Pilsen just might be the most colorful neighborhood in Chicago. And a coffee shop — opened for less than a year — slots right in.
It’s called Cafe Carranza, and it’s named after the owner, Francia Carranza. She came to Chicago from Mexico at age two, grew up in Gage Park, and translated her lifelong obsession with coffee into a brick-and-mortar business in Pilsen last year.
There are hundreds of coffee shops throughout Chicago, but Cafe Carranza, located at 1641 W. 18th Street, stands out for a few reasons.
It’s coffee served through the lens of Mexico—Carranza tells me she wants the shop to feel like you’re sipping a latte in the trendiest neighborhood of Mexico City. She imports her coffee beans from Oaxaca, and they’re roasted locally in Chicago from a company owned by Latina immigrants.
But it’s in her beverages that makes the shop singular among the many coffee houses.
These are coffee drinks familiar to Mexican palates — such as the cafe de olla: a shot of espresso, milk, and a syrup steeped in star anise, cinnamon, and the unrefined cane sugar piloncillo.
Mexicans who grew up with Abuelita-brand hot chocolate will appreciate the coffee drink Carranza concocted: Abuelita latte, with the familiar flavors of spiced chocolate in the beverage. Her banana bread latte isn’t flavored from something synthetic but instead made from a thick syrup blended from actual banana bread.
The housemade philosophy extends to the pastries—there’s muffins, traditional Mexican conchas, and the bagels, which a baker arrives at midnight to roll out and bake in time for morning. Her jalapeno cheddar bagels are the shop’s bestseller, and once you taste its tender and chewy crumb, it’s not hard to understand why.
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