On Friday and Saturday mornings, residents strolling through Uphams Corner can stroll into Dahlia’s Garden floral shop and order a cup of Haitian hand-brew coffee with cream, sugar, and a side of flowers. The pop-up coffee shop, called Cafe Bleu, is operated by Haitian mother-daughter duo Wilel Daniel and Angelica Arnoux.
Early on in their business journey, Daniel and Arnoux imagined they would one day open their own storefront but as their relationship with Dahlia’s owner Estela Rosario blossomed, the idea of collaborating with her did, too. Last month, Cafe Bleu moved its blue volkswagen bus bar, a subtle nod to “tap-tap” vehicles, the public buses in Haiti, into 722 Dudley St.
Above, from left: Café Bleu co-counders Angelica Arnoux and Wilel Daniel with Reporter co-publishers Linda Dorcena Forry and Bill Forry and their daughter, Madeline Forry. At right: Wilel Daniel makes coffee inside Dahlia’s Garden floral shop. Seth Daniel photo
“It’s really hard to have an independent brick and mortar without a lot of money behind it,” said Arnoux. “One of the main goals of doing it in the flower shop is the collaborative support of one small business with another. Foot traffic is not the easiest, so we wanted to help bring that traffic in and kind of support each other. That collaboration is a key part of it.”
So now, neighbors can pick out the perfect flower arrangements twice a week while sipping on hand-brewed coffee made from Caribbrew’s premium arabica beans. “Ironically, when I did my business plan seven years ago, the plan was to have a flower cafe before it was trendy,” said Rosario. “I’d pray about it.”
It seems that the three women have answered each others’ prayers and now they want to serve the community, too.
“There is no coffee shop in Uphams Corner,” said Daniel. “We think that Uphams Corner, right now, needs a place like that, a welcoming place where people feel like they can come in and just relax and just enjoy a cup of tea or coffee.”
Arnoux added that the shop is the perfect “third place. People know there is a place to hang out with a low barrier of entry, a cup of coffee. In Uphams Corner, there are not too many places for that during the day.”
She continued, “I think neighborhoods like Uphams Corner tend to gain those amenities when it’s being gentrified. The current residents don’t get to enjoy those things, and usually, when those things come, it’s a sign that they’re about to lose the culture they’re in. We really want to invite new residents, but also to feel like this is for us, too. It’s for the people who are currently here. We want to bring just a nice space for people to be around without the doom of gentrification.”
Rosario imagines business will bloom at the shop as word gets out, but will especially take off in the winter.
“When the Strand Theatre has an event, there’s constantly people coming from the train station not familiar with the area. They ask where they can get coffee or something,” said Rosario who also expects business from those who frequent the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center just up the street. “There are a lot of events happening all the time,” she added.
Those who visit the shop can also enjoy lattes, teas, and lemonades.
“We want to cater the menu to the flavors of what people who are coming like and not try to force what we heard is cool,” said Arnoux.
While the menu might change from time to time, the goal will always be to strengthen both businesses while enhancing the community around them.
“There is no hard timeline of getting our own store,” Arnoux told The Reporter. “If this relationship grows that we both seal the deal and do this continually together, that’s great; if we both grow independently and get too big that’s fine, too.”
For cafe hours and menu updates visit the Instagram page.
