Coffee, breakfast burritos served up at Costa Mesa’s colorful Hola Adios
Inspired by turquoise rings he inherited from his great-grandfather, Ryan Jimenez imbued his Hola Adios Coffeeshop in Costa Mesa with a colorful, woodsy vibe that gives a nod to his ancestor from Chihuahua, Mexico.
“I designed around a DIY kind of of look, getting as much color in because color makes people feel good,” said Jimenez, who along with his brother completed much of the shop’s interior construction. ”I wanted it to be memorable.”
Even the La Marzocco espresso machine with its custom blue and gold paint job is so eye-catching that its manufacturers highlighted it in their yearbook.
Shortly after opening on Jan. 7, 2020, Jimenez found himself embracing the word “pivot” when it came to the daily operation of Hola Adios in the uncharted territory of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Because we were so young, we were able to feel out what everyone wanted and we adapted to what the community wanted,” explained Jimenez, noting they also have a full kitchen that many coffee retailers don’t have.
”We started out making breakfast breads and pastries in January and February [of that first year] and by March we started making food,” Jimenez said.
These days, Hola Adios is becoming known for its creative variety of breakfast burritos that are hot off the stove beginning at 7 a.m. daily. “It’s hard to find a good breakfast burrito first thing in the morning, said Jimenez. “I don’t get tired of hearing that we have the best breakfast burrito in O.C. It’s a bold statement, but I’m not making the statement, other people are.”
John Ohail and his family who live up the street from the business agreed you can’t beat the Hola Adios breakfast burrito.
“It’s nice to have a family-oriented local spot in my neighborhood,” said Ohail. “There’s always kids and dogs and families. The food and coffee are outstanding and the staff is super friendly, welcoming and even remember your name.”
Located on Virginia Place in eastside Costa Mesa, Hola Adios also has an exterior pick-up window that came in handy during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to serve customers while applying social distancing.
But instead of referring to it as a drive-through window, they call it their “drip-through window,” Jimenez said.
“We do a lot of online orders and one of our coffee blends is named Drip, paying homage to drip window,” said Jimenez.
The shop also boasts a gift section where Mexican blankets take up the biggest share of the shelving. Customers like to buy them for use for picnics or to sit on at the beach, Jimenez said.
“Costa Mesa has a strong coffee community and has become a mecca of specialty coffee,” said Jimenez. “The best coffee shops in O.C. are in Costa Mesa.”
He said it’s like a caffeine crawl, where customers bounce from one coffee shop to another.
The married father of two daughters has lived in Costa Mesa for about 18 years and has worked in the coffee industry for 10 years. He’s now in the process of opening a second location in old town Tustin. He was pleased to have found a special building that had been built in 1885.
And he’s proud to be a member of a circle of coffee purveyors who stand willing to help each other out.
“We don’t hesitate to send customers other places, in fact I don’t always drink my own coffee,” said Jimenez. “One thing about the coffee community is they support one another and when shortages happen like cups, we borrow from one another.”
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