Where Mornings Begin

On a crisp fall morning in North Central Washington, the first stop of the day can be about much more than coffee.

It might be the place where a commuter grabs a breakfast burrito before work, where friends settle in for a conversation, or where a regular walks through the door and is greeted by name. It might be a place to work for an hour, catch up with a neighbor or simply watch the world go by with a warm cup in hand.

In Wenatchee and Cashmere, two local coffee shops have found their own ways to become part of that daily rhythm.

At Leandro’s Cafe & Bistro, tucked inside Wenatchee’s Columbia Station transit hub, the morning brings commuters, students, families and regulars looking for coffee and a homemade breakfast. In Cashmere, Gaucho Coffee Co. has become a gathering place in a character-filled building surrounded by other small businesses.

Neither set out to simply sell coffee. Both have created spaces where people want to stay — and where relationships have become as important as what’s in the cup.

A place to begin

For Lorena Sandoval and Jesus Leandro, the path to owning a coffee shop began with a food cart.

The family first served coffee alongside tacos and other food at a Fourth of July celebration. From there, they continued catering family parties, community events and weekly gatherings. Eventually, they invested in a dedicated coffee cart with an espresso machine and continued pairing coffee with their popular Mexican dishes.

As the business grew, so did the desire for a permanent home.

That opportunity came in 2024, when the family learned about an available space at Columbia Station.

“We heard about this opportunity from a family member,” Sandoval said. “We had to compete with several other restaurants and bakeries to get this place. There were a lot of proposals to write, a lot of things we had to do to qualify. Thankfully, we got it.”

The family began selling coffee at events in July 2024 before opening Leandro’s Cafe & Bistro at the station in March, 2025.

The location might seem like an unlikely setting for a place designed to linger. Buses and trains are constantly moving outside, and the transit center brings a steady stream of people through the area.

But inside Leandro’s, the pace feels different.

Large windows look toward the mountains east of Wenatchee. Customers can watch trains arrive and buses come and go while sitting over a cup of coffee or a meal.

“People really enjoy that they can sit here for a long time,” Leandro said.

That invitation to stay has helped create a diverse group of regulars. Children come in for crepes. Couples meet for dates and sometimes spend the entire visit off their phones. Older customers stop in weekly to read, chat or enjoy a familiar order.

In the morning, the rhythm changes again.

“From about 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. we are very busy with coffee and burritos,” Sandoval said. “People take their coffee and breakfast and leave so happy, saying, ‘See you tomorrow.’ They tell us this is the best coffee and the best crepes.”

The coffee comes from Caffè D’arte, a roaster the family discovered while visiting their children. They liked the flavor and have continued working with the company.

Even a simple cup of coffee has become part of the shop’s reputation.

“People tell us even the regular coffee is the best they’ve ever had,” Sandoval said.

As temperatures drop, Leandro’s shifts into another kind of comfort. Beginning in September, homemade soups return to the menu, including clam chowder, broccoli cheddar and tomato basil, often served with grilled cheese.

“People love having clam chowder or broccoli cheddar with grilled cheese,” Sandoval said. “It’s something they don’t always see together, but once they try it, they really enjoy it.”

The seasonal menu adds another reason to linger when the mornings turn cool.

A community takes shape

A few miles away in Cashmere, Liz Follansbee was also looking for a place of her own.

Follansbee had worked in coffee for years and had long dreamed of opening a shop. The opportunity arrived when a former customer from a coffee shop where she had worked on Wenatchee’s west side told her about an available space.

“I just went in and saw the space, and I thought it was too cool to pass up,” Follansbee said.

That was in early 2024. She spent the summer working on the business plan, pricing and build-out, describing the process as “diving in headfirst.”

“It’s definitely like a dream come true,” she said. “It’s been on my radar for a long time.”

Gaucho Coffee Co. opened in October 2024.

For Follansbee, the building and its neighbors were part of the appeal. The space is surrounded by other small businesses, many owned by first-time business owners.

“I just love the Cashmere community. Everybody’s awesome and kind,” she said.

Over time, Gaucho has become one of the places where those connections happen.

“There are a lot of people that come and meet other people here,” she said. “We’ve kind of become a central point.”

That sense of connection isn’t something Follansbee considers separate from the coffee shop. It is part of what she believes makes Gaucho work.

The same is true at Leandro’s, where Sandoval sees the cafe as intertwined with the daily life of Columbia Station. Transit drivers, commuters and other regulars stop in for breakfast and something warm to drink before work or between routes.

“I love when people come and say they’re here to support a small business,” Sandoval said. “We belong to them, because that’s how we can succeed—with their support.”

More than what’s in the cup

Both shops put plenty of thought into what they serve, but neither defines the experience by coffee alone.

