About us
We opened Padaria Aurora to bake the food we missed most after leaving Brazil.
Our story
Every Brazilian neighborhood has a padaria: the place you pick up warm bread in the morning, catch up with neighbors over a cafezinho, and order every birthday cake.
We started by baking pão de queijo for friends, then for farmers markets around Charlotte. When the lines got long enough, we opened our own shop.
Our story, in a sentence
“The place you pick up warm bread in the morning, catch up with neighbors over a cafezinho, and order every birthday cake.”
How we bake
In small batches, before sunrise, from family recipes, with local North Carolina eggs and milk.
Fresh daily
Nothing sits overnight. What you buy was baked that morning.
Made by hand
Shaped, filled and finished by our own hands, in small batches.
Good neighbors
Leftovers go to a local food pantry at the end of each day.
The team
Lúcia Almeida
Head baker and co-owner
Learned to bake in her grandmother's kitchen in Belo Horizonte.
Rafael Almeida
Café and catering, co-owner
Runs the front of the shop and every catering order.