The Growth of Jersey Village

How new business The Cuppo Coffee has brought attention to the community.

Jersey Village is completely redesigning the face of the city and putting themselves on the map. An area once regarded as a place with “nothing to do” will soon be a destination for people to enjoy an array of new restaurants and places to shop.

The city established a partnership with Collaborate and plans to build a 43-acre mixed use development that’ll be on the South side of 290 and Jones. The area will be Jersey Village’s version of a town center with plenty of places to shop, eat, and enjoy the outdoors.

“When [Village Center] gets fully developed there’s going to be a large, upper midscale Marriott hotel, a brand new city hall, several hundred thousand feet of business and retail space, and a splash pad area for the kids with plenty of trees,” Austin Bleess, city hall manager, said.

This past year, several new businesses have been established in the community already. With the addition of more businesses in the area, more jobs have been created.

“We’ve had Chick-fil-a-built, The Cuppo Coffee, and several new buildings going up. We have an emergency clinic going up with retail space and a new car dealership, things like that,” Bleess said.

One of the businesses that has brought attention to the community is The Cuppo Coffee and Tea. The shop recently opened in August 2019 and is the first local coffee shop in Jersey Village other than Starbucks franchises.

“We [Tam and her brother, Sivin] wanted to find someplace that would be closer to home and I’m sure other people who love drinking coffee find it common that there isn’t something like this in the suburbs,” Tam Duong, co-owner of The Cuppo, said.

After two years of searching for the perfect location, Tam and Sivin Duong ultimately chose Jersey Village to fill in the gap with a space for the community to enjoy. They regularly drove into the city for a good cup of coffee and wanted to bring the “mom-and-pop” coffee shop experience locally.

“When we picked this location we went to Jersey Village city and they’ve been so helpful from the beginning because they knew that this type of coffee shop was going to work in this area because there wasn’t one,” Duong said.

The shop’s name is inspired by having a good “cuppo” coffee and mirrors the word a couple, representing the dual siblings that own the shop. Every piece in the shop has a special meaning to it. From the artwork hanging on the walls to the woodwork design throughout the shop, everything was designed by the sibling’s Dad.

“You see around the shop the round table that’s handmade by him as well. He’s never done any carpenter work, he’s just doing this for fun. You see the beams on the walls and everything are handmade by him. So this shop, I mean, is very special it’s more like a family effort,” Duong said.

The Cuppo Coffee and Tea opened August 2019 and has attracted customers from all over the Houston area. Their name is inspired by the term “a cup of jo” along with their signature drink, the cuppo Jane (Left); The Cuppo offers a reward system for customers to redeem points towards a free drink. The shop plans on implementing a senior discount in the next year to attract the older crowd (Center); All of the coffee at The Cuppo is freshly roasted and their tea is handpicked. Before opening the shop, owners Tam and Sivin Duong traveled internationally and locally to find the best flavors for their coffee (Right).

Kirsten Parker is the lead barista at the shop and specializes in latte art. All lattes are $5 with an additional $.99 for various flavors (Left); All the pastries are handmade at a local bakery and delivered daily to the shop. Tam Duong, co-owner, restocks the pastries for customers (Center); The Cuppo’s signature drink, cuppo jane, is a blend of traditional Vietnamese iced coffee and an iced latte (Right).

The piano resting next to the bar in the shop was once considered garbage. Duong saved the piano after seeing it get thrown out and wanted to incorporate it into the shop for customers to play.

“So we saved the piano, it lived in my garage for about a year and then we designed the shop and I asked my dad is it possible- this place is very tiny, so I asked him if it would be possible for him to place a piano in here so that’s what he did. He found a spot for it that’s not taking up a lot of space but yet be part of the story,” Duong said.

The owners spent time traveling around the world to be inspired of flavors for their drinks. Their most popular drink, the cuppo jane, is a blend of the sibling’s heritage and a classic favorite.

“My brother and I said hey, what would be a good drink that could combine the vietnamese coffee and an iced latte together- our favorite and a crowd favorite. So, that’s how the cuppo jane came up,” Duong said.

The community of Jersey Village has responded well to the new addition and now has a local shop to gather and enjoy hand brewed coffee. With plans of more businesses like this one coming in the future, the community is continuing to grow and welcoming all the company it can get.

“I think our business is doing well thanks to the support of our customers and Jersey Village specifically. We saw a gap that there isn’t a coffee shop here and wanted to create a sense of gathering, community gathering,” Duong said.