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Date: 12/22/2021
HOLYOKE – In April of 2021, Myriam Diaz sat in her empty decoration business, Rosasaron, at 223 Maple St. in Holyoke. She was in the process of closing down her business after nine years due to the pandemic.
She explained she was “selling everything and preparing to return the space.” Then, one day, after everything was gone, she looked around said to her husband, “You know what? I’m going open something here to sell coffee.” She said he laughed and said, “Just coffee?” And she responded with, “No, other things too.”
From that point, she started developing ideas for her new coffee shop.
Diaz explained she began thinking of names for the business, and the first thing that came to mind was “Coqui,” which is the name of a frog only found in Puerto Rico that sings its name “every night around 7 or 8 p.m.,” according to her friend and translator, Rosa Texidor.
Diaz searched the internet for other examples of coffee shops and spoke with her goddaughter in Puerto Rico, and decided to hire her to design the signs.
She explained, “All the money I had from selling the business, I invested here.” Seven months later, with the “encouragement and help from her husband and daughters,” her dream of opening a coffee shop came to fruition.
Texidor described her friend as being “very creative,” and Diaz said the reason behind opening Coqui Coffee Shop was because “I love to cook and always wanted to open a restaurant or a coffee shop.”
She was born in Puerto Rico, moved to the United States 27 years ago, and first settled in New York City. After suffering a family crisis, Diaz and her two young daughters, Myrna Diaz, the eldest, and Eileen Diaz, “were living on the streets, and we didn’t have anything.”A family friend who lived in Holyoke told Myriam to come stay with her and offered to help them.
She agreed to go and stayed with the friend for a few weeks. Then, she said, “I moved around and began searching, looking for a home and found a place.” After that, she worked “here and there,” and eventually opened the decoration shop.
At last, on Nov. 9, Coqui Coffee Shop had its soft opening and “did very well,” according to daughter Eileen, who works alongside her mother, father Jorge Diaz and sister Myrna. She explained that the shop is a family-run business.
It is a small shop set up with bright and modern décor. There is a bar area for seating and a few tables to sit. The menu has a selection of breakfast items such as bagels with cream cheese for $2.20, homemade oatmeal for $2.95 and French toast with strawberries, Cool Whip, sausage, and coffee for $8.99.
For lunch, they serve a variety of cold and hot sandwiches with the choice of a “combo” that includes coleslaw, chips or fruit, a can of soda or bottled water -or the option of just the sandwich.
Myriam highly recommends the “El Poderoso” sandwich, which is hot pastrami or turkey, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut (repollo), homemade sauce (ketchup, mayo, relish, garlic and thousand island dressing) served on white bread, which is $10.50 for the combo or $6.75 for a sandwich only.
Frappes are the focus of the specialty drink items, and Myriam said the Nutella one is popular – priced anywhere from $4.99 to $7.95 depending on the size.
Diaz said the last day of the soft opening was Dec. 18. The Grand Opening will be on Jan. 9, 2022. She also said they will be making “small changes” to the menu before then because the “space is limited.”
Coqui Coffee Shop is at 223 Maple St. in Holyoke. The business is open Monday-Friday 7 a.m.-3 p.m. There is metered parking on the street. For more information, they can be reached at 459-7916, and the menu is available on their Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/COQUI-COFFEE-SHOP-105071148446722/?ref=py_c