San Jose: Nirvana Soul opening a cafe at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library

South Bay sister entrepreneurs Jeronica Macey and Be’Anka Ashaolu kicked off Black History Month on Wednesday morning with big news:

“Happy BHM! We’re overjoyed to announce that we’re partnering with SJSU on our third shop!” the owners of Nirvana Soul tweeted. “The cafe will be located at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library with an anticipated opening date of Fall 2023.

“We could not be prouder to be from San Jose, and to continue making Black history with you. This is for the culture.”

That opening date will mark the third anniversary of Nirvana Soul. The sisters brought their long-held dream to fruition during the pandemic, in September 2020, in San Jose’s SoFA district. Last April they branched out to Cupertino with a shop on the ground floor of the Nineteen800 Apartments on Vallco Parkway.

They use house-roasted coffee beans from female and BIPOC purveyors for their specialty drinks, which include the Honey Lavender Latte, Mabuhay Ube Latte and the birthday-cake-flavored Celebration Latte. The tea menu features Chai, Turmeric Latte and a London Fog with Earl Grey and vanilla. On the food side, waffles both savory and sweet are served all day, along with croissants and other baked goods.

Their upcoming cafe space sits right outside Martin Luther King Jr. Library at Fourth and San Fernando streets, the main San Jose library serving both the public and San Jose State University.

“We have had such a great relationship with SJSU — we actually pop up there all the time. It was a natural next step,” Ashaolu said Wednesday. “They approached us with the idea and we were in!”