Q&A: Barista

Catrina Perez

Interview by Antonio S. Marines

She is the owner and main barista of the Pineapple Coffee Shop in Mission, Texas, serving up hot and cold coffee.

There is a lot of coffee shops around the RGV area, some more popular than others. Here, we are presenting a coffee shop that doesn’t get more love than it should, so I happened to look at around and found the Pineapple Coffee Shop at Mission, Texas on 308 N Shary Rd, where I met the main barista and owner, Catrina Perz, to which I asked a few questions about her and the shop.

When did the place open?

“It opened around Feburary of this year, though we have been planning on making the store for a year.”

Whose idea was it to open a cafe?

“It was actually my husbands idea to open a cafe here. We came from Reynosa and when we wanted to move to the U.S., we wanted to make an investment opportunity. We had to get approval from the government to even be here, but once we were here, we were able to start plans on the cafe.”

How many people can you say come to your coffee shop on average?

“Around 15 to 20 people daily.”

What makes your cafe stand out against all the competiton?

“There are lot of big businesses around the area and we work with smaller, local businesses to feature their products. One such example would be the coffee beans that we use, which comes from Jitters Coffee. We buy the beans off of them in order to make the coffee that we make. Another example would be the cookies being from Sugar Box US. It is sort of like a team effort in order to support the local businesses and community as a whole.”

Due to your stance of how you run your buisness, you would say that you are a supporter of local buissness?

“Yes, local buisness is highly important to our overall community as many people have made a name of them- selves by making a local bussiness. Usually, local bussinesses are usually at a higher quality compared to big bussiness as well.”

Finally, just for fun, what is your favorite drink on the menu?

“This one is pretty tricky as I believe that everything that I make is pretty good. But, If I had to pick one drink that I would say is my favorite, it would be the “Feel Like Home” drink. It has got a shot of expresso with two scoops of vanilla ice cream to give the espresso a bit of sweetness. It is more of a decadent desert rather than an actual coffee though.”

Is there anything else you would like to add before this interview is over? It can be either to yourself or your bussiness.

“Well, I dont have much to say about myself in terms of myself but if I had to say in terms of my buissness, I would like to add breakfast and lunch in the future. Nothing too big, but stuff like sandwiches and salads for example.” F

Antonio S. Marines is a freelance reporter. In his spare time, he enjoys playing video games,swmming, going to the gym, and eating and writing about great food. He is also a bit of coffee freak.

Top image: Pineapple Coffee Shop building

Right image: Sugar Box US cookies

Bottom image: Iced coffee drink from the cafe