Latin Coffee Shop Salt Lake City: How Frida Guerrero Built Utah's Most Authentic Mexican Café at Azúcar

The first thing you notice when you walk into Azúcar isn't the airy, cream-colored interior or the Instagram-worthy wall murals. It's the smell—cinnamon and piloncillo bubbling in a steel pot, vanilla cold foam being whipped to perfection, fresh pan dulce arriving from the local bakery. It's the sound of reggaeton floating through the air while espresso shots pull with precision. And if you're lucky enough to visit on a Saturday afternoon, it's Frida Guerrero herself, sleeves stained from countless espresso pulls, stirring that traditional café de olla like her life depends on getting it exactly right.

"Yeah, this is absolutely my favorite coffee shop in Utah," one customer wrote after visiting Azúcar's West Valley location. "Azúcar has everything, from quality coffee and tea drinks, to a bomb brunch menu, to enough seating with ample plugs for working and studying, to just... vibes."

For Guerrero and her co-owner Andres Sanchez, those vibes aren't an accident. They're the result of a deliberate mission to create something West Valley City—and Utah—had been missing: an authentic Latin coffee shop that feels like coming home.

From Immigration Lawyer Dreams to Café de Olla Reality

Frida Guerrero never planned to be a coffee shop owner. The Westminster College graduate had her sights set on becoming an immigration or human rights lawyer. But growing up in a family where food was everything—where late nights were spent prepping ingredients for her mother Cristina Olvera's tamal business, where weekend mornings meant distributing salsa-filled tamales across Salt Lake County—she couldn't escape the pull of hospitality.

"Not only are we breaking generational cycles, in terms of betting on ourselves, on our creativity," Guerrero explained. "By entering this new space, we're breaking through."

That breakthrough came in 2022 after trips to coffeehouses in Mexico City and Dubai opened her eyes to what coffee culture could be. Not the sterile, corporate chains that dominate Utah's landscape, but gathering places where coffee is treated like a religion—something you drink in the morning, share with loved ones in the afternoon, and close your day with over conversation.

For Guerrero, then 24 years old, the decision to open Azúcar in West Valley City felt risky. Utah's majority LDS population doesn't traditionally embrace coffee culture. But West Valley's large Spanish-speaking community told a different story. "Drinking coffee is an integral part of Latino culture," she told Axios. The question wasn't whether Utah needed a Latin coffee shop—it was whether she had the courage to create it.

Andres Sanchez, her partner in both business and life, shared that courage. He left his corporate nine-to-five job for a chance to build something meaningful. "I wanted to see something that represented me more," Sanchez said. "Taking the risk, I had the goal in the back of my head that I was going to make an impact."

That impact started in a West Valley City strip mall, right next door to La Casa del Tamal—the family's now-celebrated Mexican restaurant that Guerrero's mother Cristina built from an $11 sales day into one of Utah's best Mexican eateries.

Where Tradition Meets Innovation: The Azúcar Coffee Experience

Walk into either Azúcar location—the original West Valley spot at 2843 S 5600 W or the newer downtown Salt Lake City café at 346 W 600 S in the Post District—and you'll find a menu that honors Mexican coffee traditions while embracing creative experimentation.

The star of the show? Café de olla, a traditional Mexican coffee spiced with cinnamon and piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar that tastes like brown sugar with more soul). Guerrero stirs it in a steel pot using coffee shipped directly from Mexico, then serves it warm in the traditional style or cold over ice with a vanilla cold foam top that's become an Azúcar signature.

"It's hard not to ingrain our culture into things," Guerrero said while stirring that iconic pot.

But café de olla is just the beginning. The Gansito latte—Guerrero's first creation for Azúcar—plays off the strawberry and cream notes of the beloved Mexican snack cake. One customer on DoorDash raved: "The Crème Brûlée Latte is to die for," while another noted that "the Chilaquiles Verdes I just devoured were so good and this Blueberry Matcha is perfection."

The horchata latte has become a customer favorite, blending the rice-based Mexican drink's cinnamon sweetness with quality espresso from Salt Lake City's Logos Coffee Company. The Mexican mocha adds chocolate and spice in ways that make Starbucks' version taste like a pale imitation. And for those who want something truly Instagram-worthy, there's the Ganzito iced latte topped with an actual snack cake.

"Azúcar is probably one of my fav coffee shops in West Valley City," one Yelp reviewer wrote. "Last time I came here, I had the Ganzito iced latte with a snack cake on top; and an avocado toast—both were so good."

What makes these drinks special isn't just the flavors—it's the intention behind them. "Most of these drinks are made based off of what I like in my small world," Guerrero explained with a laugh. The Azúcar cappuccino? That's Guerrero's consistent order: vanilla soy. The tiramisu latte? Her mother's favorite dessert. Everything might not be traditionally Mexican, but it's filtered through Guerrero's Mexican-American experience.

"It's a chicano twist," one of the baristas said, and that's exactly right.

More Than Coffee: The Food That Makes You Stay

While Azúcar's specialty drinks bring people in, it's the food that makes them regulars. The chilaquiles verdes—crispy tortilla chips simmered in tangy salsa verde, topped with eggs, queso fresco, and sour cream—have a 97% approval rating on DoorDash for good reason. They're the kind of breakfast that makes you understand why Mexicans don't just grab coffee and run.

The avocado toast gets elevated with a drizzle of agave that one customer said "sealed the deal." Pan dulce arrives daily from a local Mexican bakery—conchas, cuernitos, and other sweet breads that pair perfectly with any coffee drink. And if you're feeling adventurous, the alfajores (South American cookies filled with dulce de leche) sit next to guava tarts behind the counter, a nod to the broader Latin American influence Guerrero wanted to incorporate.

