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.

Absolutely perfect addition to our wedding!

Couldn’t be more thrilled with these favors!!!! Exceptional quality and customer service,

Absolutely perfect addition to our special day. I can’t WAIT for our guests to see them! :)

Thank you so much, Alecia! I am so happy you love your favors! Congratulations! Wishing you both the best! :)

I can't imagine making coffee any other way.

I bought these after watching a video of theirs on TikTok over a year ago. They went in the cabinet, always intended to give it a try, but forgot. Last week my Keurig broke down and since I'm the only one in the house who drinks coffee, I need those one-cup-at-a-time things. As I'm pricing new Keurigs my husband walks over and drops the bag of these in front of me and said "you bought 'em, use 'em." So I did. The result? I'm not buying another Keurig. I'm not buying anymore K-cups. I'm using my freshly ground beans and these pouches and HOLY CRAP it works so GREAT. I'm the idiot who's been spending a small fortune on K-cups and was about to spend ANOTHER small fortune on a new Keurig. FOR WHAT?? Never. Ever. Again.

I'm hooked on Cafe Emporos and I'm embarrassed that I waited so long, but now I know. And my husband is thrilled since they aren't breaking the bank either!

Thank you so much, Christine! I am happy to hear your are enjoying the coffee filters. :) Have a great day! Best, Ruben

Great Coffee & Great Graphics

Loved these. Coffee is tasty and the graphics are lovely. As usual, Ruben provides excellent customer service. I highly recommend.

Thank you, Alex! So happy to hear you enjoyed the coffee packets! :)

I love these.

This is about the only way I will brew coffee now. I’m hooked.

So happy to hear, BB! Thank you for the support! Best, Ruben

Great idea, needs some work

I love the idea of your travel filters and wanted to love your coffee too. However, I like a good 12 - 16 oz of strong, black coffee in the morning. Your filters only brew 8 oz at a time, which is fine, but require two for my morning routine. I would still consider them for travel. The coffee, though, was weak (even only using 8 oz. of water) and I think could have benefitted from a darker roast and finer grind. My suggestion would be to develop at least a 12 oz filter. I would certainly reconsider the filters for when I travel if I could use just one. Overall, I think you have an innovative and useful product that just needs a bit of refining to make it a stand out. I wish you all the best!

Hello Breeann, Thank you for trying the coffee sampler. :) In the future I have empty filters available that you can add your own dark roast with a finer grind. I will definitely look into getting the dark roast stronger on my end. Thank you for the feedback and support! Have a great day! Best, Ruben

The Perfect Wedding Favor

Wow!! I’m so excited for our guest to get our wedding favors! They look amazing! My fiancé and I are such coffee lovers so we knew we had to add a coffee element into our wedding!

Awesome Product!

Wonderful product and excellent customer service!!

The perfect, meaningful gift

I’ve purchased several coffeegrams as gifts since I was introduced to Cafe Emporos.
The responses I’ve gotten are overwhelmingly positive.
The customization of each one makes them extra special, personal and fun!

My very picky coffee snob brother enjoys this coffee. I’m happy.

Great gift!

I purchased two sets of these for hard to buy for relatives. They were a HIT! Wonderful tea, adorable holiday bags and great packaging! Will definitely purchase again in the near future!

Great Coffee

Great tasting coffee! Ordering was easy and great customer service!!!!

Thank you so much, Virginia! Hope you are both having a great start to 2024!

Love these! So easy to use and perfect size.

Couldn’t be happier

We decided to host a little surprise party for my father and thought these would be great party favors. Since everything was so last minute, we didn’t think it would be possible, but thankfully we were wrong! Excellent customer service, great product, fast shipping. It was the absolute hit of the night. Now, I want to order these to have them on hand; the coffee is so delicious.

Thank you so much, Ana! I am so happy to hear everyone loved the favors! Happy Holidays! Best, Ruben

Wedding Favors

I ordered 50 of the tea bags and 50 pour over coffee bags as wedding favors and they were perfect for our food and wine themed wedding. We were so impressed by the details and the customer service. They were a huge hit at our wedding. Would highly recommend for any special occasion. These were the perfect favors.

Fast, Easy, and great customer service

Made sure that everything would be ready in plenty of time for my shower! Everyone loved the pour over coffee idea ☕️

Great Product

Love is Brewing (50 ct.) - Wedding Favors

Thank you ,Mackenzie! ~Ruben

Love the packaging and the coffee is phenomenal

Extremely happy with these! I love how easy it is to make a single cup of coffee. I brought them camping and it was the best part of every morning. Huge fan.

Thank you so much, Alison! So happy to hear that you are enjoying the coffee at home and while camping! Thank you for shopping small! ~Ruben

Crowd Favorite Wedding Favor!

I saw this initially on TikTok and was nervous to order but I am so glad that I did. Besides this being the perfect favor for my now husband and I (because we met in a diner where I memorized his coffee order and always had it ready)... our guests LOVED it. Edible favors are the best because lets be honest, not many people want trinkets that will collect dust and end up in the attic (or the trash!). These taste amazing (I got the dark roast) and following the wedding, I've had guests reach out asking where I got them because they want to order the grounds for their day to day coffee. They were also so cute with our names on them and affordable. I cannot recommend "The Perfect Blend" coffee favors enough.

Wow, Kelby! Thank you so much! What a great story about how you both met! :) Thank you for allowing Cafe Emporos to be apart of your big day! I am so happy to hear that the favors were a big hit! Wishing the best for both of you! Thank you again! ~Ruben

Thanks for Bean here! (50 ct.) - Wedding Favors

Love this coffee!

I have ordered several times from Cafe Emporos and always love what I receive! The coffee tastes fresh, and the shipping is always SO FAST! Me and my partner like ordering the coffee to take camping with us!

Thank you so much, Anna! So happy to hear you both are enjoying the coffee on your camping trips. :)
Best,
Ruben

Best idea for wedding favors!

My wife and I got married a month ago and having these as wedding favors was just perfect. We are both baristas and so were a lot of our guests that were there. It gave our wedding such an “us” vibe. We went with the kraft paper and it looked so aesthetically pleasing with our table setting. I tried the coffee in advance and I was actually very impressed! Whether our guests drink the coffee or not, I know they still loved it.

Hello Joshua, Thank you so much! I am so happy you all loved the wedding favors! Congratulations to you both! Best, Ruben

Bravo!

Easy to seal and take! I enjoyed my favorite bean on the road. I had been looking for something like this for a while. I will be ordering more for camping and hotel stays.

Delicious coffee

Delicious, full bodied coffee. I love the convenience of the pour over option. The individual pouches also make it easy for travel.

Thank you so much, Jennifer! So happy to hear that you are enjoying the coffee! :) ~Ruben

Such a great solution!

I’m terrible about bad coffee. Now I don’t have to endure crappy hotel or camp coffee! I love the dark roast!!

Thank you for your kind words Brenna! I am so happy you enjoy the coffee! ~Ruben