Meet Kimi Nash | Coffee Shop Owner

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

Hi Kimi, what inspires you?
I moved to Estes Park, Colorado from Orange County, California in 2019. I was inspired by the community of Estes Park as well as the impact of small acts of kindness. I was only living here for a short time before I truly understood that I wanted to grow roots and have Estes become home. Coming from a fast paced area where nobody even makes eye contact and sitting in bumper to bumper traffic to a destination that makes you slow everything down, being present and engaged with the environment and surroundings is so special. The only traffic is an elk-jam when a herd is crossing the highway. Never in my life did I think I would live somewhere with seasons and snow. I find inspiration in creating coffee shop menu items, cooking new to me food home, caring for 120+ house plants, and of course nature. You just need to walk down the road a little in Estes to have your breath taken away. It’s nice to be able to recognize that life is short so we need to enjoy every minute of it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I grew up in the restaurant world starting at age 15 as a hostess in a fine dining French restaurant. I then served for 10+ years at The Counter Burger in Irvine, California. During that time, I attended Culinary School and after that became a chocolatier. I became part owner of Michelle Haut Chocolat based in Laguna Beach, California and created handcrafted artisanal chocolates with ganache combinations such as ghost pepper & peach, rose petal tea, blue cheese & pear, all inside bite sized truffles with custom designs. We catered to events like the GLAAD Awards, the Academy Awards Style Lounge, and the Serata Italiana Lamborghini Gala to name a few. Looking back on that chocolatier experience, it was really hard work. We were two women who didn’t know a lot about business at first and we had to overcome a lot of obstacles. After awhile I was seeking a change of location and wanted to move to Colorado. I relocated to Estes Park in April 2019 and started working as a barista at Kind Coffee. In October 2020 I was promoted to General Manager and then talks of purchasing Kind Coffee from founder, Amy Hamrick soon began. After talking and discussing what that could look like, we went full steam ahead and starting the process Spring 2022 and we recently closed the deal April 3, 2023.
Kind Coffee celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022. I couldn’t be happier to take over what Amy Hamrick started and created and I am so excited for whats to come.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friends were visiting me in Estes – I’ve already got it all planned out! We would start our day early at Kind Coffee – we would bring our reusable mugs and order the On Cloud 9 cold brew (vanilla cold brew with sweet cream cold foam & caramel drizzle) and grab some Spruce GF tea bread for later. Then we would drive into RMNP and go for a hike up to Bierstadt Lake to enjoy some views and fresh air. For lunch we would definitely hit up Ed’s Cantina for some tasty fish tacos and chips & salsa. Dinner would be at The Rock Inn for that cabin vibe Colorado experience with awesome live music. On the drive back to the house, we’d hope to see some herds of elk – no one from back home really believes they’re all around town. For those who drink, I would suggest we’d go to Avant Garde, they have the best patio too! For brunch the next day we would wait however long it takes at Notchtop Cafe to order the Dragon’s Eggs Benedict, take the drive up to Trail Ridge so they could soak it all in, and catch the happy hour at Bird & Jim! To end the night we would find Mangia Mangia Pizzeria’s woodfire pizza food truck to enjoy the best pizza I’ve ever had.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to give recognition to my parents Barbara & Jay, my brother Daniel and my sister-in-law Danielle. I’m so lucky that they all have had my back throughout my career paths no matter what. They have always been such a huge support system for me and even though they are not in the same state as me now, their constant reassurance and pride means everything to me. I would also like to give credit Amy Hamrick. Amy is the founder of Kind Coffee, which was established in 2003. She and I have worked closely over the last year or so in preparation of me purchasing the business that she built. Kind doesn’t begin to describe her. And, of course I’d like to mention my best friends back home and my friends here in CO – they mean the absolute world to me. I recently had a phone interview with a prospect barista (she’ll be working with us this Summer!) and she asked if Kind was a place where one could make life-long friends, and I was so happy to be able to say yes, from personal experience.

Website: www.kindcoffee.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kindcoffeeestes

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kindcoffeeestes/

Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/kind-coffee-estes-park

Image Credits
Pictures by Michaela Ferguson