About Us

About Cafe Emporos

After teaching and working at a specialty coffee shop in Cheonan, South Korea for a few years, I decided to start my own coffee business in the U.S. My dream was to open a coffee shop and brighten people's days with the latte art I had learned overseas. However, opening a café proved more difficult than I had anticipated. So, I began selling prefilled hand drip coffee filters at local farmers' markets, doing 3-5 markets a week while teaching online full-time.

Despite my efforts, my business wasn't scaling as I had hoped. In 2020, I became a full-time caregiver for my grandma due to COVID-19. I had to stop doing markets because my grandma became my priority. During this time, I was overwhelmed with the responsibilities of caregiving, teaching online, and trying to keep my business afloat. Eventually, I exceeded the limit on missed classes by just two and received an email stating that my contract had been terminated after four years of dedicated service, over 15,000 classes, and 7,000 excellent reviews. Losing this job was a significant blow. I remember staring at the sentence in disbelief: "Your contract has been terminated."

For a month, I didn't tell anyone about losing my job. I knew depression was looming, so I decided to focus on my mental health. I stopped watching TV and listening to music to avoid negativity. One morning, I turned on KLOVE and heard the song "Overcomer" by Mandisa. I prayed, "God, you take it," referring to my entire situation.

On November 5, a month after losing my job, I posted a 59-second video on TikTok pitching the "coffeegram"—a personalized coffee packet that could be sent as a greeting card. I hoped to make enough sales to cover my rent. When I woke up the next morning, my video had 300 likes but no sales. Despite the disappointment, I was encouraged by the likes. 

That morning, as I was getting ready to leave, I checked my phone again and saw more comments and likes pouring in. One comment read, "Change your personal account to a business account. You're going to go viral." I quickly made the change and added my website link so customers could easily find me. Just before getting into my car, I said a little prayer, as I always do.

As soon as I got into my car and started driving, my phone connected to the car's speakers via Bluetooth. Suddenly, I heard the "cha-ching" alert sound repeatedly—indicating multiple sales. It was an emotional moment; I felt like my car had turned into a slot machine hitting the jackpot. By the time I reached my destination, I had received around 200-300 orders. The entire drive was filled with the sound of sales notifications, and tears of relief and joy streamed down my face.

Sales slowed down during the week, so I posted the video again. I woke up to another surge of orders, totaling 500 within a few hours. In two weeks, I had over 1,200 orders to fulfill. Although I was grateful, I was also unprepared for such a large volume of orders. Inventory was low, the post office was chaotic due to COVID-19, and I wasn't sure if customers would like the product. Fortunately, five-star reviews started coming in, and customers loved the coffeegrams and the printed photos.

Fast forward to 2024, TikTok invited me to attend the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) conference to share my story. Despite the challenges, I created a unique greeting card experience that combines the warmth of coffee with special memories. Although I never opened a coffee shop, my mission remains the same: to put a smile on people's faces through the joy of coffee.