Sabores Handcrafted Ice Cream is an oasis in the desert.
The goal of Sabores is to make community members feel right at home. That’s why at Sabores, flavors like mangonada and gansito are just as common as strawberry or vanilla. The ice cream shop is located in an unassuming plaza in Coachella next to a Zumba dance studio.
In January 2017, Jesse Garcia Jr. and his sister Connie Garcia-Preciado, both Coachella Valley locals, combined their skills in culinary arts and business to open the ice cream shop in Coachella.
Garcia’s parents first migrated to the Coachella Valley in the ’60s from Michoacán, Mexico to work in the fields. Garcia said he spent a lot of time in the kitchen watching and helping his mom and aunts cook. Over time, he started preparing his own dishes.

“My parents worked in the fields so they would not get home until like eight or nine o’clock in the night,” Garcia said. “My sisters are a couple years older than me, so they were out to college. I had to cook my own food at home [while I was in] junior high and high school. So from there is where I started picking up [cooking]. I really liked it.”
After graduating from Coachella Valley High School, Garcia went to Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) school, but after six years working as an EMT, he switched gears and decided to pursue his true passion in the culinary arts.