To Start The Day Off With Coffee
Intro
No puedes olvidar el café ( You can’t forget about coffee). When brainstorming ideas of subcultures that I was a part of, I combined my interests to my identity where I realized that I wanted to do something involving food centered around Latin foods. Recently, as my interest in food and more specifically barista has grown I headed into the direction of cafe culture.
I didn’t want to write about a place that most people go to or well known, so I had to research shops/businesses that seemed interesting to me but also something that can impact the community in a positive way. This led to me learning about the place called Anima Mundi. Anima Mundi was founded by Adriana Ayales, a herbalist, medicine maker, and an educator. Their mission is to “ bridge ancient remedies to the modern world”, in Anima Mundi is based on apothecaries which are made by organic and ethically grown plants. They’re devoted on using organic and indigenous botanicals for her remedies. As she states “ I wanted to create a business that not only provided an actual pure and powerful form of healthcare, I also cared to help preserve indigenous lands and their local economies through organic agriculture and wildcrafted goods.”
Get to Know Anima Mundi
“Anima Mundi” is a Latin phrase meaning “the soul of the world”, contemplated by philosophers as “the soul of nature”; the animating (anima) force within nature. The world soul is, according to several systems of thought, an intrinsic connection between all living things on the planet, which relates to our world in much the same way as the soul is connected to the human body.” Their is to bridge native medicine into today’s world, through the magic of herbal remedies and other spiritual energies.
Founder Adriana Ayales moved from Costa Rica to Brooklyn, NYC, where she was on a mission to bring these remedies from her home country to NYC. It started off in her small home office space with stores in Brooklyn and one in Soho ( which is the one I went to visit). Able to grow more than 200 herbs and provide them to other businesses because of their trustable and sustainable sources.
Who is Adriana Ayales?
She studied central and south american tribal herbalism style to study classic Western and European classical herbalism styles. Learned plant medicine in Costa rica,and has trained in herbal school. “ I’m devoted to sourcing from honest farmers, wildcrafters and from indigenous peoples when possible, to alchemize and create truly high vibrational medicines for the mind, body and soul. I believe that by preserving ancient forms of indigenous botany, we keep alive a very sacred aspect to our source.”
More about her background, since she was little she had interest and passion for botanical studies and energy healing. Adriana remembers seeing spirits and auras as a young girl but struggled with communicating about her abilities, where she didn’t tell her family too. As time passed, she was able to learn and harness her abilities with psychics and other healers to now be able to apply her art to the world. And the way she is able to do this is by starting her business Anima Mundi. “I started Anima Mundi in Brooklyn NY as a means to bridging ancient remedies to the modern world. My heart is to continuously create a farm to pharmacy experience that not only creates a sustainable system of healing, but contains within its core the pursuit to wholeness.”
Observing Anima Mundi
Walking around Soho, you will find the place to be a bit hidden. What I mean by that is that the place is in some sort of alley. Don’t let the location fool you because it is a small and aesthetically pleasing store. You enter into an open and spacious store where you see colors everywhere. Its interior design is quite simple where there are white walls and wooden floors decorated with some plants and flowers. Also how organized the store is, where the products are placed colored coordinated. Once you step into the store you are greeted by the smells or floral and other botanical smells. Like there is the smell of essential oils. In general the store has the feeling of a safe space, where people can enjoy a new experience of getting introduced to herbal heals. This place has this sort of modern twist into the vintage look too. Where you would notice their wooden chairs, ladder, tables (honestly the cafe feels like Starbucks with a modern look and more pretty and colorful). There is this bar area where you are able to have these cocktails and other drinks such as espressos, matcha, etc but with healthy benefits and freshly sourced.
What makes Anima Mundi look different?
Referring back to the interior designs and the vibes of the place this place comes out as a contrast to other cafes I have been too. Such as when going to other cafes there are these similarities where it gives these dark, old and vintage look. A bunch of brown colors and wood. Just like Starbucks or a cafe I went to recently called Devocion. It emulates the style of other places with the wooden and vintage look but with a unique look and history. Whereas, Anima Mundi has a more bright, cheerful and colorful look. They are also able to share some of their menu drinks and recipes online on their website. And lastly, they are not just able to provide healthy products such as drinks but give the opportunity to teach and give lessons about herbalism, astrology and the mystical arts in person or online.
Questions for Adriana
I asked her some questions based upon her growing up and her business. She explained how she grew up around plants and found her passion. “ I have the Mediterranean side to my family and also like Costa Rican, Costa Rican, so when I was really young my grandmother worked as a psychic healer and basically taught me since I was very young.” At the age of around 7-8 she learned about these practices without really knowing it is something otherworldly. And it all started with being introduced to the herbal and psychic world to studying at herbal schools and other educational institutions. That small home office grew to something bigger and impactful not only to women but to everyone looking for a healthy alternative of healthcare.
‘How are you different or what sets you apart from other cafes?’ “ We pride ourselves in creating some of the highest quality plant medicines in the market. Our herbalist run and operated company uses responsibly sourced ingredients from small and ethical farms in North, Central and South America, India, Thailand, and more. We specialize in crafting high potency liquid extracts, extract powders and tea’s that are produced with certified organic or wildcrafted ingredients.” At Anima Mundi as a customer you are definitely getting clean, sustainable and healthy ingredients/products. Compared to other cafes where they don’t sell fresh and organic healthy benefits Anima Mundi does. “Anima Mundi is a family owned and operated business. Our superfoods are made in an FDA registered and cGMP certified facility. Made in the U.S. with certified organic herbs, wild harvested plants in a vegan and gluten free kitchen. Our products contain zero fillers, binders or flow agents. Lab tested for purity and efficiency.”
Conclusion
I learned more about the world of cafe culture, specifically where it is a bit different and unique to others. In such a way, Anima Mundi is able to create a safe environment for people to experience, understand and get educated about the science behind the benefits of the herbal products. Before when thinking about a subculture I was interested in involving food or food related to the Latin side of me. And while searching for something different I stumbled upon Anima Mundi where it combines healthy alternatives and sourced from organic and fresh plants/botanicals/herbs to create these drinks and other products for the well being of the community. “PLANT MEDICINES aren’t just here to provide us nourishment, shelter and protection from pathologies — they’re here for a much larger purpose, and that is to bring us back to the original consciousness that prevailed on Earth for millennia. Herbalism is the medicine of belonging, a gateway through which we keep alive a very sacred aspect of this same consciousness.” -Adriana Ayales
Work Cited
Ayales, Adriana https://animamundiherbals.com/
Vassányi. (2011). Anima Mundi: The Rise of the World Soul Theory in Modern German Philosophy (1st ed. 2011.). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8796-6
Sato. (2017). Mottainai: a Japanese Sense of Anima Mundi. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 62(1), 147–154. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5922.12282
Sutton, Steven https://www.devocion.com/ Our-story
