Cristina Lozano and the Tradition of the Morning Cup of Coffee

By VozEs

The aroma of coffee can travel farther than a suitcase.

Sometimes it travels across entire countries before settling once again in a kitchen, a conversation, or a memory. For Cristina Lozano, that scent always brings her back to the Ecuadorian coast—to the humid heat of the beach, to family mornings, to the sound of the blender whirring as it prepares fresh juices, and to a cup of coffee that would appear even under the intense Pacific sun.

“It’s funny to have a cup of coffee on the beach when it’s 80 or 90 degrees,” he says with a laugh. But in Ecuador, coffee was never just for cold weather or fancy coffee shops. Coffee was everywhere. At family tables. When visiting friends. At afternoon snacks with Grandma. At breakfasts with roasted plantains and eggs. In those homes where there always seemed to be a hot pot waiting for company.

Long before she founded Ikigai Bold, before the premium cocoa and the rebranding that has now made it a fixture in Charlotte’s markets and cultural spaces, Cristina was a little girl drinking coffee with her grandmother—whom she calls “Mami”—as they dipped Ecuadorian roscas into their hot cups.

That’s why, when he moved to the United States, something struck him as odd almost immediately: coffee seemed to be off-limits to children here.

“It seemed really strange to me,” she recalls. Because for her, coffee didn’t symbolize adulthood or dependence. It symbolized closeness. Home. A shared moment of respite.

Cristina officially moved to Charlotte in 2006, although she had been traveling back and forth between Ecuador and New Jersey for years to visit her father. The city she found back then was very different from what it is today, and, like many immigrants, she had to start over from scratch. She had studied graphic design in Ecuador, but the language barrier and the difficulty of having her credentials recognized led her to other jobs: sales, Mary Kay, and later childcare as a nanny.

Creativity, however, never disappeared.

First came the hand-painted bags as part of her Loggy Bags project, where she transformed tote bags into portable works of art. Then came cocoa. And finally, coffee—as if, sooner or later, it were inevitable that she would return to what had always been a part of her life.

With Ikigai Bold, Cristina didn’t just want to sell Ecuadorian products. She wanted to evoke emotions. She wanted people to taste a piece of chocolate or a cup of coffee and realize that behind it all lay a place, a memory, and an entire family history.

“We’re going to show the world that Ecuador has great coffee too,” he explains. For a long time, he says, the spotlight seemed to be on other Latin American countries, while Ecuador remained on the sidelines of the global coffee conversation.

Its reinvention in 2025 also became a way of returning to its roots. The coffee shops began to be called Suyu and Amanai, words in the Quichua language associated with origin and rebirth. The green and gold colors of the packaging were chosen to evoke abundance, health, family, and connection.

As she speaks, Cristina constantly mentions the beach, family meals, the smell of breakfast, and conversations over food. She talks about Ecuador as if recalling sounds rather than images. The blender running in the mornings. Coffee served even when it was hot outside. The family gathered together.

Perhaps that is why coffee ends up being much more than just a product in its history. It is a way to carry on a tradition far from home. A way to preserve everyday memories that often seem small, but that ultimately help shape one’s identity.

Every morning, he follows the same routine: first water, then coffee. As he sips that cup, he thinks about what he did the day before, not necessarily about the future.

“I don’t think much about the future,” he admits. And he says it calmly, not fearfully.

Perhaps that is why his project feels so human. Because it doesn't stem from an obsession with rapid growth, but from something much more personal: sharing flavors, memories, and glimpses of Ecuador with others.

Charlotte is full of stories of immigrants built on great sacrifices, but also on small rituals, and nostalgia sometimes comes in the form of hot coffee, served just like it used to be at home.