A new coffee shop and bookstore opened in Georgetown, featuring Argentinian-inspired food, drinks and cooking and mental health books.
Flor. Coffee + Books, located on 31st Street NW near M Street, aims to provide a peaceful space that draws on the heritage of its founders, Florencia Agrazo and Marco Ferrario, a couple from Buenos Aires, Argentina. After managing her pandemic-era anxiety through gratitude journals, Agrazo wanted to create a shop for Washington, D.C. residents with that same joyful energy.
Ferrario said the shop represents his and Agrazo’s love for each other.
“The name is Flor., because of her and because of what it means,” Ferrario told The Hoya. “The effort we put here, we put in our relationship too, and as we build our relationship, our family, we build this shop too. Everything has been thought about, every detail. Every error, every mistake, everything makes us grow together.”
Flor., which celebrated its grand opening Aug. 22, has a typical coffee shop on its ground floor, coupled with a kitchen in the back producing breakfast dishes that fuse American and Argentinian cuisines. Upstairs, Ferrario and Agrazo built a sitting area with tables, seats and books for sale, where they hope people will gather and relax.
Agrazo said the neighborhood’s initial interest in Flor. confirmed her hope that she could blend her heritage with the District’s culture.
“We feel this pride inside our hearts because we had this crazy idea of bringing Buenos Aires cafe culture and connecting it with wellness topics, with the bookstore, with the menu,” Agrazo told The Hoya. “And now seeing that people love our place, it’s really reaffirming.”
The shop also connects to an outdoor terrace with trees and tables, shared with nearby businesses, where customers often sit.
The menu, which ranges from snacks to full breakfast meals, presents American dishes with Buenos Aires flair.
Flor.’s priority is its coffee and other drinks, bringing Agrazo and Ferrario’s Argentinian culture to Georgetown patrons.
Alex Cohen (CAS ’28), who visited Flor. because it reminded her of a friend currently studying abroad in Buenos Aires, said the effort Agrazo and Ferrario put into the shop paid off, describing her iced tea as one of the best she has ever had.
“They just really seem to take their time and take their energy,” Cohen told The Hoya. “I heard the people working there speaking to each other in Spanish, the owner was working the register — it seems like a very homey kind of place.”
Ferrario said the response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive, which gives him hope for the shop’s success.
“People start to appear, and people like what we do, people like what we have, and we want to give our customers a good experience and healthy food,” Ferrario said.
Cohen said Flor. was a great place slightly off campus to study or get away from the busyness of Georgetown.
“It’s a beautiful interior,” Cohen said. “It feels like a little escape because you don’t see the hustle and bustle of Georgetown.”
“It’s two minutes past Wisconsin Avenue, but it feels like you’re out of the Georgetown student bubble,” Cohen added.
Agrazo and Ferrario hope to engage the neighborhood, including the university community, more as their shop grows. They plan to host workshops on meditation and art, start a wellness podcast and discuss nutrition with patrons. They are also hoping to work with local groups to host community events.
The shop also focuses on gratitude, a theme Agrazo picked up during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she started writing “gratitude journals” to cope with anxiety. The couple now sells a published journal, building on Agrazo’s own past as the owner of a book company in Buenos Aires.
Agrazo said the shop is her and Ferrario’s way to create a safe space, especially for people that do not have one.
“In Argentina, we have some advantages in that we gather people together, and our friends are our family, and we have a great coffee culture — so I think we wanted to put that culture in D.C. and create a place that feels like home,” Agrazo said.
“We wanted to create our living room,” Agrazo added. “We want people to feel really welcome, and feel like it’s this warm and peaceful space. I think that is one of the key reasons why people love our place.”
