Jordi Carbonell
by Tunde Wey
May 24, 2012
It is closing time at
Café Con Leche and a cute 5-year-old girl is doing her part to help clean up. She attends to the floor with a broom about twice as long as she is. Holding the broom with both hands, she takes her time – carefully, slowly sweeping the floor.
Jordi Carbonell, owner of Café Con Leche and proud father of the little girl, walks to the café’s neon sign and flicks the switch to CLOSED. Some of the café’s patrons are gathering up their belongings, some others are still deep in work, headphones on and fingers tapping away at laptops.
Closing time at Café Con Leche is usually a relaxed affair. Here, Carbonell and wife Melissa Fernandez have created a casual and familial atmosphere.
Since February 2009, Café Con Leche has been serving both coffee and community. Located on the corner of Vernor Highway and Scotten in Detroit’s Southwest community, the coffee shop, according to Carbonell and Fernandez, is an “informal community center.”
Carbonell, 36, a native of Barcelona, speaks proudly of the “Spanish coffee drinking culture” that is his heritage. Growing up in Spain, Carbonell says brewed coffee was shunned in favor of espressos and
café con leche (espresso with milk). For him, it is a slice of home in his cozy Southwest Detroit café.
While the conspicuous goal of Café Con Leche was to “expand people’s knowledge of Latin drinks,” what has happened has been much more significant.
Here, patrons run the spectrum from college professors to young professionals to middle school kids and even politicians (U.S Congressman Hansen Clarke recently visited the café during a campaign stop in Southwest). All frequent the cafe, chatting and enjoying the vibrant mix of regulars.
Carbonell and Fernandez take pride in the frequent spontaneous interactions between patrons -- neighbors who have never met become acquainted, politicians interact informally with constituents. Residents have begun to see the neighborhood differently, recognizing and appreciating the diversity of the community.
The idea of a café came to Fernandez out of need. Fernandez, a third generation resident of Detroit, grew up in Southwest. Whenever she would come back to the neighborhood to visit her family, she says, there was never really a place to socialize except the local McDonald’s. Venues with an internet connection were also unavailable. These simple social amenities – perks that most people consider necessary for city living – are the services Café Con Leche now provides.
In the three years since Carbonell and Fernandez mortgaged their home and reached into their savings, they have accomplished much. Now a busy community hub and pseudo incubator, Café Con Leche hosts community groups such as Grace Into Action, a faith-based group that formed through meetings there. The Peacock Room, a clothing boutique now located in Midtown, also got a start hosting trunk sales before they opened a space of their own.
Carbonell knows that this community did not suddenly gather over his coffee – it had always been there. But now, thanks to the café, there is a place to call home – a shared home away from home.
Portrait by Marvin Shaouni Photography.