spacious caf\u00e9 which boasts, by its own account, \u201ca Latino-centric menu and sensibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom them, it would be the horchata latte,\u201d she said. \u201cThey had a location in downtown. I\u2019m not sure why, but it closed. And this one\u2019s a full circle moment with you, because I used to bring you coffee all the time from that place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reuters says coffee-drinking co-workers have helped drive this country\u2019s coffee obsession to 500 million cups a day. As we\u2019ve sipped away at our portion of a half-billion daily cups, we\u2019ve talked about all sorts of things. Nayeli and Jon have grown into family friends. We\u2019ve been to each others\u2019 family outings, have traveled together, been to concerts, sat in the backyard with beers, shared many excellent meals and drank lots of margaritas and martinis (espresso martinis, of course) together. We\u2019ve all reminded each other that people of wildly different ages can find what it takes to become real friends, if they give themselves the chance. Sometimes, those friendships start at work and a lot of times they start with coffee.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

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