At Gaucho, Follansbee makes the shop’s syrups in-house, with a rotating seasonal drink menu that changes throughout the year.

Some drinks are inspired by trends; others come from ideas developed by the staff.

The pastry case features goods from local baker Hannah’s Pantry, while the shop has also expanded its own food production.

“We just started doing all our food in a commercial kitchen,” Follansbee said. “We’re trying to provide things that are healthy and good and different and unique.”

That includes breakfast burritos and sandwiches, a menu Follansbee had wanted to create for some time.

“I’m really excited about it, and I’m proud of it,” she said.

At Leandro’s, the same attention to the food extends far beyond the coffee bar.

“Everything is fresh,” Leandro said. “Our triple aioli, our Caesar dressing, the soups—the tomato basil, the clam chowder, the broccoli cheddar—all of that is made from scratch. The burritos are made from scratch. We’re very picky about our vegetables, our meat, everything we use.”

All of the coffee syrups are also made in house at Leandro’s. That commitment to making food by hand is part of what Sandoval hopes customers notice.

“They tell us we are very friendly, and they feel at home here,” she said. “All the flavors in each item, plus how we treat them, together it makes them very happy.”

The feeling of fall

Perhaps no season makes the role of a neighborhood coffee shop more apparent than fall.

At Gaucho, Follansbee loves the contrast between the weather outside and the atmosphere inside.

“I love the coziness of it, when it’s that crisp air outside and it’s warm inside,” she said.

The shop brings back its homemade pumpkin sauce each fall, along with other seasonal drinks and food.

“We always do a homemade pumpkin sauce in the fall among our other seasonal drinks,” she said.

Fall also carries a personal significance for Follansbee. Gaucho opened in October 2024, so the season brings back memories of the shop’s first days.

“We opened in October of 2024, so for me it’s nostalgic,” she said. “It feels like, ‘Oh yeah, this was the time, this is what it felt like when we opened.’”

At Leandro’s, fall means homemade soup, grilled cheese and the return of meals meant to warm people from the inside out.

But the season also highlights something deeper about both businesses: People aren’t simply looking for caffeine. They’re looking for somewhere to be.

At Gaucho, Follansbee describes the atmosphere as “funky, eclectic, but calm.” The lighting, music and layout were deliberately designed to make the space comfortable for customers who want to work, while still maintaining enough energy to feel alive.

“There’s a lot of thought that went into everything—from being able to have people work from the coffee shop to the lighting to the music,” she said. “We’re trying to create a good ambiance.”

At Leandro’s, the views, the movement outside the windows and the unhurried atmosphere create a different kind of setting.

Both, however, are built around the same basic idea: Make people comfortable enough that they want to come back.

The people behind the regulars

For Follansbee, the best part of owning a coffee shop may be what happens after customers stop being customers and become familiar faces.

“You get to know people’s families and their stories,” she said.

She has watched relationships unfold across the counter, including one couple who went from dating to engaged to married while they were regulars at Gaucho.

“We got to be part of that whole process, which just feels really special,” she said.

The connection works in both directions. Regulars notice when their baristas are having a difficult day.

“They’re the people who, when they can look at you and say, ‘Oh, you seem off today,’ that kind of role reversal feels like humanity at its finest,” she said. “It’s so genuine.”

She has watched customers celebrate milestones together, too, including a pregnant regular who was showered with baby gifts by fellow customers.

“We just have such an awesome group of regulars,” she said. “Everybody’s just… it’s really cool.”

At Leandro’s, the family has seen its own version of that loyalty. Customers from near and far have told Sandoval they are already planning return trips to Wenatchee because of the food, coffee and hospitality.

For her, that response is the ultimate compliment.

A great coffee shop can be measured in cups sold, meals served or the quality of its espresso. But those numbers don’t fully explain why people return.

It is the regular who knows exactly what they want. The commuter who has five minutes to grab breakfast. The friend who comes for coffee but stays for an hour. The couple who puts their phones away. The person working quietly in the corner. The barista who knows when something isn’t quite right.

Those small interactions are what turn a business into a gathering place.

Follansbee hopes everyone who walks into Gaucho feels that sense of belonging.

“I want them to feel welcomed and like everybody belongs there,” she said.

And when they leave, she hopes they remember more than the drink.

“First and foremost, I hope they remember that they had a really good cup of coffee,” she said. “But also that they felt welcomed, that they enjoyed the visuals and ambiance of the space, and that the whole experience was just nice and easy.”

At Leandro’s, Sandoval hopes customers leave with a similar feeling of warmth and home.

In the end, perhaps that’s what makes a coffee shop part of a town. Not simply the coffee, the food or the décor, but the feeling that on a chilly fall morning, there is a place where someone will know you, welcome you and have a warm cup waiting.

For some, that’s where the day begins.

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