Minor Miracles below the Stratosphere
Warm Weather Wonder Menu 2026
Our 2026 warm weather wonder menu, Minor Miracles Below the Stratosphere, will run from late March through late September.
It plays out of a few others that we've done as collaborations, during challenging times. After the pandemic began, we created We’re In This Together, leaning into connectivity and inspiration from our colleagues. Last spring’s Curious looked outward, beyond our selves and nation — collaborating with coffee professionals on every continent and inviting curiosity beyond ourselves. Our current Wonder Menu, Fumbling to your Truth, is about looking inward.
This upcoming menu is another response — one rooted in surviving (and living) alongside volatility, ugliness, and uncertainty, while still choosing to create space for and embrace beauty, connection, awe, and care. We see this every day: in coffee plants growing, in the people in our shops, and in the partners we work and learn alongside across the world.
At Little Waves and Cocoa Cinnamon, we believe deeply in the power of expectations and in manifesting decency, love, and intention — especially through the small, repeated details of daily life and business. That spirit is behind our holiday blend Minor Miracles and the phrase we often return to: You Are Marvelous. We know meaningful change is needed in our nation and world, and we actively work toward it — while also finding ways to stay sane, human, and connected.
Areli
When I proposed Blessings or Minor Miracles as the theme of this next Wonder Menu, I was thinking about this year putting a spell around us to protect us from this administration and anything in life that no longer serves us. Not to ignore what is happening but rather to be able to anchor ourselves in the beauty of life to manifest, create, protest, a better future for all. The idea of creating from love and joy rather than a pit of despair. Obviously anger is such a powerful emotion to drive movements forward and it's a valid and important thing to feel but I feel like the news cycle and social media can overwhelm the system in a way that we forget that beauty also co-exists in this timeline and that it's ok to feel joy.
Melissa
For me, being in this together through all that stuff that's happening around the world & especially In this country. It doesn't mean that we are all going or experiencing the same fear/reality but means that we refuse to let anyone feel/carry it alone…That when our neighbors, coworkers or friends wake up feeling scared of what might happen…when they step outside their homes, we want to make sure that they know we are not looking away, or leaving them alone in that fear.
Drinks / Collaborators and Little Waves Coffee Partners
Butter Punk, Asheville, NC
A Little bit Spicy and Feisty and Hopefully Sweet, Kind of Like Us
rose + pink peppercorn sparkling lemonade topped with basil
"I love rose because...hope springs eternal. This is a hope springs eternal drink for us. The color is very much part of our Butterpunk color scheme. We love pink here. We love pink peppercorns. They are spicy and sweet at the same time, which is kind of like us. We want to be a little bit spicy and feisty and also hopefully sweet at the same time in the way in which we move through the world. And I also love herbs so much so I am glad that it is topped with basel. That is just like the topper. I feel like lemonade is such a happy childhood drink. This drink reminds us that there is still hope and fun in the world...a very sophisticated nod to a childhood favorite." --Beth Kellerhals
Grounded Lounge, Las Cruces, NM
Ancestral Healing
pomegranate, clove and vanilla espresso tonic topped with a sweet cold foam
“...I don’t remember what I was doing before this. I don’t remember what life was like before this. It’s my whole family…You walk in here and you feel the heart…[including a sense of] fighting back]…This life is so precious and magical, so why not do everything with our whole heart? Isn’t that the whole point? No holding back, no fear of the outward perception.” – Kendra Espiritu
The Hearty Hub, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Morir Soñando de Chinola
passion fruit (maracuyá) syrup + evaporated milk , espresso + vanilla cold foam
“Para mí esta bebida nace del café, que es probablemente una de las cosas que más felicidad nos da en el día a día. A partir de ahí quise mezclarlo con sabores que al dominicano siempre le han gustado, como la chinola y la leche evaporada, inspirado también en la lógica del morir soñando, donde algo cítrico y algo cremoso se encuentran y crean un equilibrio que parece improbable pero funciona. En esta versión el café aporta la energía y la base, mientras la fruta le da frescura. Encima lleva un cold foam con vainilla que añade esa untuosidad y cremosidad que envuelve toda la bebida. Al final, más que los ingredientes por separado, lo importante es el momento que crea cuando la tomas: algo refrescante, cremoso y memorable. Es una bebida común en la República Dominicana.“ – Andre Jimenez Mella (with Gabriela Lora)
Loba Pastry + Coffee, Chicago, IL
Bread and Butter Cortado
bread syrup, topped with bread toffee dust and a cold salted panna
To us, “Bread and Butter” is a testament to kind resourcefulness. Similar to bread and butter, the initiatives we take to nourish ourselves and others every day can be simple, yet thoughtful. A few ingredients can create something profoundly abundant. It’s a familiar warmth that we all remember, can melt into, and carry – no matter who or where we are.” – Asia Vo
Parker and Otis, Durham, NC
Unexpected Little Moments with Miller
Jasmine orange cold brew topped with SCM “ an adapted version of a Vietnamese style iced coffee
“Miller and I needed a little Mom x Daughter time away.... [We shared a] concentrated dark coffee, but with condensed milk on top, a lovely Mokha brown....not overly, but still sweet. It was perfectly what I wanted. I was so excited about it that the 14 year old was like, can I taste it? The service was so lovely… You know when you have those little unexpected moments...? After your proposal, we wanted to collaborate with you for this menu on a drink that came out of that [and the feeling of joy that we aim to give at Parker and Otis].” – Jennings Brody
Images by Lauren Vied Allen -- @laurenviedallen
Recipes tested and tweaked by Melissa Ibarra
Little Waves Coffee Roasters
Upcoming Coffees and Events
World of Coffee, San Diego Workshop
The Future of Coffea: Exploring Species Diversity and Adaptation - a presentation and tasting by Little Waves Co-Founder Leon Grodski Barrera and Adriana Uriostegui
US Brewers Cup National Special Peak
and Coffea Species Pourover Menu
Select Upcoming 2026 Little Waves Coffees
We will soon be receiving all the fresh crop East African coffees our hearts desire and more!
