Meet Shominic Nguyen | Co-Owner / Creative Director of Tí Cafe

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shominic Nguyen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shominic, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
Hard work, consistency, dedication, and sacrifice are values I hold very deeply, both in my creative work and in the way I approach Ti Cafe as a business. It’s easy to feel inspired at the start of a new venture, especially during the excitement of launching a brand or opening a shop, but I’ve learned that the real work begins after that initial spark, the moment when sustaining momentum becomes more challenging than starting. Success isn’t just about a great opening or a viral product; it’s about consistently showing up, putting in the work day after day, and being willing to make sacrifices to see your vision through. That means building a strong foundation with a “blueprint” you can rely on as well as continuously growing, adapting, and evolving without losing sight of your purpose. An analogy I learned in college that I will carry with me forever is that with any creative career, the goal is not to decorate cakes but to bake something that’s also delicious under the surface, something with substance.

Creative growth and brand development also rely on a willingness to listen, adjust, and refine, and being susceptible to critique is something I consider not only valuable but essential. Feedback, especially the kind that challenges you, pushes you to step outside of your own perspective and view your work from a wider lens. I’ve seen businesses with incredible potential lose momentum simply because they refused to accept constructive criticism. For me, being receptive to feedback isn’t about compromising your vision, it’s about strengthening it with intention and humility.

What should our readers know about your business?
Tí Cafe was founded in 2021 by me and my two sisters, Sashaline and Shasitie Nguyen, as Denver’s first Vietnamese coffee shop. What started as a desire to share a piece of our culture has since grown into a space that blends tradition with creativity, offering community, representation, and warmth for those who have often felt unseen. We opened Tí with the intention of creating something meaningful, not just for ourselves, but for the broader Asian American community in Denver where culturally rooted spaces in our area were scarce. Our goal was simple: to build a brand that honored our Vietnamese heritage while inviting others to experience its richness through coffee, design, and storytelling.

What sets us apart is our deep commitment to preserving traditional Vietnamese coffee brewing methods with a modern twist. Our menu centers around robusta beans, sourced from Vietnam and roasted in Philadelphia by a Vietnamese, woman-owned roastery. While most American cafés rely on arabica beans and espresso machines, we brew all of our coffee fresh to order using a phin—a traditional Vietnamese drip filter that produces bold, concentrated coffee. We pair these traditional methods with Asian-forward flavors and ingredients in all of our specialty drinks and snacks, priding ourselves on our creative takes that push the boundaries of what it means to be a “cafe.”

But our vision goes beyond what’s in the cup. As designers and creatives, we place a very strong emphasis on branding, visual storytelling, and the experience of cuisine as a form of art. From menu development to presentation and ambiance, we aim to create full-sensory moments beyond just taste, ones that connect people not just to our products, but to a deeper, more intimate sense of culture and care. To us, quality isn’t just about flavor, it’s about how people feel when they interact with what we’ve created.
But getting here wasn’t easy. None of us came from food or hospitality backgrounds, and I personally had zero experience in making drinks, baking, or cooking. Starting Tí Cafe was a massive leap of faith that required us to wear every hat, learn on the fly, and evolve constantly in real time. There were (and still are) countless nights filled with self-doubt, endless to-do lists, and moments of exhaustion—but we moved forward because our vision grounded us. We didn’t have a roadmap, but we had our values: hard work, humility, consistency, sacrifice, and an unwavering dedication to our craft and our community.

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is that the heart behind your business matters just as much as the product. When your brand is rooted in purpose, the work, though difficult, feels deeply fulfilling. Building a small business comes with long hours and labor that mostly goes unseen and unnoticed, but when that effort is powered by meaning, that hard work feels fulfilling; it’s a privilege. For us, pouring our culture, values, and creativity into Tí Cafe makes the journey not only worthwhile, but something we’re proud to keep nurturing and growing.

We’ve also learned the value of remaining open to feedback and critique because true growth requires the humility to see beyond your own perspective. Through that process, we’ve continued to evolve without ever losing sight of the intention we began with. Every detail, drink, customer interaction, etc. reflects who we are: Vietnamese-American women, sisters, and creatives with big dreams and deep roots, striving to cultivate a space that offers others the comfort of recognition, warmth, and belonging.

At the end of the day, Tí isn’t just a coffee shop. It’s a reflection of where we come from, what we love, and the community we hope to build with every cup and every moment. If there’s one thing I want the world to know about our story, it’s that our brand is rooted in family—a value we hope radiates through every part of Tí Cafe. We want people to walk in and feel that warm, familiar sense of home that isn’t theirs, but could be. Through coffee, food, and design, we hope to preserve and share the most wholesome parts of our upbringing, the small, beautiful moments that we wish to remember and pass on

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If a friend were visiting, we would always start the day with coffee: Ti Cafe, of course! For a strong Vietnamese iced coffee to wake us up for an early start. On other days, I’d take them to Sonder Coffee, Lavender Coffee Boutique, Moonflower Coffee, or Convivio Cafe for some beautiful, bright spaces and delicious, quality coffee. Brunch would have to be Onefold, Stowaway Kitchen, Leven Deli, or Olive and Finch, or for something heavier, dim sum at Star Kitchen or dumplings at LingLon Dumpling House. Grabbing some pastries or snacks after is a must, so Banh & Butter Bakery, Black Box Bakery, or LoDough Bakery for freshly baked croissants and other various treats. To walk around, shop, or just hang out, areas like Broadway for fun vintage shops, Cherry Creek North for higher-end boutique shopping but a lively atmosphere with the mall located across the sheet, Denver Botanic Gardens for a touch of nature within the city, or Market Street area for streetwear fashion shopping and perusing around downtown Denver. Dinner would be at Mecha Ramen, Com Nha, Colore Italian Restaurant, Pho Duy, or Yummy Hot Pot and end the night with ice cream at Little Man Ice Cream, browsing around Union Station, or a tasty sweet drink at Yomie’s Rice and Yogurt for dessert.

As someone who doesn’t drink, I tend to center travel itineraries around food and coffee, which Denver is saturated with—we’ve got a lot of amazing cafes to choose from and always somewhere new you haven’t tried. For non-food related agendas, Broadway is a great street to walk along and is full of quirky vintage stores and shops to explore. But for the most part, being in Denver/Colorado, nature is always something to take advantage of given the mountains are only a short drive away!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I owe all my accomplishments to my family, my 2 sisters, my parents, and my niece—without them, I would not be where I am! I would also like to shoutout our amazing Ti Cafe community—without their support, we would not be able to continue what we’re doing.

Website: http://www.ti.cafe

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ti.cafe

Image Credits
Zach Hammer (for the candid photos of Ti Cafe that do not include any of the sisters)