La Mulita: How Immigration, Drug Lords, and a Coffee Icon Shaped the Seacoast’s Authentic Colombian Coffee Shop. Plus, Advice for Entrepreneurs!

Max Pruna had never tasted specialty coffee.

But one day at Northeastern University in the mid 2010s, craft coffee pioneer George Howell poured Max the cup of coffee that would change his life.

Inspired by this one sip, Max then dedicated his life to learning everything about craft coffee, eventually leading him to open La Mulita Coffee in Rye, N.H., now one of the most beloved shops on the Seacoast.

From La Mulita, Colombian native Max Pruna joins ⁠⁠host Troy Farkas⁠⁠ to discuss growing up in Colombia when drug lord Pablo Escobar was terrorizing the streets, the immigration process that brought him and his wife to the U.S. in the early 2000s, when he first discovered specialty coffee, why he opened La Mulita in 2019, the Portsmouth politics that nearly prevented him from opening the shop at all, the creative ways La Mulita survived the pandemic, how to make better coffee at home, lessons he's learned from a lifetime of entrepreneurship, and so much more.

CHAPTERS:

• Growing up in dangerous Colombia (00:00)
• Max's emigration to New Hampshire (07:10)
• Max's career prior to La Mulita (15:41)
• Learning about specialty coffee from George Howell (19:43)

• SPONSOR: Sage (33:36)
• SPONSOR: Kim Vargo (34:50)
• The fight to open La Mulita in 2019 (36:06)
• Surviving the pandemic (44:50)
• What makes La Mulita special (50:40)
• Problems in the coffee industry (56:18)
• How to brew better coffee at home (01:00:44)

• Advice to younger self (01:05:56)

To support Max, you can visit him at La Mulita Monday-Saturday from 7:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. To purchase perfectly roasted coffee beans, check out LaMulitaCoffee.com.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

• Sage is a new interior design studio in Portsmouth. When checking out at Sage in downtown Portsmouth, tell them "Seacoast Stories" sent you for 10% off your entire order!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Offer ends 4/20/25.
• To streamline your annoying workflows, please visit ⁠www.kimvargo.com/contact⁠ and tell Kim that "Seacoast Stories" sent you for your free call and custom discount.

To support "Seacoast Stories," will you FOLLOW the show for free here on our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pages?