Photo courtesy Cafe Hope Coffee via Instagram.

Cafe Hope Coffee, a coffee shop that helps a school in Nicaragua, has opened a coffee truck on Skillman Street.

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Previously, the shop was online-only before opening the trailer December 20 in the Chevron parking lot. The coffee trailer was built to help offset the cost of growing coffee while they’re not able to harvest from their coffee trees.

Owner and founder Branden Johnson’s trips to Nicaragua and a school called Hope Bilingual Academy inspired him to open the coffee shop.

His first trip was in 2017 for a friend’s birthday, and his friend had one wish, Johnson says.

“His family started Hope Bilingual Academy circa 2012, and it was his birthday wish that friends would visit the school,” Johnson says. “I instantly fell in love with the school and its mission to provide a computer-based education to an underserved community.”

Since then, Johnson has returned for visits several times since and became good friends with Patricia Shronce, his friend’s mother who runs the school.

Fast forward a few years to 2020, Johnson was laid off from his job as an online and gas consultant and wanted to try something new.

“I talked with Patricia about my situation and told her I wanted to start selling coffee online with the Hope name in an effort to provide additional funds for the school. A few days later she approached me with the idea of growing coffee at the school. By the end of the week we had planted about 300 coffee trees.”

The trees take 3 to 5 years to mature, so they have plans to harvest from the school by the end of 2023. All proceeds from coffee grown at the school will go back to the school, 10% of proceeds from online sales and from the mobile café also go to the school.

Johnson, originally from Waco, has lived with his wife in Lake Highlands since they married in 2017.

“Having a mobile café gives me the flexibility to operate anywhere they’ll have me but I prefer to stay in the neighborhood,” he says. “It’s nice to meet new neighbors every day and help spread the word about Hope Bilingual Academy. The school would not survive without assistance from its network of volunteers and donors.”

The Cafe Hope Coffee is located at 6666 Skillman Street. Hours can be found on the Instagram page.