ABOUT CULTURA
Cultura Chocolate is a Mexican American owned bean-to-bar chocolate making company and community cafe located in Denver's Westwood neighborhood, dedicated to showcasing and preserving ancestral foods and traditions rooted in Mexican culture. At the heart of our work are cacao and maiz, two sacred ingredients we use to craft our chocolate, beverages, baked goods, and more, honoring their cultural significance.
More than just a cafe, Cultura is a space to gather, connect, and keep ancestral traditions alive and rooted in comunidad. What we serve is just one part of our effort to honor the foods and histories that shape who we are. Through cooking classes, workshops, and community events, we celebrate and share these traditions as a way to preserve culture and build community.
More than just a cafe, Cultura is a space to gather, connect, and keep ancestral traditions alive and rooted in comunidad. What we serve is just one part of our effort to honor the foods and histories that shape who we are. Through cooking classes, workshops, and community events, we celebrate and share these traditions as a way to preserve culture and build community.
DAMARIS RONKANEN
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Damaris Ronkanen is the owner/operator of Cultura Chocolate and the founder/executive director of Hecho en Westwood. Born and raised in Denver, Damaris started her entrepreneurial journey as a way to explore her own Mexican heritage. Growing up, she regularly visited Mexico to see family and later cacao farms. It was always through food that she felt the most connected to her culture.
In 2016, Damaris launched Cultura Chocolate, a bean-to-bar chocolate-making company dedicated to showcasing and preserving ancestral foods and traditions. In 2020, just before the pandemic, she had the opportunity to open her first brick-and-mortar space and community café in the Westwood neighborhood. After the pandemic started, everything she had planned for the first year quickly changed. It became clear that the resources and support needed by small businesses like hers were not there. So in April 2020, she founded Hecho en Westwood, a resource-sharing network of small businesses and community organizations that quickly evolved into a collective effort to preserve Westwood’s cultural identity through supporting small businesses and empowering the next generation. Today, Hecho en Westwood organizes community events such as the Muertos en Westwood Street Festival and the Cinco de Mayo en Westwood community celebration. The organization also collaborates with the Far East Center for the annual Saigon Azteca Night Market, bringing together both the Latinx and Asian communities. Additionally, Hecho en Westwood runs culturally responsive youth programming through its Danza Mexika and Hecho en Arte programs and the Cocina Teocintli Ancestral Cooking Class Series. Damaris is honored to be part of these initiatives as a local resident, small business owner, and community leader. |
OUR BEAN TO BAR PROCESS
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LOCATION:
3742 Morrison Rd, Denver, CO 80219 CURRENT CAFE HOURS: Monday: CLOSED Tuesday: CLOSED Wednesday: CLOSED Thursday: 4:30pm-8:30pm Friday: 4:30pm-8:30pm Saturday: 10:30am-2:30pm Sunday: 10:30am-2:30pm Email us at [email protected] or TEXT 303-731-6656
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