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Jitterz Coffee celebrates 21st anniversary
Article by: Arnold Cadena | Progress Times
If Jitterz Coffee were to walk into your bar, you shouldn’t have to ask for their ID.
On June 7th, 2024, Jitterz Coffee celebrated their 21st year in business at 1625 N Conway Ave. in the city of Mission, Texas. Over the course of 21 years, Jitterz has revolutionized the coffee game and has shown no signs of slowing down.
Twenty-one years ago, Gabriel De La Garza, a City of Mission native and Mission High School alumni, opened Jitterz in a building that his father owned. Before that, De La Garza was a profound baseball player who received a scholarship to play at UTPA and even went on to play in a semi-pro league in Chicago for two years after graduation.
De La Garza went to college to become a school teacher and coach and then followed in his father’s profession of being an electrician, but was quick to break things. That was not an ideal trait for that career. His father pushed De La Garza to do something else.
It wasn’t until moving into his home in McAllen, a short distance from the nearby coffee shop, Moonbeans, that De La Garza would first discover his love for coffee. Despite being weary of the idea of coffee, the smell of it was what drove him to his passion. After giving coffee a chance, he found himself surprised by the amount that he enjoyed it.
After his wife bought him an espresso maker and his father offered the building that he owned to start a business, De La Garza envisioned a place where people could come in to enjoy themselves and their friends for an extended period. After mixing the two together, the idea of opening a coffee shop emerged.
In June 2003, De La Garza opened the doors to a coffee shop called Jitterz. From there on out, Jitterz slowly started to gain traction in the public eye and 21 years later, they’re one of the most successful and prominent coffee shops in the Rio Grande Valley.
Jitterz Coffee owner Gabriel De La Garza spoke to the Progress Times about the many years leading up to their twenty first anniversary, “It all started with the love for coffee and the love for people. We wanted to serve people well. Give them an ambiance and have them come in here to enjoy some coffee and have a chat. It still blows my mind to this day that people come in here.” He went on to say, “By God’s grace we have seen this place grow. God’s favor has been over us.”
De La Garza’s inspiration for Jitterz has been the people and the coffee. He explained that he’s seen many people come in and out of the shop daily. Some people on a regular basis, some not. Regardless, he’s seen the instances where his coffee shop has been a safe space for people to come into themselves. During this conversation, De La Garza pointed out a guest at the counter of the coffee shop that had been coming in for 19 years. “It’s people like that. People like that inspire me.”
One thing that some people may not know about Jitterz Coffee is that they roast their own coffee in-house. In 2006, they acquired a small air roaster for their coffee, but the high demand was too much for them, so they upgraded to a larger roaster…then a larger roaster…then an even larger roaster. His cousin, Israel “Cheeto’ Sanchez, is the head roaster for Jitterz.
De La Garza described Cheeto, “He’s a mastermind. I feel like he’s the best roaster in the State of Texas and one of the best roasters in the nation.” He went on to say, “We don’t promote that. We just like to make coffee well. We like for people to taste our coffee and say, ‘That’s good coffee’ instead of having to tell people that we’re the best. We like to prove it to people.”
Eleven years ago, Cheeto joined the operation as a barista and grew to manage and train new employees. Cheeto spoke with passion when describing what he does on an everyday basis. His love for coffee was not something that he was ever expecting, but with the way he articulated it, there’s no doubt that he’s where he should be. Cheeto told us, “It feels like I’m living in a dream. Everything I’ve imagined has come to life.”
In late 2016, De La Garza partnered with Daniel Silva, Alex Meade, and Ruby Red Ventures along with the Mission Economic Development to open a second location. In August 2017, the newest Jitterz Coffee location at 801 Bryan Rd in Mission, Texas, was born. The idea behind it was to provide another avenue for people to enjoy Jitterz Coffee without having to drive over to the Conway location. De La Garza explained that there is a different audience and clientele that go to both locations. His goal was to be able to cater to both audiences and their specific wants and needs. In the years leading up to now, he believes he’s been able to do that.
A couple of years ago, Jitterz wanted to try to experiment with food on the menu. They realized that it was going to be tough for them to accomplish that. Despite that, there was intention. Cheeto came up to De La Garza one day and pitched the idea of setting up a meeting with Daniel Sanchez, the owner of El Sancho, who serves Tex-Mex BBQ. Sanchez had been looking for a spot to hunker down long term and De La Garza wanted to provide food for his guests. That’s where their partnership began. De La Garza told us, “We’re really great friends. We’ve grown with them, they’ve grown with us. Our partnership is really awesome. I never would’ve thought this combination would go this far. The same way that we love coffee, they love their BBQ.”
His biggest accomplishment, “Being able to pay these kids.” He went on to say, “We used to only have three employees back in the day and it was hard to pay them. Now we have a few full-time employees that we have on salary who bust their behind to make this place what it is. Providing an environment for them so they can be successful. A lot of these kids are going to be doctors, nurses, and school teachers so I want this to be a stepping stone for them.”
De La Garza filled us in on what is next for Jitterz Coffee, “Full disclosure, there’s nothing in the works as far as expansion. I want people to come to Mission. I love Mission. I like the idea of people having to come to the city to experience Jitterz. I want people to experience what we have here. We’re going to keep it small, but we will be doing big things.”
Progress Times asked De La Garza to fill us in on any Jitterz secrets.
He told us, “A lot of people think that we try to hide recipes, but that’s not the case. When we train other coffee shops, we teach them how we do things. They could do the things that we do. What’s different is the hands that do it.”
He added, “We pay attention to all the small things. We pay attention to our audience. I’ve seen business owners leave people who don’t care about the business in charge of what they originally started as a passion. At the end of the day, that’s a bad formula. I know I have people here that really do care about what we do, and they know that what they do reflects on my family and our family. We have a great group of people. God has been great to us by bringing the right people at the right time. I’m very grateful for the people I have here.”
Once a home to a birthing clinic, and an array of business turned into what we know today as Jitterz Coffee. Not only has Jitterz Coffee defied all the odds stacked up against them, but they’ve excelled past expectation by providing a place where many have gone before, still go today, and will continue to go in the future.
Progress Times congratulates Jitterz Coffee, Gabriel De La Garza, and everyone who has helped build the foundation of what created 21 amazing years of top-notch service along with the dedication of providing the city of Mission and the Rio Grande Valley with the absolute best coffee they can offer. Cheers to 21 more!
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