Mints & Honey supports healthcare workers with tea and meals
Image credit: Arianna Bayangos
SAN CARLOS - San Carlos’ Mints & Honey is known for their unique drink options - such as matcha mango lattes and lemon honey jasmine teas - and for their beautifully plated waffles, avocado toasts, and toasts. Even though Mints & Honey may just seem like a café for an Instagram-worthy picture of your food, it has truly become a gathering place for the San Carlos community and nearby cities.
Image credit: Arianna Bayangos
Mints & Honey is a café and party venue founded by two sisters, Canna and Dorothy. They started their business as a floral design studio. According to the Mints & Honey website, Canna and Dorothy are “two passionate people inspired by nature and flowers [who] desperately wanted to do something fun and creative.” They eventually launched Mints & Honey in San Carlos in 2015.
Like many businesses in San Mateo County, the owners of Mints & Honey were surprised by the announcement of the county’s shelter-in-place order, effective March 17. Canna and Dorothy decided to remain open and adapt their business to meet the needs of the shelter-in-place order. Dorothy said, “Canna and I both believe we have to stay open to bring a sense of normalcy to our community. For myself, I need my latte every morning. We didn’t know what to expect and how to adapt, but we truly believe even though [we are] a small business, we can offer help and make some impact.”
The Mints & Honey team set up an online system overnight to continue to serve their customers. As the café continued to stay in business, Canna and Dorothy started to connect with customers who were wondering what they could do to help Mints & Honey. Dorothy and Canna said, “We also have a bunch of customers who work [on the] frontlines and told us that even though they worry that they will bring the virus [to their homes], this is what they signed up for and they are ready. What they said really touched us and we were inspired to do something special for them.”
Image credit: Arianna Bayangos
Image credit: Arianna Bayangos
The Mints & Honey team decided to provide meals and drinks to healthcare workers in San Mateo County. They have been sending meals over the past 3 weeks and have provided meals to hospitals such as the San Carlos Sutter Health COVID Clinic, San Mateo Sutter COVID Clinic, Stanford Pediatric ER, and Stanford ER. The café is currently taking donations from the public to send free drinks and meals to healthcare workers. They also encourage the donors to recommend hospitals and clinics. Dorothy said that the most rewarding part of delivering to these healthcare workers is seeing their smiles - “We received many heartfelt thank you messages and I am very happy to know that they felt appreciated.”
While customers are not able to gather together at Mints & Honey for the time being, Mints & Honey continues to bring smiles to people’s faces through their delicious food and drinks. Dorothy said that since the 5 years that Mints & Honey has been in business, they are proud of the community they’ve created, “Mints & Honey has been a gathering space for many families and friends. We have baby customers as well as old grandmas who come to enjoy a sip of tea. Many people love to come for brunch. We are truly blessed because we get to know a lot of locals.”
Image credit: Arianna Bayangos
If you would like to donate to provide a meal for healthcare workers or order food for your family and friends from Mints & Honey, visit: https://mintsandhoney.square.site/. Mints & Honey also frequently posts about their meal drop-offs on their Instagram (@mintsandhoneycafe).
