First Look: Air-roasted beans and vintage vibes at Mid City coffee shop Las Brujas

Coffee has been a longtime obsession for David Villa, and on Sunday, March 22, that passion gets real with the soft opening of his new Mid City concept, Las Brujas Coffee & Grocery.

The Government Street spot will serve air-roasted coffee, small batch baked goods and sustainable groceries from regional purveyors in a cozy setting tricked out in vintage furnishings and local art.

The vibe fuses midcentury modern with Colombian farmhouse—the latter a nod to Villa’s origin story. He was born on a farm in his father’s native Colombia that was named Las Brujas.

Order espresso and drip coffee drinks served with local or A2 dairy and house-made syrups, along with organic loose-leaf teas and refrigerated jars of Las Brujas cold brew in 12 different flavors, which Villa has been retailing for about six years. Baked goods are sourced from Lona Rai’s Kitchen & Bakery, one of the vendors inside Spanish Town Market & Cofe. Las Brujas also has a cooler and freezer with fresh produce from Carona Farms, dairy products from Feliciana’s Best Creamery and Circle M Farms, regenerative meats from Mississippi’s Home Place Pastures and eggs from Pearl River Pastures. Villa will also carry sourdough from St. Bruno Bread Co.

“What I have in my own kitchen, that’s what I want to sell,” he says.

Villa is in the process of renewing the location’s liquor license to sell packaged alcohol, specifically natural wines and local beer, he says.

While born near Medellín, Villa grew up in Mid City Baton Rouge. He graduated from Baton Rouge Magnet High School and LSU, and his first job was at CC’s Coffee House as a barista. An early interest in coffee continued as a career throughline. He later helped open Magpie Café’s now-closed downtown location. During a seven-year stint in New Orleans, his coffee interest deepened, demonstrated by a 25-episode podcast called Coffee Upside Down that explored popular local coffee shops. The podcast’s name riffed on Villa’s background as a teenage gymnast. In a recurring gimmick, he would ask proprietors if he could do a handstand on the counter.

Now it’s his own counter where the hijinks could occur, although Villa’s focus seems squarely fixed on pouring exceptional cups of joe. He buys air-roasted beans from Rebel Coffee Roaster in Ponchatoula, a relationship cultivated while podcasting. Villa once interviewed company owner and master roaster Ed Kuhlman, and was so taken with the flavor of air-roasted coffee that he began selling Kuhlman’s beans under his own private label, first as Coffee Upside Down, then as Las Brujas.

“Ed did a pour over and told me all about the air-roasting process, which is different than drum roasting,” Villa says. “It roasts more evenly and produces a cleaner, sweeter coffee that’s less bitter.”

Villa says he will be the only coffee shop in the region selling air-roasted coffee.

Returning to Baton Rouge a year ago, Villa began looking seriously for a location to open his dream coffee shop, finding it in Mid City Square. The small retail strip is owned by Elsie’s Plate & Pie founder Paul Dupre and includes Good Choices Co. thrift store, Mid City Mud and a new ancillary kitchen for Elsie’s to support its off-the-charts pie sales.

Villa’s longtime girlfriend Lauren Collignon, a local realtor, artist and owner of the former Parish Yoga on Government Street, shaped Las Brujas’ design. She sourced warm, eclectic furnishings through estate sales and Facebook Marketplace and arranged them in chat sets throughout a large main room. A kids’ corner invites reading and quiet play.

Rotating local art adorns the walls. Works by Mary Claire Delony and Natalie Clay Hutchinson are currently on display, two of a rotating lineup of featured artists, Villa says. There will also be fresh floral arrangements for sale from Baton Rouge artisan florist Mist and Mallow. Painter TJ Black created the shop’s outdoor sign.

This week, artist Jonathan “Skinny Dope” Brown was putting the final touches on murals of tropical birds and flowers against the restrooms’ dark cyan walls. He will install a mural on the coffee shop’s main wall soon, Villa says.

Las Brujas Coffee & Grocery is located at 3101 Government St. It soft opens this Sunday, March 22, from 8 a.m. to noon. Regular hours will be Tuesday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.