At Simple Coffee in Houston. The shop has been hosting weekly DJ sets since opening last October. Courtesy photo.
Call them coffee raves, coffee parties or simply DJ sets, there’s an international trend happening in coffee shop culture that involves packed rooms, fat bass and drinks aplenty. And it’s often happening at 10 a.m.
The concept behind most coffee raves is simple: Cafes and coffee shops host DJs playing high-energy music, creating an atmosphere similar to a nightclub.
“[It’s] making a safe spot for people to have fun and get together with family and make new friends,” Rey Hernandez, co-owner of Simple Coffee in Houston, Texas, recently told Daily Coffee News.
Simple Coffee is part of a growing number of coffee purveyors in Houston embracing the coffee rave trend, which has popped up in nearby Austin and San Antonio, and much farther afield in Buenos Aires, Madrid and Mumbai. In fact, look up #coffeerave on TikTok or Instagram and you’ll see it’s pretty much everywhere.
For attendees, coffee raves do generally offer a relatively safe, typically alcohol-free, often all-ages environment for socializing during the day. Yet for coffee shop owners and operators, they offer an emerging opportunity to increase the customer base, and drive community engagement and loyalty.
DCN recently spoke to several Houston coffee purveyors who described how coffee parties have helped build communities based on specific interests, or simply a desire among customers to have low-risk, low-key fun.
Simple Coffee has been hosting “House DJ Sundays” every week since opening in October 2024, finding repeat guests, lots of families and bonds that last beyond the parties.
“It’s kind of bringing a party mode in a family environment where everybody can enjoy, everybody can have fun,” Hernandez, who launched the shop with business partners Yeini Amaya and Gisselotte Goicoechea, said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a kid or not — if you’re a grown adult.”
Said Amaya, “I’ve seen babies just in the middle of the floor, dancing.”
Offering Afrobeat and Afro house music alongside other genres, Simple Coffee parties often include additional partnerships with local businesses, such as pop-up tattoo stands.
Veronica Morales, the event manager of The Podium at Porsche River Oaks — a coffee house, bar and event venue at the Porsche dealership — has been running regular Coffee + Houston events, offering coffee parties for auto enthusiasts.
“The whole beauty of a coffee event is that it absolutely welcomes and embraces all ages, basically coffee drinkers and those who just want to enjoy an atmosphere that’s not feeling so library-oriented,” Morales said.
Matcha Mia, a matcha-focused Houston cafe that’s bathed in pink and green, is naturally focused on “matcha parties,” offering fun touches like photo booths and specific themes like the rodeo. One of its recent raves led with a guided pilates class. “Stretch first. Then dance. Then sip,” the shop said in an open invitation to guests. “Because self-care starts on the mat — but it ends on the dance floor.”
Matcha Mia Owner Brenda Vilchis said the shop tries to have a clear focus when designing and hosting parties. “You have to market it the right way,” Vilchis said. “You might have your regular customers, but what’s gonna drive your customers to go to your party?”
Vilchis said responses to the matcha parties have demonstrated a community desire for social, high-energy, buzzy community events that don’t require alcohol.
“This is amazing for people that have healthy lifestyles, or maybe they don’t like going out,” Vilchis said. “That they want to have some fun, like a Sunday funday, but without getting a hangover.”
As Matcha Mia moves forward with its party planning, Vilchis is considering more tie-ins with other health- or wellness-related groups and activities, such as running or walking.
“The future of cafes isn’t about serving drinks; it’s about creating culture,” Vilchis said. “That’s why we’re doing these events.”
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Mariah Bennett
Mariah Bennett is a freelancer writer who is enthusiastic about iced coffee and community connections. Bennett is based in Houston, Texas.
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