Bringing Latinx Culture to Portland’s Coffee Scene • Newsroom • Lewis & Clark Quick Links Apply Visit Alumni Athletics Libraries Giving The Source Newsroom Newsroom Bringing Latinx Culture to Portland’s Coffee Scene Bringing Latinx Culture to Portland’s Coffee Scene Carlos Sanchez Huizar BA ’18, MA ’20 has turned his love of coffee and his experience at Lewis & Clark into Kilo D’ Cofi, a Latinx-owned café and community space in downtown Portland. Community Brew April 17, 2026 Carlos Sanchez Huizar BA ’18, MA ’20 and Selene Contreras-Sanchez are the owners of Kilo D’ Cofi, bringing Mexican coffee culture to the Pacific Northwest. Credit: Dakota Husted Kilo D’ Cofi drinks are inspired by horchata, tres leches, café de olla, and other Mexican flavor profiles. Credit: Dakota Husted The couple strive to create a place where community and identity feel at home. Credit: Dakota Husted SHARE Copy Link by Zoe Dixon BA ’28 For Carlos Sanchez Huizar BA ’18, MA ’20, each day has always started and ended with una tazita de cafe —a cup of coffee. There was coffee before the sun rose, when his parents left for work in the early morning darkness. There was coffee at crowded kitchen tables passed between friends and family alongside pan dulce “We had coffee during the good times and the tough times,” Sanchez Huizar says. “Coffee and tons of pastries were at the forefront.” Now, years later, those same rituals have taken shape in Kilo D’ Cofi , a Latinx-owned coffee shop in downtown Portland, cofounded by Sanchez Huizar and his wife, Selene Contreras-Sanchez. The couple has brought Mexican coffee culture to the Pacific Northwest while establishing a place where community and identity feel at home. “We wanted to create a space where people could find connection to their culture, to their community, and to each other through our drinks, pastries, and clothing we sell as merchandise,” Sanchez Huizar says. Entrepreneurial Drive Sanchez Huizar’s path began far from Portland. He spent his early childhood in a small town in Zacatecas, Mexico, before immigrating to South Central Los Angeles, where he would later meet his future wife and business cofounder in high school. He eventually made his way north to Lewis & Clark, earning his undergraduate degree in Hispanic studies , minoring in Latin American studies , and his master’s in student affairs administration at the Graduate School of Education and Counseling. “Studying Hispanic studies was about understanding my culture and where I came from,” he says. “It also helped me understand how I move through different spaces and connect with different people.” That understanding expanded beyond the classroom. Through study abroad experiences at Lewis & Clark in Chile, Spain, and across Latin America, Sanchez Huizar began to see his identity in a broader context, shaped not only by where he came from but also how he related to others across cultures. With financial support from a highly competitive Gates Millennium Scholarship , he saw the chance to keep learning and growing by pursuing graduate school. “Not everyone gets an opportunity to obtain an education, so I wanted to take it as far as I could,” he said. That drive to keep building, to create something of his own, stayed with him beyond graduation. Sanchez Huizar began working and volunteering in public and private schools, community-based organizations, nonprofits, community centers, and entrepreneurial communities. In addition to running Kilo d’Cofi, he is now the partnerships director at Portland Workforce Alliance , a nonprofit that facilitates workforce development opportunities for high school students. “To make the business work, I’ve had to build a lot of systems and processes, especially since we’re not at the coffee shop every day,” he says. “The goal is to create something that can sustain itself, even when we step away. The ideas I’ve brought into the business world I learned at Lewis & Clark.” Entrepreneurship has always been on his radar. Coming from a family of business owners, Sanchez Huizar wanted to create something of his own. “It was about building a legacy,” he says. “You can work for someone, but it’s not the same as working for something that’s yours. The knowledge you get from running your own business is something you can pass down to your kids, siblings, and community.” A Unique Flavor The idea for Kilo D’ Cofi began in 2023, when Sanchez Huizar and his wife were searching for the familiar flavors they had grown up with but struggled to find it in Portland. “We didn’t see what we were looking for. There are many coffee shops here featuring flavors from around the world, but a lot of them are not owned by people of color,” he says. “So we decided to create it ourselves. Now Portland has a whole community of Latino-built coffee shops.” That sense of community has continued to grow. Recently, Sanchez Huizar launched Ruta Cafecito , a passport-style initiative where customers can collect rewards and event invites by visiting select Latino-owned coffee shops and roasters across Oregon and Southwest Washington. Ruta Cafecito features more than 20 Latino-owned cafés, inviting customers to visit each location, try signature drinks, and collect stamps along the way. “It’s a way for people to learn about the community, discover different shops, and find Latino-owned cafés they might not have known about otherwise,” he says. As these connections grow, so does the reach of Sanchez Huizar’s work. What started as a small downtown storefront is now expanding, with a second location in Northeast Portland that recently opened this spring. “The Northeast Killingsworth café is a lot bigger,” he says. “It’s what we always dreamed of for the café: somewhere people can gather, sit, and stay a while rather than just pass through.” The popularity of Kilo D’ Cofi has skyrocketed since its opening and so has the demand for its unique menu items. In a city known for its coffee scene, Sanchez Huizar wanted to create something distinct, both in flavor and in purpose. “We’re trying to do something different,” he said. “There’s a lot of great coffee out there, but we want people to try something they haven’t had before.” He has created drinks inspired by horchata, tres leches, café de olla, and other Mexican flavor profiles that he grew up with, some made with ingredients like piloncillo , an unrefined cane sugar from Latin America. “When people come in and say, ‘This tastes like something my grandma used to make,’ that’s when you know it’s working,” he says. Even as the business continues to grow, Sanchez Huizar remains guided by the same intentions that his earliest memories of coffee shaped: to bring people together across generations, spaces, and experiences. 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