Rockingham Times

A small Colombian coffee shop in Rye has been on an upward swing since it opened its doors in 2019 and, while it was closed during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is now open and enthusiastically serving to seacoast coffee lovers.

Forbes recently ran a feature about the 1,000-square-foot coffee shop called La Mulita, which is owned by Colombian immigrant Max Pruna. Pruna and his wife were raised in Medellin, Colombia, and they both earned their master’s degrees at Southern New Hampshire University.

Pruna attended a lecture by George Howell at Northeastern University in Boston about specialty coffees all over the world, and there he was introduced to “Finca La Esmeralda,” which is a Colombian coffee Pruna found uniquely sweet and fruity. After working in a variety of industries, Pruna had found his calling.

Max Pruna | Facebook/La Mulita

Fans of Pruna’s story, such as Siobhan Lopez, who is the assistant director of media relations at Southern New Hampshire University, took to the internet to praise the university alum.

“I know where I'm stopping for coffee next time I'm on the seacoast! Great article about SNHU alumnus Max Pruna and the success of La Mulita in Rye, NH, via Forbes," Lopez tweeted on Jan. 5.

After discovering the coffee of his home country, Pruna traveled to Colombia to visit coffee farms and attend coffee festivals. He also did ample research through reading and spoke with other coffee shop owners. 

He searched for a spot to open a shop in nearby Portsmouth with no success, but then he found the perfect spot in Rye. He opened the establishment and named it La Mulita, meaning "little mule" in Spanish. Pruna said that mules are used by Colombian farmers to transport coffee cherries in burlap sacks from the mountains into mills and towns.

The coffee served at La Mulita is strong, has a high caffeine content, and is darker and bolder than other types. Most of the coffee beans are from small Colombian farms.

La Mulita was forced to close in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, like so many other businesses, and it relied solely on delivery for some time. It is now open to the public, and Pruna has plans to expand in the future.