Aruma Cafe opened on Tuesday in Culdesac Tempe, the carless community off Apache Boulevard. The coffee shop is located across from Armando Hernandez and Nadia Holguin’s modern, full-service Mexican restaurant Cocina Chiwas.
This isn’t the pair’s first foray into the cafe world. The duo briefly ran Cafe Chiwas next door to their original taqueria location in 2017, serving coffee and tamales.
“We always had the mindset of doing another coffee shop, and the opportunity opened up here in Tempe,” Hernandez says.
The airy space features soft baby pink tiles and chairs and long natural wood tables. Hernandez says they wanted to contrast the deep greens and rich walnut tones of its sibling restaurant Cocina Chiwas.
The phrase "aruma" has multiple meanings, Hernandez says, but they were inspired by how Mayans defined the word.
“It’s a happy place, it’s being real and true and it also means the calm between sunset and sunrise,” Hernandez says.
Cocina Chiwas owners Nadia Holguin and Armando Hernandez briefly ran a cafe and always considered opening one again. They opened the doors to Aruma Cafe, across from their Tempe restaurant, on May 28.
Jacob Tyler Dunn
The opening of Aruma marks the third concept from the couple this year. In January, Hernandez and Holguin opened Santo and Pecado – a sleek modern Mexican eatery in Arcadia and a dark, moody speakeasy – with Roberto Centeno. The couple are also partners with chef Rene Andrade on the wood-fired Sonoran restaurant Bacanora and with both Andrade and Centeno on the vibey Mesa restaurant and bar Espiritu.
For Aruma, Hernandez and Holguin have a new business partner – former Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. The star wideout, who currently plays for the Tennessee Titans, has long been a fan of their restaurants.
“He really wanted to do something with us for a while and this is the perfect place to start,” Hernandez says. “He loved Arizona and wanted to be here in one form or another.”
Reached by phone, Hopkins calls partnering up with the duo “a natural thing” and teased that there’s more to come from their business partnership.
What's on the menu at Aruma?
Aruma has a selection of specialty coffee, espresso and tea drinks, as well as aguas frescas and horchata.Each element will have “our touch on it,” Hernandez says.
“When we do our espressos, instead of getting a little biscotti you’ll get a Mexican wedding cookie with it,” he says.
The owners tapped Zeidy Barela, who built the coffee program at Santo, to help create the drinks menu at Aruma. Offerings include traditional coffeehouse staples, such as cold brew and Americanos, made with coffee beans from Mesa roaster Pair Cupworks and house-crafted syrups.
Specialty drinks include a salted pistachio latte and Barela’s personal favorite, Cornflais. Inspired by a bowl of breakfast cereal, it's a banana latte topped with Frosted Flakes.
“Honestly, I just really wanted that,” Barela explains, adding “cereal makes people happy.”
Aruma’s initial food menu includes an array of pastries from local panaderia Carmen’s Bakery and a chorizo breakfast burrito. Holguin and Hernandez say they will add more food items in the coming weeks, including other breakfast burrito options, sandwiches and avocado toast.
Food from Aruma Cafe includes breakfast burritos and a mocha-flavored tres leches cake.
Sara Crocker
Fans of Holguin’s tres leches carrot cake, a popular dessert at Tacos Chiwas, will find a new iteration at Aruma. Currently, it's a mocha-inspired version featuring coffee and chocolate, but the chef says the flavors will change weekly. Aruma will also include a rotating monthly baker and highlight vendors from the farmers market at Culdescac.
When Hernandez and Holguin opened their first coffee concept, Cafe Chiwas, they often found folks coming in for bulk orders of tamales rather than having one with a coffee. In a nod to that initial cafe, Holguin hopes to bring tamales to Aruma as a special.
Aruma will add an evening bar component in October. The drinks menu will emphasize wine and include amaros and cocktails designed by beverage director Adrian Galindo. Much like the conjoined Santo and Pecado, Hernadez says they hope people will experience both Cocina Chiwas and Aruma during an evening out.
“When Cocina gets really busy, it’s a great place for you to wait and hang out, have a drink or vice versa, when you’re done at Cocina you can come over here and have dessert and hang out and not necessarily feel rushed out of one or the other,” Hernandez says.
While the couple are excited to see where Aruma will go, their first day in business was a success.
"The feedback has been amazing," Holguin says.
Aruma is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Here's a peek inside the new Tempe cafe.
Aruma Cafe is inspired by the Mayan phrase. “It has multiple meanings because it’s used in different languages, but it’s a happy place, it’s being real and true and it also means the calm between sunset and sunrise,” co-owner Armando Hernandez says.
Sara Crocker
Aruma Cafe has a selection of specialty coffee, espresso and tea drinks, as well as aguas frescas and horchata. Among its specialty coffees is a salted pistachio latte.
Sara Crocker
Aruma Cafe sits across the walk from its sister restaurant Cocina Chiwas in Culdesac Tempe, a carless community off Apache Boulevard.
Sara Crocker
