Gloria Melgar never lets her kids leave without a cup of coffee. By “kids,” she means students at Allan Hancock College, home of her café.
“It’s all for the community,” she told the Sun. “I mean, this is our home. I see the kids—they’re my babies.”
Stay caffeinated
Glorificate Coffee Delight is located at Allan Hancock College, 800 S. College Drive in Santa Maria. Head to the student center in Building G Monday to Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to noon. Follow the café’s social media antics on Instagram @glorificatecoffeedelight.
Visit glorificatecoffee.com for more info.
Her coffee shop is a safe space. The owner said she’s understanding if a student is unable to pay—she’s happy to hand them a cup no matter what.
“I always tell them, ‘You pay me when you graduate.’ That’s my pay,” Gloria said. “It’s so touching. A lot of the students have graduated last year, and they came back. Just a hug, to me, it means the world.”
Glorificate Coffee Delight celebrated its first birthday in August. It’s located next to the bookstore on Hancock’s Santa Maria campus, amid the hustle and bustle of college life.
‘I had my dream, and nothing was going to stop me.’
—Gloria Melgar, Glorificate Coffee Delight owner
Gloria, who has lived in Santa Maria for around 30 years, runs the business with her daughter, Melissa Melgar, and her daughter-in-law, Tasha Puerta-Melgar. They’re the “three musketeers,” the matriarch said.
It’s always been Gloria’s aspiration to work in the coffee industry, but her background is in the medical field. She worked as a phlebotomist at Cal Poly until the pandemic. On the front lines, she got overwhelmed.
“I felt drained. I felt unappreciated,” Gloria said. “It was like a wake-up call. ‘What do you want to do with your life, Gloria?’”
The former medical professional thought back to her coffee dreams. With full support from her husband, Gloria began the process of founding a business.
Before opening the permanent site at Hancock, Glorificate appeared around town doing pop-ups with a coffee cart and giving out free samples. When a request for proposals opened for the space at Hancock, Gloria threw her name in the hat. What followed was an extensive interview process with the college.
“I had my dream, and nothing was going to stop me,” Gloria said. “After the second interview, we were chosen.”
The team had six weeks to get a full-service coffee bar up and running. They bought equipment, finalized the menu, and settled into their new home.
The trio, especially its leader, has a rich history with coffee. Gloria often traveled to Guatemala to visit her husband’s family, bringing back suitcases filled with coffee for neighbors, friends, and coworkers.
“There’s nothing as good as coffee in Guatemala,” Gloria said.
Friends, cousins, uncles, and neighbors run a finca, or farm, in Guatemala. The high altitude and volcanic, nutrient-rich soil breed a “unique” and “delicious” Arabica coffee, Gloria said. She usually visits once a year in the spring during the harvest.
Once it’s dried, one of Gloria’s cousins ships coffee beans to the U.S. where Gloria’s brother, a truck driver, picks it up. The coffee is roasted in Goleta and then brought to Hancock.
“Here we package it, we grind it, we sell it. My boys, they help me with shipping, delivery. I have Tasha and my daughter, Melissa, as baristas and myself,” Gloria explained. “My husband, he does logistics, the mechanics. Whenever I get stuck, he comes to rescue me.”
She also employs Hancock students to teach them about the business and customer service, which is her top priority.
Gloria sees the same faces every week and knows her regulars’ names and orders. If she’s not familiar with a customer, she asks them for their name.
Connecting with everyone who walks up to the counter is important to Melissa, too.
“A lot of people, especially the students, have been very welcoming to us,” Melissa said. “We build a little community here. We do treat everybody like we know them.”
“Like family,” Gloria added.
With help from her sister-in-law, Melissa takes care of the menu. The mother and daughter both prefer a simple cup of Joe—Gloria takes hers with sweet cream and cinnamon, and Melissa enjoys hers black—but they cater their offerings to the campus community.
Sometimes Melissa, a self-described coffee connoisseur, creates and names drinks after different Hancock departments. She’s also been known to come up with throwback themes for drinks, like Harry Potter and Twilight.
“We find that it’s nice and fun to get the people involved. A lot of the themes that we do, it’s what’s popular,” Melissa said.
The holiday menu recently dropped with special drinks like the sugar cookie latte, peppermint mocha, gingerbread hot chocolate, and toasted marshmallow hot chocolate.
“We have an eggnog latte that’s been pretty good. That’s my favorite right now,” Melissa said.
Glorificate’s hot chocolate is a family recipe, and the chai is homemade, too, prepared with lots of love, Gloria said.
From the beginning, it’s always been a family business. Melissa left her job during the pandemic to support her mom’s dreams and has found the work very fulfilling.
“I’m very happy to see where she started to where she is now. I do the best that I can to help support her and her dream because I know she would do the same for me,” Melissa said.
The barista has always loved trying new coffee shops, and now she’s helping manage one of her own.
“I myself feel really gratified to do what I love,” Melissa said. “I’m able to bring happiness in a cup to people, and it’s great. I honestly do enjoy doing what I do. I love it so much, and I don’t think I could do anything else.”
The sugar cookie latte hit the spot for Staff Writer Madison White. Share your favorites to mwhite@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in November 12 – November 19, 2026.
