When I first saw the small, hand-painted sign with the words Secret Garden Ahead outside of Grandma’s Coffee Garden last summer, it felt like the location had been whispered into existence overnight. Grandma’s had been open for a few weeks, and friends had posted about it online, but I did not know where it was (at the intersection of Silver and Girard) until I stumbled upon it by chance. As the business has continued to grow, marking its one-year anniversary in early July, the coffee garden has become less a secret than an open invitation driven by the community to share this uniquely inclusive, queer space.

Much like cultivating a garden, Grandma’s didn’t start with a seed but with the right conditions for that seed to be planted. The collective owners, Betsy Solis, Adrian Cruz, and Austin Wolff, germinated the idea over breakfasts in the courtyard of their home and came to the realization that the coffee shop they wanted to see, that they wanted to make for others to experience, was the one they were already creating a space for together. “It was us in our courtyard, and now it’s here,” Solis said. “The heart of everything, we wanted it to be genuine and welcoming and kind, where people could come to this shop and be like, ‘I don’t know what a cortado is, can you break that down for me?’ and have a moment of teaching or education.”

The roles each of them plays in running Grandma’s were essential for this seed to sprout. “We all balance each other out really well,” Cruz said. “All of the things we don’t want to do, each of us takes the other thing.” In the day-to-day, Solis focuses on creating the drink menus, recipe development, social media management, and event coordination; Cruz covers the garden layout and maintenance, along with operations management; and Wolff, who has a background in real estate, does a lot of behind-the-scenes work with architects and permitting, while also hosting events. Grandma, Cruz’s two-year-old Dalmatian, has played an important role too. Though not often spotted in the garden, she is its namesake, and she spent a lot of time in the space as a part of the build-out. “She has seen the people come in, the people who are still here, and the people who have left. She’s really connected,” Cruz said. “I think Grandma is definitely there, like Nana from Peter Pan. She takes care of people.”

Initially, the little yellow trailer that all life in the garden revolves around was not a part of the picture. “The original plans, back in the day, a year ago, is that we wanted to open the bar inside,” Cruz said, referring to the building next door, which will eventually include an ADA-compliant bathroom. “The garden was always on the page and part of this whole experience, but we met with an architect who said, ‘Good luck.’” It was the architect’s suggestion to open a mobile trailer, rather than trying to renovate the existing space on a short timeline, that prompted them to adapt their plans. Within a month, the trio had located and purchased the coffee trailer, renovated it, received all of the appropriate permitting, and set it up inside the adobe-walled courtyard.

“But now I think that the trailer has become a staple of what people love about this entire space,” Cruz said.

The garden itself is a unique experience, one that is novel without being a novelty. Over the garden walls from the busy intersection, mulched pathways are bordered by an abundance of local flowers, shrubs, and herbs. A myriad of different tables and chairs, upcycled or donated by community members, are scattered strategically throughout the curated landscape. Across the entirety of the outdoor area, trees and multicolored umbrellas create a buffer of shade from the ever-present New Mexico sun. This amalgamation might sound discordant to some, but it has the opposite effect, creating a sense of intentionality, of bringing together all the things and people that belong in this space.

“If you look around the garden, more often than not, everyone is talking. They are all fully engaged with the person they are with, even if some people are working on a laptop,” Cruz said. It is something I noticed that feels so rare in other coffee shops, where many people are locked into their own world. “It’s become a spot where people are all talking to each other.”

The story of Grandma’s very much involves that sense of community, down to sourcing their coffee beans and pastries. On a recommendation from their friend and artist Kyle Maybe, Solis and Cruz met with the family-owned and -operated coffee roasters Odacrem, owned by Juan and Carol Mercado. “We were invited to go roast with Juan [the head roaster],” Solis said. “His approach to coffee is very much like our approach, I think, where it’s very transparent and very good quality.”

“While we were figuring out the trailer, it was just in our driveway, and Carol and Juan would pull up and help us with our espresso machine with no strings attached,” Cruz said. “It was cool to know we had their support even before we were buying beans from them.” When that espresso machine eventually stopped working after the coffee trailer had opened, Juan immediately jumped in to lend them the one he had, as a stopgap.

Originally, Solis and Cruz thought they would be working on their own for the first year, before business really took off. Each day after closing shop, they would leave to make their house syrups, and Solis, who used to operate a cottage bakery, would bake their pastries, including the coffee cake and cookies that are still on their menu. However, they soon realized that they had met their capacity.

“Before you start anything, you get really excited about it, and it’s very sweet and admirable and ambitious,” Solis said. “But then you have to recognize that you are one human, and that you need to ask for help. That’s honestly where collaborating comes in too, where we want to bring other people into this situation and highlight what they’re doing.” 

That’s when they reconnected with Violet Jones, an early patron of the coffee garden and owner of wildflourchild bakery, to source her croissants. Soon after, Solis tried one of the ube-coconut tea cakes from Forget Me Not bakery, and she reached out to the owner, Emily Walter, about sourcing her plant-based (and often gluten-free) pastries too.

Both partnerships allowed Solis to scale back on her own baking as she concentrated more on developing the seasonal menu and drink recipes, recruiting a friend to work with her in the kitchen as a part of that process. “I’ve always wanted to follow the seasons, but follow them in the way of what’s growing right now in New Mexico, what is in season as far as fruits, veggies, and herbs, and what makes sense for a hot summer in the desert,” Solis said. In June, Grandma’s released a menu for the first half of the summer as an homage to their pop-up anniversary, re-creating several drinks that they served during their opening: the Cherry Coke Espresso, Strawberry Basil Matcha Spritzer, and Tropical Oasis Cold Brewed Tea. Solis also crafted a limited-time anniversary latte, The Garden, which featured almond cake syrup and a pink-hued orange blossom foam as an ode to the cortadillo cake she used to get from a local panaderia as a child. In early August, they released their new Stone Fruit Summer drink menu for the second half of the season, featuring a Mangococo Matcha, Plum Sweet Tea, and Peach Cobbler Cold Brew.

The events at Grandma’s Coffee Garden have been as equally collaborative and community driven as their daily operations. “I think that’s what’s also made this space so special, that we’ve been able to just say yes to these workshops and events. People meet each other, and now we’re growing together as a community too,” Solis said. Over the past year, they’ve hosted a pet adoption event in partnership with Animal Humane, a food drive that led to the creation of their community pantry, pop-up markets with local vendors, creative workshops facilitated by muñeca, all-ages drag shows, a run club, and chess meetups. In the future, they want to host more crafting and skill-sharing events, and this fall, they will host the first local all-ages Queer Soup Night. “It’s kind of cool that we have become that option for folks, because that was important for us to have a sober and queer space too, where people could come and enjoy each other’s company.”

So, what else is on the horizon for Grandma’s Coffee Garden as they move into their second year? If you have been there, you may have noticed the larger green trailer (over twice the size of the little yellow trailer) parked at the lot. “The next plan is to expand our small operations into the back area,” Cruz said. “We’re doing another round of hiring by the end of next month. Once we have the time to focus on it, it can happen quick.” The build-out will open additional room for as many as five people to work comfortably, instead of two, all while Grandma supervises.

📍124 Girard SE, Albuquerque