"Hands down the best coffee shop! However I had no idea they made breakfast too!" a surprised customer wrote. "There has not been one coffee or tea hot or iced that I have tried here and not liked."

For Yasmine Ruiz, a 27-year-old West Valley native and Azúcar regular, the food represents something deeper. "Our culture is being represented. It's not 100% authentic. But it's combining the two things that we like—American breakfast and coffee—and combining that with Mexican food."

That fusion is intentional. Guerrero and Sanchez aren't trying to recreate Mexico City or Dubai. They're creating something uniquely Utah, uniquely Mexican-American, uniquely theirs.

A Third Place for West Valley's Latino Community

In the sociology of urban spaces, there's a concept called the "third place"—somewhere that's neither home nor work, but a community gathering spot that fills a crucial social need. For decades, West Valley City lacked these spaces. The suburb west of Salt Lake was filled with chain restaurants and strip malls, but few locally-owned cafés where people could linger.

Azúcar changed that.

"The Azúcar girls," as Guerrero calls her all-women barista team, have watched the café become exactly that third space. Barista Jade Mulato, born and raised in West Valley, has seen first dates (and subsequent breakups), study sessions, and birthday celebrations all unfold over horchata lattes and chilaquiles.

"It's brought something to West Valley that you never really saw," Mulato said. "Something local. That's what was missing—a sense of community."

The impact goes beyond just providing good coffee. For Maria Andrea Mora, a Colombian barista at Azúcar, a recent interaction with Sanchez cemented her sense of belonging. He jokingly told her in Spanish: "Sonaste muy mexicana"—you sounded really Mexican. "At that moment, I felt really happy," Mora said.

That welcoming spirit extends to everyone who walks through the door, whether they're part of the Latino community or discovering Mexican coffee culture for the first time. Kayla Duran, visiting Azúcar for the first time with her friend, felt transported back to growing up with Mexican culture in Magna. "You feel like you're home. It takes you back in a good way—in a delicious way."

The café's location matters too. Sandwiched between coffee chains and fast food joints on West Valley's commercial corridor, Azúcar stands as proof that West Valley deserves better than corporate mediocrity. When they expanded to downtown Salt Lake City's Post District in late 2024—sharing a space with the family's restaurant La Casa del Tamal—they brought that same energy to Utah's urban core.

Breaking Generational Cycles, One Espresso Shot at a Time

Spend a Saturday at Azúcar and you'll see Guerrero and Sanchez working side by side. She's pulling shot after shot of espresso, hands stained from the work. He's at the register, making small talk with customers, creating the kind of connection that turns first-time visitors into regulars.

They represent a national trend: Latinos are opening new businesses at a higher rate than any other ethnic group, according to the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative. But for Guerrero, it's personal.

"It feels empowering to be a Latina business owner," she said, reflecting on her time at Westminster College where she felt out of place among mostly white, male classmates. Now she's building something that would make her mother proud—and that serves as inspiration for other young Latinas with entrepreneurial dreams.

For Sanchez, whose childhood memories include watching his grandmother make handmade tortillas for catering events, food has always been about survival and love. "Food kept a roof over our heads," he said simply. Now it's providing that same stability for their own business and team.

Their journey mirrors that of Guerrero's mother, Cristina Olvera, who built La Casa del Tamal from a side hustle selling tamales to her family into a restaurant that earned Best of State awards. Mother and daughter now work in neighboring establishments, both serving their community through food that matters.

"We always want to invite people in and make them feel comfortable," Sanchez explained about their philosophy. For young Gen-Z Latinos who've made Azúcar their headquarters, that invitation feels like validation. "They're the ones who pioneered," Guerrero said of her regular customers. "It's like a seed. If they feel pride in us, they see themselves within that and want to be part of that culture that was created."

Planning Your Visit to Azúcar Coffee Shop

West Valley City Location:
2843 S 5600 W, Unit 120
West Valley City, UT 84120
Hours: Monday-Saturday 7:00am-8:00pm, Closed Sunday
Instagram: @azucarcafe.ut

Downtown Salt Lake City Location:
346 W 600 S, Unit 1
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
(Inside the Post District, shared space with La Casa del Tamal)

What to Order:
First-timers should start with the café de olla—try it both hot and iced to understand why it's Azúcar's signature. The horchata latte and Mexican mocha are also safe bets. For food, the chilaquiles verdes are the most popular menu item for a reason, though the avocado toast with agave is perfect for a lighter option. Don't skip the pan dulce—grab a concha or cuernito to dip in your coffee.

Insider Tips:
Arrive early on weekends to beat the rush. The café offers plenty of seating with outlets, making it ideal for remote work or studying. If you're ordering for a group, check out their seasonal drinks and specialty matcha options. Parking is available in the strip mall lot at the West Valley location, and street parking near the Post District downtown.

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In a state where coffee culture is still finding its footing, Azúcar represents something revolutionary: proof that Utah has room for diverse food traditions, that West Valley City deserves world-class cafés, and that a 24-year-old Latina with a dream can create a gathering place that feels like home to thousands.

Frida Guerrero and Andres Sanchez didn't just open a Latin coffee shop in Salt Lake City. They created a third place where Mexican-American identity gets celebrated, where café de olla bubbles in traditional pots, and where every espresso shot pulled is a small act of cultural resistance against homogenized chain mediocrity.

As one customer put it perfectly: "Service is always kind and helpful. Their espresso is QUALITY and the taste permeates just so through every sweetened latte. Perfectly balanced."

That balance—between tradition and innovation, between Mexican authenticity and Utah reality, between business ambition and community service—is what makes Azúcar more than just Utah's best Latin coffee shop. It makes it essential.