Herds of people lined up six feet apart Saturday in Downtown San Jose’s SoFA District to embrace the opening of Nirvana Soul, a new Black women-owned coffee shop.
The cafe, located at 315 South First St., was brought to fruition by sisters and San Jose natives Jeronica Macey and Be’Anka Ashaolu.
An emotional Ashaolu and Macey celebrated the grand opening by cutting a dark pink ribbon in front of pink, silver and gold balloons. It was immediately met with a roaring applause from the crowd while the sisters thanked everyone who was there.
“For me it means a lot [to start a business in our hometown],” Macey said. “We’re hopefully bringing a lot of hope and joy to the city, the community [and] the culture.”
The grand opening of Nirvana Soul was scheduled for 9 a.m., but many customers arrived more than 30 minutes early to ensure they were some of the first people to experience San Jose’s newest coffee purveyor.
One of those early customers was food blogger Christine Mosley, who said she has followed Nirvana Soul’s Instagram for more than a year.
“[I’m looking forward to] just the vibe,” Mosley said. “It evokes Black joy, Black beauty and that’s what I’m all about.”
The sisters said their great grandmother, who helped raise them and lived to be nearly 101 years old, introduced them to coffee at an early age, eventually sparking their passion for it.
They said their great grandmother would brew a simple cup of coffee with cream and sugar in the morning and share it with them.
The shared cups of coffee represented togetherness for the sisters and sparked a dream they said they couldn’t have achieved without each other.
“Working with my sister really made it possible for me to realize a dream of just opening something and starting something while it also happened to be [Macey’s] actual dream of specifically being coffee,” Ashaolu said.
Macey said opening a business with her sister is a pleasure because they were born only 11 months apart and have always been best friends.
Their collective vision is displayed in the shop’s aesthetic, which was inspired by the 1997 romantic drama “Love Jones,” according to Nirvana Soul’s website. Customers are met with a vibrant pink that jumps out from the walls and ceiling upon entering the shop. A white countertop surrounds the bar area toward the front of the store and different types of visual art occupies space on multiple walls.
San Jose State alumnus Emilio Cortez was one of the artists who helped bring the sisters’ vision for Nirvana Soul to life.
Cortez’s art can be seen in the back right corner of the shop. Phrases like, “Black owned,” “We can do hard things,” and “#SelfCareInACup” are spelled out in his elegant and sometimes cartoonish black patterns and letters that juxtapose the white wall behind them.
“I really wanted to do a lettering type of piece with different types of fonts and designs,” Cortez said. “It’s something I had been wanting to work on for a while and I’m glad they agreed to letting me have fun with it.”
The art is visually appealing, and the sisters hope it expresses the feeling of togetherness they want to portray.
“We want this to feel like a place that belongs to all of us,” Ashaolu said. “We want it to feel like home, something that is an extension of the community that exists here, but also pushes that community a little bit further.”
Macey said they are planning to host community events that highlight local artists once the coronavirus pandemic becomes a thing of the past.
Connecting with their native San Jose community has also been rewarding for Macey and Ashaolu. To do this, they began documenting their journey through their blog which they post on the Nirvana Soul website.
“People can go back and read from us from the very beginning,” Macey said. “They’ll see for themselves the good and the bad.”
The sisters also said they are using their platform to address social injustices against the Black community. Ashaolu said they hope their coffee shop can provide a light in what she felt was an extremely dark year.
“I feel like we have a responsibility to share our perspective and I still think it came from a perspective of love, which is what we try to lead with,” Ashaolu said. “We always say business is not built on the struggle, it’s built on the joy.”
