Cafe Bustelo Coffee History: From New York to Pantries Nationwide

Cafe Bustelo coffee began with Gregorio Bustelo, a Spanish-born coffee roaster who had lived in Latin America, including Havana, before settling in New York. In East Harlem he sold dark, strong, Cuban-style coffee to the city’s Spanish-speaking neighbors, opening a storefront on Fifth Avenue by 1928, according to the company. Over the next century the brand grew from neighborhood bodegas into a shared taste across Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican and other Latin communities, and eventually into pantries nationwide.

This is a neutral, fact-checked history of the brand and its role in Latin coffee culture in the United States. (If you are looking for brewing instructions, this article skips them on purpose.)

Gregorio Bustelo: From Spain to Havana to Harlem

Gregorio Menéndez Bustelo was born in Spain in 1892 and died in 1965. Like many Spaniards of his generation, he crossed the Atlantic as a young man. He spent time in several Latin American cities, Havana among them, where he came to love the dark-roasted, intensely flavored coffee that Cubans drink in small, sweet servings.

Sources differ on the exact details of his early years, including which region of Spain he came from and the route he took north. Most accounts agree that he arrived in the United States around 1917 and made his home in East Harlem, the Manhattan neighborhood also known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio. In the early 20th century it was becoming a center of Spanish-speaking life in New York, home to growing numbers of Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Spaniards and other Latin Americans.

Selling coffee from home

Before he had a shop, Bustelo sold coffee directly to neighbors. According to the company’s own history, he sold hand-ground coffee from his home and saved until he could open a proper storefront. That store, Bustelo Coffee Roasters, opened on Fifth Avenue in East Harlem by 1928. Some historians date the storefront a few years later, to the early 1930s, so you may see both years quoted.

Angelina Bustelo

The company credits Gregorio’s wife, Angelina, as part of the story. Born in Venezuela to Italian parents, she moved to New York City in 1927, and the couple married in 1933. Her background reflected the same mix of Latin American and European roots that shaped the neighborhood the business served.

A Coffee for Every Latin Community

Bustelo’s coffee filled a real need. Immigrants from the Caribbean and Latin America arrived in New York used to a dark, bold, finely ground coffee that American brands of the time did not offer. The Bustelo blend tasted like home.

In the 1930s, Gregorio began selling his coffee beyond his own shop, to Latino-owned bodegas and independent supermarkets, building the business door to door. The company describes Café Bustelo as one of the first roasters to serve all Hispanic communities rather than a single nationality. Its coffee became a common thread among Cuban, Puerto Rican, Spanish and other Latin American households.

Accounts of the brand’s growth also connect it with Cuban migration. After the Cuban Revolution, many Cuban exiles settled in the United States, and they favored coffee they could prepare at home in stovetop espresso pots, the way they had in Cuba. A dark, fine, espresso-style coffee fit that habit perfectly. For a look at the drink at the center of that tradition, see our article on Cuban cafecito.

Cafe Bustelo Coffee Timeline

New Owners, Wider Reach

Rowland Coffee Roasters

In 2000, Café Bustelo was bought by Rowland Coffee Roasters, a Miami company owned by the Souto family. The Soutos had their own long coffee history in Cuba before arriving in Florida in 1960 and starting again in the US. Under Rowland, the brand’s marketing broadened beyond its traditional customers. By the late 2000s, it was reaching younger audiences, including through events at music festivals in 2009.

The J.M. Smucker Company

In 2011, the J.M. Smucker Company, which also owns other major American coffee brands, acquired Café Bustelo. Distribution widened further, and the familiar packaging moved from Latin grocery aisles into mainstream supermarkets and big-box stores across the country. Today the brand’s lineup includes ground coffee in cans and bricks as well as single-serve pods.

From Bodega Staple to Cultural Icon

Café Bustelo is one of those rare brands whose packaging is recognizable at a glance. Its bright yellow and red cans became a fixture in Latin kitchens, corner bodegas and diners, especially in New York and Miami.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the brand also gained a following among artists, musicians and young city dwellers who had never grown up with it. It is mentioned by name in the 1996 Broadway musical Rent, which is set in New York’s East Village, and artists have used the can’s look in paintings and prints. That crossover helped turn a community staple into a symbol of New York coffee culture more broadly.

Yet its core identity remains tied to Latin American coffee traditions in the US:

• The cafecito ritual: small, sweet, strong coffee shared at home, at work or at a ventanita window.
• Café con leche at breakfast: dark coffee softened with plenty of hot milk.
• A taste of home: for many families, the flavor connects generations living far from Cuba, Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic.

The Caribbean’s coffee heritage is broader than any one brand. Explore more in our guides to coffee grown in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic coffee.

Dark Roast and the American Palate

For much of the 20th century, most mainstream American coffee was lighter in roast and milder in flavor. Dark, espresso-style coffee was something you found mainly in immigrant neighborhoods: Cuban and Puerto Rican coffee in Latin communities, Italian espresso in Little Italy. Brands like Bustelo kept that darker style alive and visible on shelves long before espresso drinks became common in mainstream America. Another chapter in that story is told in our profile of Alfred Peet, who championed dark roasts on the West Coast.

Cafe Bustelo Coffee FAQ

Who founded Café Bustelo?

Café Bustelo was founded by Gregorio Menéndez Bustelo, a Spanish-born roaster who had lived in Latin America, including Cuba, before settling in East Harlem, New York. His wife, Angelina, is also part of the company’s story.

Is Café Bustelo Cuban?

The coffee is made in the Cuban style, dark and fine for strong stovetop brewing, and it is deeply associated with Cuban-American culture. The company itself was founded in New York by a Spanish immigrant, and it served many Latin communities from the start.

Who owns Café Bustelo now?

Since 2011, the brand has been owned by the J.M. Smucker Company. Before that, from 2000, it belonged to Miami-based Rowland Coffee Roasters.

When was Café Bustelo founded?

The company dates its Fifth Avenue storefront in East Harlem to 1928. Some historical accounts place the storefront in 1931, after Bustelo first sold coffee from his home.

A Century of Strong Coffee

Café Bustelo’s story is an immigrant story: a roaster who brought a beloved style of coffee to a new neighborhood, and a brand that grew alongside the communities that drank it. If you love dark, full-bodied coffee and want to explore other roasts, Feel Espresso roasts every order 1–5 days before delivery. Try our extra-dark Italian Roast or the nutty, cocoa-rich Latin American Blend as a different take on a strong morning cup.