{"id":976,"date":"2019-04-26T14:00:40","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T14:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=976"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:51:03","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:51:03","slug":"cocoa-cinnamon-and-the-art-of-the-coffee-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/04\/26\/cocoa-cinnamon-and-the-art-of-the-coffee-shop\/","title":{"rendered":"Cocoa Cinnamon and the art of the coffee shop"},"content":{"rendered":"
During a recent visit to Cocoa Cinnamon\u2019s Geer Street cafe for my customary rose petal-garnished latte, a woman came in, got in line, and after a moment, whispered to me, “What is this?” I told her it was a coffee shop, and she nodded, ordered a pastry, and left.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear what she was expecting when she walked in, but I can understand the confusion. Even Cocoa Cinnamon\u2019s owners approach their shops more as art projects than just another place to get coffee.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe are artists,\u201d Areli Barrera de Grodski told me recently at a table at the Lakewood location. \u201cLeon was an installation artist before this, and a lot of his artist friends were like, \u2018Why did you stop making art?\u2019 And he’s like, \u2018I haven\u2019t.\u2019 This is an installation, and this is very much all of our energy and our selves are being poured into these shops. Roasting coffee is an art in itself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Barrera de Grodski looks the part of an artist: she wears a pink biker jacket over a black shirt, statement earrings, a bunch of rings and a button with a little drawing of a hand giving a middle finger on it. If you drink coffee in Durham, you\u2019ll likely recognize Barrera de Grodski from a visit to Cocoa Cinnamon, one of the city\u2019s most recognizable and ubiquitous local coffee businesses. She and her husband, Leon Barrera de Grodski, co-own the business, which has grown to three coffee shops and a roastery, which resides behind glass at Cocoa Cinnamon\u2019s most recent location in the Lakewood neighborhood.<\/span><\/p>\n The name, Areli Barrera de Grodski explained, came to her husband in a dream.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>I call it the beta waves right before you’re awake and still kind of asleep,\u201d <\/span>Barrera de Grodski said, laughing a little.<\/span> \u201cI also call it the god mind\u2014it’s where all the creative juices come and it’s just like you’re not even in your own body, everything’s just flowing. \u2018Cocoa Cinnamon\u2019 came to him in that state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n