For sisters Ashley and Stephanie Arevalo, the smell of freshly brewed coffee is familiar no matter where they are in the world.
In Mexico, it’s an invitation to sit down with family. In Thailand, it’s an occasion to slow down and enjoy a conversation. On a coffee farm in Costa Rica, it’s the culmination of months of work, from harvesting beans to roasting them over the course of a morning.
The Templeton natives have spent much of their lives traveling, collecting flavors, ingredients, and memories along the way. Now, they’re bringing a little of each experience home through Amanecer Coffee, a mobile coffee cart inspired by their Mexican heritage and love of the Central Coast.
“It’s been more than just, you know, a little yummy latte,” Stephanie said. “It’s something that just I guess we identify with. Just it’s like family.”
The sisters grew up making annual trips to Michoacán, Mexico, where their parents are originally from. For roughly 14 years, the family would pile into the car for the 36-hour drive south, spending about a month visiting relatives during the winter.
Those trips introduced Ashley, 21, and Stephanie, 27, to the customs and flavors that would eventually become the foundation of their business.
“Every time we meet someone or anything, we have friends over, it’s always like, ‘Oh, come over for a cup of coffee,’ or, ‘Let’s go get coffee,’ like to catch up,” Ashley said.
Years later, the sisters found themselves working side by side at Joebella Coffee Roasters in Atascadero.
Ashley had been working in coffee since she was 17, first at Starbucks before joining Joebella, where she learned about roasting and brewing. Stephanie followed, initially packaging beans in the roastery before becoming a barista.
They began experimenting with different flavors, often using ingredients brought home from their trips.
“We’d bring our own stuff from our travels, like our own cinnamon sticks, our own chocolate from Mexico, or chai from other places that we’ve gone to,” Ashley said.
A trip to Oaxaca last December gave the sisters the idea to turn their experiments into a business.
The region’s coffee culture, traditional spices, and colorful craftsmanship left an impression. They began imagining a coffee cart that could bring those influences back to the Central Coast.
“We can have creative freedom with the cart and just bring something different for everyone to try,” Ashley said.
Their menu changes with the seasons, reflecting the sisters’ appreciation for fresh ingredients.
“A lot of the times, especially in Mexico, you eat what is in season,” Stephanie said. “You get the full flavor.”
One of their favorites, the Cítrico Latte, combines homemade orange syrup and cardamom with cold foam infused with orange zest. Another pairs vanilla with rosemary picked from their garden.
“I feel like at first everyone was kind of skeptical about it,” Ashley said of the rosemary latte. “Because it’s just so different. But man, that was so good.”
They’re currently experimenting with fall flavors like pecan and brown sugar while working to perfect a Mexican mocha.
“Especially in Mexico, it’s just such a big deal to have it taste a certain way,” Ashley said.
Traditional Mexican hot chocolate can involve toasting almonds, cinnamon, and chilies before grinding them with chocolate. The sisters want to capture those flavors without losing the preparation’s character.
The cart itself is another reflection of their upbringing.
Its warm, earthy colors draw from the terracotta pottery, decorative tiles, and handcrafted ceramics they’ve encountered throughout Mexico.
“Textures, tiles, shapes are just so part of the culture,” Ashley said.
Stephanie describes Amanecer’s visual identity as a meeting of two coastlines: Oaxaca’s Pacific coast and California’s Central Coast.
Amanecer, Spanish for sunrise, represents new beginnings.
Growing up, a decorative sun with a face hung outside their Templeton home. When the sisters began designing their logo, they returned to that familiar image.
Ashley sketched the sun and carved it into a linoleum stamp, which they now use to decorate their cups.
Their father helped modify the cart, while their mother supported the project.
“Our cart is really precious to us,” Stephanie said. “It’s just been a project that our whole family has kind of supported.”
Find Amanecer Coffee at the Traffic Jam Market pop-up event on Nov. 15 from 10 to 2 p.m. in the lot behind 5880 Traffic Way in Atascadero.
Follow along on Instagram @amanacer.coffee for more dates.
Fast fact
• Cal Fire expanded its aerial firefighting capabilities on Oct. 19 with the arrival of a Lockheed C-130H Hercules air tanker at the Paso Robles Air Attack Base. The aircraft can carry up to 4,000 gallons of fire retardant, more than three times the capacity of the department’s existing air tankers. The C-130H will support rapid responses to wildfires throughout the state. Learn more at fire.ca.gov. ∆
Reach Staff Writer Chloë Hodge at chodge@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Nov 12-19, 2026.