Fresh off the boat:
Rwanda - Fugi Ikizere Women Washed and Honey, and Humure Low Oxygen Natural . These are coffees that we have been sourcing since 2019 from Emmanuelle Rusatira, owner and operator of Baho Coffee. Emma is a man of his word and has a grand vision for how coffee can create sustainable livelihoods for producers. He’s also interested in putting Rwandan coffees on consumer’s minds as premium coffee. Working with Emma is a dream partnership, one where there is transparency about every person who has delivered cherries to the washing stations, where we know how much everyone got paid for their first and second payment and the details of the processing for each lot. Emma’s actions speak louder than words and the coffees are year after year knock-outs. If you haven’t yet, make sure to catch us on Apple TV +’s Docuseries, Omnivore, Episode 7 on Coffee. It goes into the history of Rwandan coffee cultivation and how far it has come through the other end of much hardship.
Quiet Endless Searching - Natural Thailand:
We are excited to have this coffee back on our menu. This coffee came into our lives because our wholesale partners at Heirloom wanted a coffee from Laos. While, at that time, I wasn’t able to find coffee from Laos, I found coffee from a small group in Thailand doing stellar work to also put Thailand on the specialty coffee map. Most of the coffee produced in Thailand stays and is consumed in Thailand so being able to get our hands on any amount of bags is a treat and delicacy. These coffees are sweet, clean, juicy, and spicy. We’ve been really enjoying the fruits of the hard work put forth to produce these lots year after year. We foresee more great things to come from Thailand.
Select Peak Coffees:
We have been working on cultivating a small, rotational offering of some of the higher scoring coffees out there, whether it’s from an auction or coffees from relationships with producers whose coffees are winning coffee competitions. This is a developing program in that as we are scratching the surface we are seeking through a lens of gender and racial equity just as much as top quality.
Currently: A glimpse into our forthcoming Currents Subscription Program
Mauricio Shattah - Maragogype Nuruk Fermentation
We met Mauricio through our common participation in the Coffee Excellence Course through ZHAW University in Zurich (online). Mauricio is a meticulously curious individual. He has lived many lives; From being a doctor to going to business school and creating a coffee shop business plan that took a life of its own, to Lilana, his partner and wife, asking what his Doomsday Plan was.
This question led to a lot of research the purchasing of Finca La Negrita, closing the coffee shops and focusing on producing rare and beautiful coffees. His skills and knowledge as a doctor have come in handy when it comes to being meticulous about every step of the processing journey from soil to mill. Mauricio's coffees have had a lot of success on the competition stage for years and we're lucky to have our hands on some of this Nano Lot Competition Series Typica Mejorado Natural Anaerobic.
Maria Deya Camacho - Honey Pink Bourbon
This coffee is the epitome of giving women a platform and a chance to take a risk. In November of 2025 I traveled to Huila with our importing partners, Forest, with the sole purpose of visiting the women producers of the Condor Huila Project and to cup, assess and score the microlots about 36 women from the project submitted. We tasted a lot of amazing coffees, and this particular lot won first place. Little Waves was the highest bidder and we now get to share this beauty with you all. Maria Deya Camacho’s Honey Pink Bourbon has notes of strawberries, raspberry candy, florals, and blood orange.
Andrea Scarpeta Chicue - Porvenir Washed Tabi - Colombia
This is the number 3 lot in the Auction at the Condor Huila Graduation. It was such a beautiful, delicate coffee we couldn’t pass it up. We ended up splitting the lot with Sloane Coffee in Romania.
Jose Giraldo Rio Dulce Gesha Washed - Colombia
This is a new crop for 2026 and a finalist for a Good Food Award!
We’re thrilled to see this gorgeous coffee come back into our lives. This coffee has gotten a 95 score on Coffee Review, is a finalist in the Good Food Awards, it was a tremendous hit as Standart Magazine’s coffee for quarter 4 in 2024! Read more about it here:
https://standart.littlewaves.coffee/
We will find out if this coffee is a winner of the Good Food Awards in June.