A cool cafe-combination-wine-bar and bodega is percolating in Fort Worth: Called Ostara Coffee + Wine + Market, it'll open at 2707 Race St. #121, in a former pizzeria space, with a debut set for the spring.

The new cafe is a spinoff of Ostara Coffee Roasters, the first female-owned coffee roaster in Fort Worth, founded in 2022 by Natalie Willard and Valerie Mejía, who met while students at St. Edwards University in Austin, where Valerie was born and raised. Natalie is from Fort Worth.

After school, Natalie went to work at Real Ale Brewing Company, while Valeria worked at a Buddha’s Brew Kombucha. They launched their wholesale business in March 2022, around the time of Ostara, a holiday celebrating spring.

"It was a new undertaking, a new direction in our lives," Valerie says.

They began selling roasted beans at local markets and retailers, before expanding into bottled cold brew, which quickly became a best-seller, available in flavors such as Black Coffee, Spiced Coffee, and Oat Milk Latte via local delivery in the Fort Worth area, and at retailers such as as Bodega South Main, Roy Pope Grocery, and Cafecito, where they offer their best-seller cold brew Cafecito de Olla.

They also do hot and iced coffee at pop-up events with an expanding menu of innovative drinks such as their most recent creations: a salted caramel latte and a white chocolate mocha, both plant-based and dairy free. (Try them at their next pop-up appearance on January 20, from 12-5 pm at Casino Beach Market at Babelord Vintage, 7601 Jacksboro Hwy. in Fort Worth.)

This will be their first brick and mortar location, and it will be a combination of coffee shop and roasting facility, plus a wine bar and neighborhood market.

They'll be open 7 am-7 pm weekdays and until 10 pm on weekends, with coffee and wine to drink on-site or bottles to-go. Plus a selection of grocery and grab-and-go items in the market section.

"It will be about quality food and drink," Natalie says.

To that end, they'll carry breakfast tacos from Cafecito, and intend to work with other local businesses to offer a variety of food items.

"The neighborhood really needed a bodega, we met with local business associations, and they are happy we are coming in," Natalie says.

And in honor of their first love, coffee, the roasting will be front and center.

"We wanted a bigger space where the roasting process is visible," Valerie says. "We will have a glass garage door so people can see us roasting."