New Café and Micro Roastery Brings a Taste of Guatemala to Cranston

Photo courtesy of Luis Barrios / Primavera Coffee Roasters

When it comes to the opening of his new cafe, Primavera Coffee Roasters, owner Luis Barrios posits that divine intervention may have played a part.

Barrios, whose background spans both the food industry and entrepreneurial endeavors like Airbnb, had always hoped he would one day run an upscale Central American restaurant similar in concept to Providence’s Los Andes. But when tough times arose last year and Barrios found himself between jobs amidst an exceptionally high unemployment rate, something — or someone — told him to pivot. 

“I was praying, honestly, like, ‘God, what do you want me to do? I can’t find a job. I want to start another business, but I don’t have the money. So, what do I do?’” he recalls. ‘And I really felt like when I was praying, God told me not to start with a restaurant, but to start with a coffee shop.”

Now, almost a year later to the day, said coffee shop is open for business on Starline Way in Cranston. 

“And that is just the hand of God in our lives. For most people, either it takes them three to five years to even start something, or they never do it,” Barrios says. “And now looking back at how hard it’s been, I’m like, ‘Wow.’ We did this in a year and it doesn’t feel like it was only us. There was something supernatural behind it.” 

One could argue a higher power had been guiding him down this path all along.

You can trace it all the way back to Barrios’ roots, which began in Guatemala. There he grew up indulging in pan con cafe, a cultural practice reminiscent of the Brits’ afternoon tea and crumpets. 

“Instead we have afternoon coffee and pan dulce, which is like Latin American sweet bread, that you dip into the coffee,” he explains. “I grew up drinking and eating that every afternoon with my mom in Guatemala.”

They continued the tradition following their move to the Ocean State when Barrios was 10, but it would be another few years before he developed a deeper appreciation for a good cup of Joe. First he had to find his first love: his now wife, Melissa. 

Photo courtesy of Luis Barrios / Primavera Coffee Roasters

The two initially crossed paths in 2015 while ‘planting’ (Christian-ese for kickstarting) a new church in Providence. A Rhode Island native, Melissa had just returned from The World Race, a year-long missionary trip through Latin America. Along the way she worked in countries such as El Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia, Argentina and, yes, Guatemala. She and Luis naturally bonded, and they eventually exchanged vows in the very church they had helped establish. Eight years later, he and Melissa now share three young children.

“So I need coffee,” Barrios says with a laugh. 

But as a self-proclaimed foodie, he says it has to be good coffee.

“I don’t do Nescafe, Bustela, none of that. I’m going to drink it the right way,” he says. “I started experimenting, making my own cold brew, doing pour over… I did that for years and I just kind of fell in love with it.” 

When Barrios began looking into starting up his own cafe, he knew he wanted his customers to appreciate coffee in the same way. Primavera would not just provide the coffee, but also brew it on-site. So he spent the next year doing the research, consulting industry folks, taking classes and sourcing the beans — Guatemalan beans, of course. 

“All of the coffee that we offer is single origin. Meaning that it’s not blended with anything else.”

Which makes Primavera’ brews all the more unique as each batch will be seasonal. 

“So the same harvest that you had in 2025 is going to be different than the harvest you have in 2026. The flavor profile might be similar, but it’s going to change a little bit because the weather changes. I learned this as a wine distributor, like from vintage to vintage, the flavor profiles change. Same thing with coffee. So our coffee has different tastes depending on what region we got it from, how we roast it, and on top of that, the process that we use to serve it.” 

For example, Primavera’s espresso roast is a single origin from a region in Guatemala known as Huehuetenago. 

“That’s going to taste vastly different from our cold brew because our cold brew is steeped for twenty-four hours, and the beans are from the volcanic region in Antigua, Guatemala,” he explains. 

Photo courtesy of Luis Barrios / Primavera Coffee Roasters

There will be much more in store, too, such as sweeter coffee concoctions for the TikTok trend chasers along with Hibiscus tea and horchata for the non coffee drinkers. On the pastry side of the menu, customers can indulge in Central American favorites like tres leche (derived from a family recipe Melissa encountered while working in Honduras) and conchas, and cookies featuring Latin American chocolate chips spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon. For more savory fare, you can expect everything from your standard bacon, egg and cheese (or swap the bacon for chorizo) to a Guatemalan sandwich. 

You can try it all for yourself starting Thursday, September 24, when the cafe opens to the public. Current operation hours are set for 7 a.m. to 3 p.m, Wednesday through Friday, and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Once they have a better idea of the demand and menu favorites, they plan to hold a larger grand opening in October complete with a ribbon cutting. If all goes especially well, Barrios would love to expand to multiple locations, and he still looks forward to the day he can open a full restaurant. 

A fitting goal for a business called Primavera – the Spanish word for spring. Barrios says they chose the name because Guatemala is known as the land of eternal spring. 

“For us, it’s important for people to know that this is a family-owned-operated business. And they’re not just supporting a family, they’re supporting a dream.  I like to think that even though my wife was born here, we kind of exemplify ‘the immigrant family comes here for the American dream,’” Barrios says. “We didn’t come with much, but you know, by God’s grace, we were able to make something of ourselves. And now we’re blending cultures because we’re bringing a little bit of Guatemala to Rhode Island.”