Café Ollama

Café Ollama is a family-run, Mexican-owned coffee shop at 523 Southwest Blvd on the western edge of the Crossroads, where Lesley Reyes and Francisco Murguía Jr. serve traditional Mexican coffee — most famously café de olla, steeped with cinnamon, star anise, and piloncillo. The shop opened in March 2021 inside a storefront that, until the pandemic, was a terminal for El Conejo, a bus line running between Kansas City and Mexico — and Reyes frames the café as a deliberate act of keeping Mexican culture visible on a fast-gentrifying Southwest Boulevard.

Description

Café Ollama is a Mexican-owned coffee shop specializing in traditional Mexican coffee preparations, anchored by café de olla — coffee steeped with cinnamon, star anise, and piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar), which Reyes describes as “a morning tradition among grandmothers in rural Mexico.”¹ The piloncillo is sourced directly from Mexico, and the coffee itself is sourced from Chiapas.² The menu has grown to include the shop’s signature coffee “flights” and “buckets” alongside Mexican pastries, and the space is decorated with vibrant prints from Hispanic artists.²³

The name “Ollama” is a play on words: it is short for ōllamaliztli, the Mesoamerican ballgame — a nod to co-owner Francisco Murguía’s love of soccer — while also echoing olla, the clay pot used to brew café de olla.² (Locally the shop is read aloud as “Oh-yah-má.”⁴)

The café opened in March 2021 and built a loyal following quickly; in 2024 it was named the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City (HCCKC) Best Small Business.⁴

Ownership and history

Period	Operator / use
through ~2010	Record store (building)
2010	Irma Hernández (Reyes’ mother) acquires the building, hand-picked by the previous record-store owner1
2016 → 2020	Storefront used as a terminal for El Conejo, a bus line running Kansas City ⇄ Mexico; service ended when the border closed at the start of the pandemic1
March 2021 → present	Café Ollama — Lesley Reyes & Francisco Murguía Jr.15

Café Ollama is owned and operated by Lesley Reyes and her husband Francisco Murguía Jr. Reyes is a makeup artist by trade and Murguía a soccer coach; the couple grew up in Kansas City and, after stints living and working in Chicago, Los Angeles, and abroad, returned to KC to raise their son.¹² When the pandemic disrupted both of their careers in 2020, they took the leap into the coffee shop, motivated by the conviction that Kansas City “needs and deserves” a Latin coffee shop representing their culture, flavors, and traditions.²

The building belongs to Reyes’ mother, Irma Hernández, who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico at 14 and built a career in tax preparation and notary services; she acquired the building in 2010.¹ Before becoming Café Ollama, the storefront served as a terminal for El Conejo, a bus line that ran a single route between Kansas City and Mexico — when the café first opened, Reyes recalls customers still wandering in asking for bus tickets.¹ Reyes has explicitly framed the café as a way of keeping Mexican culture visible — not “hidden” — on a Southwest Boulevard and West Side that have gentrified rapidly, with rising housing prices and newer luxury-leaning businesses displacing longtime community members.¹

Menu

Last verified: 2026-07-18 · Source: Café Ollama’s own Square Online product catalog (first-party),⁶ corroborated by aggregator menus, Instagram (@ollamakc), and KC press · URL(s): https://cafe-ollama.square.site/; https://cafe-ollama.placejoys.com/menu; https://www.instagram.com/ollamakc/ · Confidence: High for items and prices (first-party catalog; price ranges span size options; lineup rotates seasonally)

Signature Mexican / Indigenous-forward coffee

• Café de Olla — the house signature: coffee slow-brewed with canela (cinnamon), piloncillo, and spices, topped with salted-sweet foam and a little cookie; a rural-Mexican grandmother tradition.⁷ $4.75–$7.25 by size.⁶
• Café de Olla Cold Brew — the café de olla preparation served cold.⁷ $6.65–$7.85 by size.⁶
• Chatita — agua de horchata with two espresso shots, topped with whipped cream and churros.⁷ $5.75–$7.55 by size.⁶
• Tía Rosa — espresso with mazapán (peanut-based Mexican candy) and oat milk.⁷ $5.75–$7.75 by size.⁶
• Abuelita Lupe — Mexican chocolate frothed with milk (espresso optional).⁷ $4.40–$7.15 by size.⁶
• CDMX Smog — chamomile tea, café de olla, citrus, foam-topped.⁷ $6.50.⁶
• Chocoflan — chocolate syrup, condensed milk, vanilla, and espresso.⁷ $6.65–$7.75 by size.⁶

Flights & buckets (house specialty — “Home of the Flights & The Buckets”)

• Coffee flights — four 5 oz drinks, select options hot or iced; purchasable all day Tuesday and, once extended summer hours start, 3pm–close daily;⁸ a Tuesday flight reportedly pairs a hot and a cold café de olla with two additional drinks of choice.⁷⁹ ~$14
• Mama Ines (bucket) — espresso with sweetened condensed milk, served hot or iced.⁷⁶ $4.70–$7.85 by size.⁶
• Bucket — the 32 oz house serving size. $14.95.⁶

Espresso & coffee

• Drip Coffee — Veracruz dark roast (coffee otherwise sourced from Chiapas).⁷ $3.75–$4.50 by size.⁶
• Cold Brew — 8 oz bottle.⁷ $5.50.⁶
• Mami Gloria — two shots of espresso with Mexican Coca-Cola, served iced.⁷⁶ $6.80.⁶

