Located in downtown Bellingham, Cof& is a welcoming space where the coffee is strong, the food is exceptional, and the folks who run it are a family with a passion for sharing their coffee and cuisine with this community.
Oscar Quintero moved to the United States from Colombia three years ago, having given up a career in electrical engineering. He was looking for a change, a chance to own his own business and manage his own time, and the opportunity to share the incredible coffee of his home with Bellingham – and beyond.
Cof& is a realization of Oscar’s dream. With the support of his wife and a business partner in Colombia, the coffee shop has become a beloved institution in Bellingham, with more food, music, and drinks to come.
Oscar recalls, “When I first moved here, my idea was to sell coffee beans. But it was hard to sell them to coffee shops that had been buying the same beans for many years, and we were new. My wife makes jewelry, so we started going to markets. I had this idea to sell beans directly to customers there, prepare pour overs in the moment. People started to buy from us, and I realized that maybe my business isn’t to sell to coffee shops, it’s to sell directly to customers.”
After initially opening a space in Sunnyland, Oscar and the Cof& team moved to a spacious new location downtown, where they serve coffee, baked goods, sandwiches, and arepas, a typical Colombian food. You can also find them selling arepas at the Bellingham Farmers Market on Saturdays.
Oscar shares, “The center of this business is our high-quality beans. I come from a part of Colombia that is famous for small batch coffee, and that product is the core of the business. Everything here we’ve made with our hands. My wife knows about design. I know how to build things. We make everything. For that reason, our space looks like our own, and people feel that.”
Oscar hopes to grow Cof& to incorporate even more opportunities for the community. “We’re building a kitchen, and in a few months, we plan to be a restaurant with a Caribbean food menu. Then we’ll apply for a liquor license and open a bar. On the weekends, we want to have special events like live Latin music performances.”
Family and joy are at the heart of Cof&. As Oscar explains, “This is a small local business I run with my family. It’s just me and my wife. I’m not a big corporation, and behind all this is just a family. I did electrical engineering for 15 years, and I was tired of it. I love this business. Everyone says the same thing, ‘The most important thing is that you like what you’re doing. Finally, this is something I enjoy.”
Sustainable Connections is honored to have Cof& as a business member.