About Hola

Community first. Coffee second.

Hola Coffee wasn't built on a business plan. It was built on a lifetime of watching people come together.

I'm a Minnesota girl, born and raised, but my roots run far and wide.

My father, Ernesto Palestino, immigrated to the US from Mexico City in the 1980s, arriving the only way a true performer would: in a rock band. My mother's family came from Sparta, Greece, her great-grandparents making their way through Ellis Island in the early 1900s. I grew up between worlds, between cultures, between languages, and what I learned from all of it was this: the table is always big enough for one more.

My mother's side of the family always owned businesses. Bowling alleys and pool halls in Brooklyn, NY, places that were never really about the bowling or the billiards. They were about the food, the laughter, the feeling that you belonged there. Unreasonably good hospitality was just the family standard.

When I moved back to Minneapolis in 2021 after 10 years in the Southwest US, I knew I wanted to build something that did what those Brooklyn bowling alleys did: create a space where people felt seen, welcome, and connected.

During my years of travel, coffee found me.

More specifically, the coffee-growing families of Latinoamérica found me. Generational farmers who pour their entire lives into something most people drink without a second thought. Sourcing directly from them wasn't just a business decision. It felt like coming home to a part of myself I'd always known was there.

In September of 2024, Hola Coffee opened as a 700 square foot space on Central Ave SE in Northeast Minneapolis. We serve specialty coffee sourced exclusively from micro-farmer families across Latinomérica, alongside herbal teas, empanadas and pastries from women and minority-owned local businesses. Every sip, every bite, every dollar spent at Hola circles back to the communities we believe in. But if you've ever come through, you know that's not really why people come back.

They come back because Hola is where the run and walk club meets on the weekends. Where we transform the shop into Coffee House, our signature dance party, on Saturday afternoons and the whole neighborhood pulls up. Where you can always catch a carefully crafted seasonal drink. Where regulars have their drink started before they reach the counter. Where a stranger becomes a regular becomes a friend. Hola is where connection is created.

We are built on love, compassion, unity, and the unshakeable belief that we are stronger together.

Hola is more than coffee. Hola is here to raise the vibe.

Con mucho amor, Vanessa & The Hola Coffee Crew