Today we’d like to introduce you to Sergio Garcia.
Hi Sergio, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I have previously worked in the Houston coffee scene for over 15 years and gained a world of knowledge over that time. but I thank my mother and grandfather for the deep of the craft. both of them played a major role in my development as a person and how this all came together. my mother owned a bridal shop in the 90s up until the early 2000s and we would go there after school to wait for her and my grandparents to finish up for the day. During those early days in elementary school, my grandfather would pick me up from school and on the way to the shop, we would stop by Fiesta for a Cafe Con Leche and pan dulce. this became a regular thing and I would look forward to spending the time with him and learning about the struggles of an immigrant in this country along with a humble approach to building friendships. My mother’s business was in a difficult area where competition was only a few shopping centers away, but what I loved about her work was the perseverance to get us ahead no matter what. I can easily say they are my heroes and the reason I am here today. I started working at 15 while in high school but didn’t land my first coffee gig until I was 17. from there the passion grew and so did the industry here in Houston. I jumped around a variety of shops until 2019 when early pandemic cases were popping up. At this point, I was already roasting coffees at home for personal consumption and had a push to create the brand I had been dreaming about for years! I had the opportunity to showcase my offerings with a friend’s shop in downtown Houston ( the tipping point) from there I took the leap just as my mother had in the past to do something from love and necessity. Rasa Libre is a product of my hardships and upbringing put into one positive outcome. Rasa in Sanskrit means ” essence ” and Libre translates to “freedom” in Spanish. Rasa Libre is the essence of freedom and my freedom is being able to connect through coffee and be free from the chains of limitations.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Creating a brand or a company is difficult to execute in my opinion, being Latino in an industry that is predominately white is a challenge on its own. Being an undocumented Latino in America looking for help to start your small business has been a real challenge. I’ve had a handful of bad business relationships with people taking advantage of my status in the past but that has never discouraged me from pushing forward. my immediate family and close friends have all known about this dream and have supported the journey
As you know, we’re big fans of Rasa Libre Coffee. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a coffee roasting brand based out of the southwest side of Houston in particular Alief. We offer an online shop and do catering and local pop ups/ markets. We focus on the quality of our coffee offerings but also put a touch of our lifestyle into the design of our labels. Educating our friends on the different types of roasts and brewing techniques. Through the hustle, my wife and I have curated a sub-brand, Ximena (plants and coffee) (IG: ximena__co) so look for that alongside rasa libre products.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
success has many forms, one of them for us had always been creating this brand. the creation of something that meant more than just a product itself and helped bring a new dialogue to the industry as a whole.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.rasalibrecoffeehtx.com
- Instagram: @rasalibre_coffee
