About a Brew: HQ Coffee brings flavor and a third space to the Asian District

Photography by Sara Stewart

Sitting at HQ Coffee talking to Andrea “Anj” Schultz, you get the impression that the corner coffee shop at 2600 N. Classen in the former Bun Box space is an externalized brain map of what she ultimately wants the shop to be. That is not to say HQ Coffee feels incomplete as it is. In fact, the black sesame latte might be the best latte in Oklahoma City — depending on how you feel about black sesame — and the Rocky’s Matcha places it in the upper echelon of matcha shops in the city, too. You just get the sense that she’s not done, and likely won’t be.

Schultz is an idea factory; not a Michael Keaton in Night Shift “take live tuna fish and feed ‘em mayonnaise” idea factory, but a constant rethinking of what can be done better, more efficiently, more purposefully.

“Beginning when I was a kid, people told me they thought I’d go to culinary school or open a cafe,” Schultz said. “I’m the person who is a good home cook, takes the pictures, posts to social media — but I’ve never gone the food and beverage route ’til now.”

The Moore native grew up homeschooled, and went to Oklahoma City Community College and UCO to complete a fashion marketing degree (a 2018 graduate), with emphases on business, e-commerce and photography. It was basically the perfect description of a degree program tailored for someone who is borderline omni-competent. Her first gig out of college was for the third largest sock and hosiery manufacturer in the world. How she ended up opening a coffee shop in OKC’s Asian District is directly related to being good at so many things, and allowing your curiosity to take you on a journey.

“I volunteered at the Asian Night Market in 2022,” Schultz said. “I was just trying to get involved, and they knew I was working with the 1032 Space group, so they asked me to organize a fashion show, and it went very well. I’d gone in just expecting to help clean up or empty trash cans, and I was managing a fashion show. It really kickstarted my engagement with the Asian District.”

Within a matter of months, Schultz was named executive director of The Asian District Cultural Association, a surprising (to some) move given that she is biracial. “My mother is from Oklahoma; my dad is from South Korea, so I was a very unconventional choice,” she said. “As executive director and a business owner, I respect the Vietnamese roots of the district, but I think I represent more diversity within the Asian community, and the district is where I shop, work and build community.”

Schultz is driven by multiple narratives — biracial kid, second-generation Asian Oklahoman, creative, entrepreneur, community builder — and a few of those narrative elements pushed her toward owning a coffee shop in the district.

“I was looking for a way to meet a need for more ‘third places’ in the Asian District," she said, referring to the phrase coined by Ray Oldenburg to denote community gathering spaces outside home and work. Coffee shops have been popular third places since at least the 1990s, and for second-generation kids in immigrant communities, they represented a space where they could “not just be Asian at home” in Schultz’s words. Which is to say they could gather with other Asian kids without the code switching that is so common — and often necessary — in immigrant and minority communities.  

“I’m a second-generation kid making things better for the third generation,” she said. “I think we second-generation placemakers just want the third and later generations to not feel so displaced, so they need those third places to go.”

As an Asian kid, though, she has her feet in multiple worlds and generations, and doing something broadly “Asian” always brings the risk of alienating one subcommunity or generation. She keeps the “old” Korean flavors, traditions and tastes at the front of her mind when planning HQ’s menu.

“I grew up eating ‘old Korean’ food,” she said. “I miss Taste of Korea! I love those flavors and dishes. My aunties and older Korean friends love the black sesame syrup we use in the latte. I’m very proud of that. I’m very proud of our tea and matcha selection. I’m committed to offering quality products and emerging brands from Asian-owned businesses, including Rocky’s Matcha and Maru Coffee.”

To talk about the coffee program, she insisted on including DOO Matthew Maclay, formerly owner of Flower & Flour Coffee Shop in Deep Deuce. Maclay is Latino; his wife Hawaiian. They are well-traveled coffee nerds, a demographic that was shocked to hear Schultz had succeeded in getting Maru Coffee to let her use its beans in OKC.

“I think we’re the eighth cafe outside of Los Angeles to be allowed to use Maru,” Maclay said. “They’re a Korean-owned brand with high-quality cafes and a commitment to excellence in every aspect of business. People who have spent time in L.A. will immediately recognize the brand, and we’re happy to be the ones to introduce it to Oklahoma City.”

HQ is offering drip, pour over, two espresso options, lattes, teas, matcha and baked goods from Anna Bui’s Lil’ Mouse Bakes — the ube sugar cookie is magical. Maclay said the drip coffee is from Townsfolk: another high-quality, single-origin coffee company, this one in Kanazawa, Japan. Baked goods are the only food option for now; Schultz said a larger menu is coming, but there are things to be done before then, including getting the drive-through operational. We’re back to the brain map. Standing inside the space, she points to all the things that she is bringing on as if they are already present; the blueprints are clearly visible in her head as she points.

“We opted for a walk-up model like cafes in Los Angeles and Japan,” she said,” but the customer experience is central to HQ’s ethos, so the lack of inside seating was my big hurdle when Jenny Nguyen called and offered the space. I had to think it through, but decided we’re going to push the envelope in multiple ways, so this will just be one of them.”

Another will be in the flavors presented every day. The black sesame and ube lattes will be core drinks. The gochujang latte is the current seasonal offering, and while OKC is long overdue to see these traditional Asian flavors in our coffee programs, Schultz recognizes that HQ Coffee is not a shop for everyone. “We’re not,” she said, “but you can still get a vanilla latte here.” Intentional funny metaphor? I didn’t ask; I was just happy that the black sesame will be year-round.