Non-coffee & food

• Horchata — rice-water drink with cinnamon and vanilla, whipped cream and churros.⁷ $5.80.⁶
• Mexican pastries / pan dulce — rotating selection; the current first-party catalog lists conchas (heart concha $5.50), cuernitos ($5.95–$6.95), pan de muerto ($5.15), cinnamon rolls, almond croissants, and Mexican wedding cookies.⁷⁹⁶
• Quesadilla — three-cheese with salsa.⁷ $8.00.⁶

Links

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ollamakc/ — Note: the audit seed listed @cafeollama, but the shop’s active handle is @ollamakc (Linktree: “Lesley Reyes | @ollamakc”; IG page title: “Café Ollama (Oh-yah-má) (@ollamakc)”); no @cafeollama account surfaces in search — the seed handle appears erroneous, not a legacy account. ⁴
• Website (ordering): https://cafe-ollama.square.site/ ¹⁰
• Linktree: https://linktr.ee/ollamakc ⁴
• Phone: (913) 337-5929 ¹⁰¹¹ — corroborated across Yelp and PlaceJoys (aggregators; no first-party listing found)

See also

• crossroads-arts-district
• Registry

Sources

Footnotes

1. Madeline Fox, “Ollama Isn’t Just A Coffee Shop. It’s A Legacy Of Mexican Culture On A Changing Southwest Boulevard,” KCUR, Aug. 8, 2021. https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2021-08-08/ollama-isnt-just-a-coffee-shop-its-a-legacy-of-mexican-culture-on-a-changing-southwest-boulevard ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. “Café Ollama’s Lesley Reyes talks Latin flavors, inspirations, traditions, and what’s next,” The Pitch. https://www.thepitchkc.com/cafe-ollamas-lesley-reyes-talks-latin-flavors-inspirations-traditions-and-whats-next-in-the-pitch-questionnaire/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. “Café Ollama brings traditional Mexican coffee preparations to Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District,” Feast Magazine. https://www.feastmagazine.com/travel/kansas-city/caf-ollama-brings-traditional-mexican-coffee-preparations-to-kansas-citys-crossroads-arts-district/article_36456056-0ff8-11ec-a6f7-43cf74368622.html ↩

4. Café Ollama (@ollamakc), Instagram (bio: “Oh-yah-má”; “Home of the Flights & The Buckets”; HCCKC Best Small Business 2024). https://www.instagram.com/ollamakc/; Linktree https://linktr.ee/ollamakc ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

5. “Café Ollama: Latin-Inspired Coffee in the Crossroads,” IN Kansas City Magazine. https://www.inkansascity.com/eat-drink/news/cafe-ollama-latin-inspired-coffee-in-the-crossroads/ ↩

6. Café Ollama Square Online product catalog (first-party ordering site), https://cafe-ollama.square.site/ (public store catalog data). Confirms: current menu items and prices — Cafe de Olla $4.75–$7.25; Cafe de Olla Cold Brew $6.65–$7.85; Chatita $5.75–$7.55 (“Agua de Horchata with espresso… whip cream and churros”); Tia Rosa $5.75–$7.75; Abuelita Lupe $4.40–$7.15 (“Chocolate Abuelita frothed with milk”); CDMX SMOG $6.50 (“Te de Manzanilla, Cafe de Olla, citrus, topped with foam”); Chocoflan $6.65–$7.75; Mama Ines $4.70–$7.85 (“Espresso and sweetened condensed milk. Choose hot or Iced”); Drip Coffee $3.75–$4.50; Cold brew 8 oz bottle $5.50; Mami Gloria $6.80 (“2 Shots of Espresso with Mexican Coca-Cola. Served Iced”); Horchata $5.80; Quesadilla $8.00; Bucket 32 oz $14.95; pastries incl. heart concha $5.50, cuernito $5.95–$6.95, pan de muerto $5.15, cinnamon rolls, almond croissant, Mexican wedding cookies, plus wholesale concha varieties (cherry, crème brûlée). Price ranges span size options. (accessed 2026-07-18) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸

7. Café Ollama menu (drink/food list with prices), via Square ordering site (https://cafe-ollama.square.site/) and aggregator menu listings: PlaceJoys, https://cafe-ollama.placejoys.com/menu (accessed 2026-06-17); Grubhub, https://www.grubhub.com/restaurant/ollama-523-southwest-blvd-kansas-city/6688096. Prices aggregator-sourced and may not be current. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

8. “8 beverage flights in Kansas City,” KCtoday (6AM City). https://kctoday.6amcity.com/eight-beverage-flights-kansas-city. Confirms: Café Ollama’s flights are four 5 oz drinks, select options hot or iced; purchasable all day Tuesday and 3 p.m.–close daily once extended summer hours start. No flight price stated. (accessed 2026-07-18 via Internet Archive capture) ↩

9. Café Ollama (@ollamakc), Instagram (bio: “Home of the Flights & The Buckets”) and menu coverage describing café de olla, coffee flights, and Mexican pastries. https://www.instagram.com/ollamakc/ ↩ ↩²

10. Café Ollama listings — Yelp (523 SW Blvd, updated Feb. 2026), https://www.yelp.com/biz/cafe-ollama-kansas-city; Square ordering site, https://cafe-ollama.square.site/ ↩ ↩²

11. Café Ollama listing, PlaceJoys. https://cafe-ollama.placejoys.com/. Corroborates (aggregator): phone 913-337-5929 (matches Yelp); hours Mon–Wed & Fri 7:30am–3pm, Thu 9am–3pm, Sat–Sun 8am–3pm; identifies as Latino-owned and women-owned. (accessed 2026-07-18) ↩