Carmela Coffee

Carmela Coffee is an American fast-casual coffee company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. It operates several café locations in South Florida and serves Costa Rican coffee.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Carmela Coffee was founded in 2018 by Rainier Abreu and Rafael Baretta, who met as high school students in Venezuela and later studied chemical engineering at Simón Bolívar University. In 2016, the founders began developing a coffee business concept while living in different countries, with Baretta working in Chile's wine industry and Abreu completing an MBA program at Emory University.^[1][5][6][7]

The company was initially launched as an online coffee subscription service sourcing beans from the West Valley region of Costa Rica. In January 2018, Carmela Coffee opened its first physical café in Parkland, Florida. The menu included house-roasted coffee and food items influenced by Latin American flavors. The company later expanded to additional locations in Broward, Palm Beach, and Martin counties. As of 2025, Carmela Coffee operates nine stores.^[1][2][5][6]

Employees receive training in product preparation, store procedures, and customer interaction.^[1][8]

The company operates a mix of corporate-owned and franchised locations and sources its coffee beans from El Cuminate, a farm in Costa Rica, which is roasted in Florida before being distributed to its stores: a vertical supply approach intended to ensure consistency in sourcing and production. Its menu includes espresso-based beverages, toast items, pastries, and breakfast dishes. The company also sells whole-bean coffee through select stores and online while employing digital tools for ordering, delivery, and customer loyalty programs.^{[1][9][10][11][12][13]}

Carmela Coffee offers coffee made from beans sourced from a single Costa Rican farm and roasted in Florida, toast-based dishes, breakfast sandwiches, shakshuka, and other brunch-style foods, as well as a selection of baked goods and pastries with Latin American influences. The menu also features fruit- and vegetable-based juices and smoothies, and the company sells retail coffee products in both whole-bean and ground formats, with plans to introduce single-serve coffee capsules.^[4][14][15]