Tucked next to a car wash along El Camino Real is a new cafe in San Mateo serving up creative coffee drinks, matcha lattes, Red Bull soda refreshers and more.
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This is the third location of Caffeinated Cowboy, owned by Petaluma-raised Antonia Wise, who debuted her first location in Santa Rosa in 2024 and held the grand opening for her second location in Pleasanton in March this year.
Located where the former Jill’s Coffee was, the cafe brings light pinks, florals and country-western flourishes to its interior space while serving up craft espresso drinks like the Toasted Saddle, featuring vanilla cold brew and a toasted marshmallow cold foam; New Years Bliss, a vanilla matcha drink with strawberry cold foam; and Pink Starburst, a Reviver Red Bull drink with raspbery, white chocolate and passionfruit syrups.
Espresso is sourced from Emeryville-based McLaughlin Coffee Roasting Company while pastries come from Belmont-based Sugar Cinns Bake Shop. The bakery specializes in the homespun, a frosted doughnut-meets-muffin confection. The maple-iced version is lighter and fluffier than a muffin, and more substantive than a doughnut, with warm cinnamon and vanilla notes.
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Wise, who first started working in the coffee world in Los Angeles at 18 while pursuing acting and modeling work, says she fell in love with the communities that develop around coffee shops.
Upon returning to the North Bay, where she grew up, she wanted to start her own coffee shop. After an effort to do so in Rohnert Park didn’t work out due to COVID-related closures, she opened her first location in Santa Rosa in 2024, initially under a different name, and she was soon being asked to bring her shop on the road. So she retrofitted a horse trailer and went on to operate her shop at events like the Country Summer Music Festival in Santa Rosa and NASCAR races in Sonoma last year. This year, she also operated at the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. She brought in a partner for her second location in Pleasanton, which opened in December last year, and has since expanded to San Mateo.
“Everyone’s been really happy to have us,” she says.
Details: Open 7 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays and 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. weekends at 3721 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo; instagram.com/caffeinatedcowboyca.
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