Transport Yourself Via the Playlists of Devoción Coffee - Imbibe Magazine Subscribe + Save

Transport Yourself Via the Playlists of Devoción Coffee

“It’s quite simple,” says Colombian-born Steven Sutton of Devoción Coffee’s brick-and-mortar cafés. “Our coffee comes from Colombia, and we come from Colombia, so it doesn’t matter which of the spaces you are in, we are always looking to send you on a journey to where the coffee is grown. Music is an essential part of that journey.”

From salsa and merengue to jazz and cumbia, Devoción’s playlists are comprised of an assortment of tracks Sutton says speak to his experience of growing up in Colombia. “Everything you hear in the playlists is what we grew up listening to, what we listened to at parties, in the car—the inspiration is from our home towns, the cities, the farm lands,” he says.

For visitors, that attention to detail creates a transportive effect. “This is our way of showing the authenticity and culture of origin, which gets lost most of the time when you go to a coffee shop,” he adds. “When people come in they always say how perfect it is, how they feel like they are not in New York anymore. You cannot get that without paying attention to the whole picture, not just what you see and drink, but what you hear.”

Grab a cup of coffee (you can buy bags of roasted coffee from their online shop,) then tune into the playlist while you sip.

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