Morgan Bockus – The Owl

Morgan has been working as a barista in Mexico for a non-profit coffee bar. This post is about her story, and how she came to work there.

Enter Morgan…

My name is Morgan Bockus, I am from N.Y., but I am currently living in Monterrey, Mexico; working at a non-profit coffee shop down here called The Owl. I have been a barista for three years, between Heavenly Cup Coffee Roasters in Painted Post, N.Y., and here at El Buho in Mexico.

I have some friends, Andrew and Gena, who moved down to El Buho about three years ago as missionaries. They were working in a local school teaching English. Gena still volunteers at the school, but Andrew was drawn to the world-class rock climbing near Monterrey in a little town called Hidalgo. There are tons of rock climbers from around the world that camp at the base of the mountain everyday for months at a time.

Andrew had a vision to open a small coffee shop near the base of the mountain; to give the climbers a place to take rest days, but also a place for local Mexicans to come and hang out. Andrew felt like the rock climbers were missing out on allot of the Mexican culture by secluding themselves to the mountains, so this is a great opportunity to see the two worlds meet in a comfortable atmosphere. Also, another goal is that all of the profits from The Owl would go towards funding the building of a school in the poorest area, called Mission.

Andrew and Gena knew absolutely nothing about coffee, so they took a small trip back to the states to talk to friends and family, and to get some help on where to start. They made a stop in the shop I worked at, heavenly cup coffee roasters. I gave them a tour of the roast-room, and gave them a crash course in espresso. We talked about me coming and spending time to help them, and two years later, I finally made it down here.

The coffee shop is doing really well, and coffee is also really amazing. There’s nothing like it anywhere around, even in the big city of Monterrey. Here at The Owl, we serve Fair Trade, Organic coffee grown here in Mexico from the Finca Las Nieves plantation in Oaxaca. We roast our coffee to order, by the pound, and grind it fresh. The instant coffee drinking Mexicans and the rock climbers are always blown away by the hospitality, and refreshingly delicious coffee.