TANNERSVILLE — Deja Brew Bakery and Cafe is not your average coffee shop.
Owned by husband-and-wife team Ismael “Ish” Villafane and Kimberly Villafane, the Main Street café offers an extensive selection of pastries, specialty sandwiches, and coffee drinks made with beans imported directly from Puerto Rico. It also serves Harney & Sons tea (produced in Hudson), slushies, locally made jewelry, crystals and polished stones, and Kimberly’s own line of beauty products.
The atmosphere is deliberately welcoming and relaxed, with an open floor plan that encourages customers to linger.
But perhaps more than anything else, the Villafanes say, Deja Brew is about community.
The couple opened Deja Brew in October 2024, after deciding to move from Norwich to Tannersville. The café occupies the building at 5980 Main St., where a pharmacy once operated. The Hunter Foundation owns the building and maintains three apartments upstairs — two two-bedroom apartments and one three-bedroom.
The move to Tannersville was inspired in part by Kimberly’s visit to the village during a previous Father’s Day Car Show. “She saw a vibrant community,” Ish said, and the couple ultimately decided to sell their Norwich shop and move to the mountaintop. When they were searching for a location, Hunter Foundation Executive Director Sean Mahoney showed them several buildings. “When my wife saw this place, she said, ‘This is it,’” Ish recalled.
The Villafanes began renovating the former pharmacy in June 2024 and opened four months later. “The [Hunter] Foundation was very gracious to us and said they would work with us and help us get Deja Brew open by October,” Ish said. Kimberly said she has a particular appreciation for the foundation. “I love the Hunter Foundation and what they stand for and how they support the community. The Hunter Foundation is all about community and working with people that need help.”
Mahoney said the foundation is equally pleased to have Deja Brew as a tenant.
“The Hunter Foundation is thrilled to have Deja Brew as part of the Tannersville community and as one of our Hunter Foundation tenants. One of the things we’re most proud of at the Foundation is creating opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs who bring something special to our community. Deja Brew is a perfect example of that. They’ve created a welcoming, vibrant space with incredible Puerto Rican coffee, baked goods, sweet treats, and great food. Still, just as importantly, they’ve brought a new energy and personality to Main Street. Seeing them embraced by both residents and visitors, and watching the business continue to grow, is exactly the kind of outcome we hope for as we invest in our downtown properties. We couldn’t be happier to have them here.”
The Villafanes’ journey to Tannersville has taken them through several states and countries.
Ish grew up outside San Juan, Puerto Rico, and attended the University of Puerto Rico before traveling to Indiana and Texas for graduate school. He later became principal at Riverside High School in Texas for a year before accepting a position with the Austin Independent School District. He and Kimberly eventually moved to Puerto Rico, where Ish worked as a superintendent for 4.5 years.
Ish has spent more than four decades working in school districts. He began his career in Texas teaching adaptive physical education. “I worked with students who were disabled or who were recovering from injuries and surgery.” Today, he is principal of Hunter-Tannersville Central School District’s Middle-High School, a position he has held since June 2023 — just steps from Deja Brew.
His workday begins early. Ish starts prepping at 5:30 a.m., then heads to school between 7 and 7:15 a.m., where he works until 4-4:30 p.m… and then walks down to Deja Brew. Before school, he makes sure the café is set up, the machines are clean, and the kitchen is stocked and ready. He said he enjoys both jobs and has become adept at compartmentalizing the tw