Ama's Blog

By Angie Gomez

The world’s oceans are subjected to our actions as a collective. Most of marine pollution comes from human activities, whether it be from the coastlines or even farther inland. The reality is, human affairs have consequences on our environment, and its effects are a phenomenon that we live and see every day. To combat this crisis and get back on the right track, a young business from the 2021 SEEDS Program has made it their mission to create awareness and protect the coasts right here in Puerto Rico. 

Meet Guarda Costas, a SEEDS Biz created by Yan Omar Cruz Burgos, Jyann M. López Ortiz & Adrian E. Padilla Burgos that makes different ocean themed products!

Not only do they craft beautiful necklaces, keychains and wall hangings, but they also make impressive woodwork! On their Facebook, Guarda Costas share important information and events related to protecting and preserving our coastal environments. 

Recently, the Luis Miranda Casañas Foundation reached out to Friends of Puerto Rico with a desire to support Guarda Costas via donation. José Gabriel Morales, Executive Director, commented that the foundation was motivated by the SEEDS program because they “understand that maximizing the opportunities of those who are assuming the role of entrepreneurship is a shared responsibility.” 

The LMC Foundation took a particular interest in Guarda Costas due to their shared mission to protect nature and reduce our ecological footprint. They are particularly enthusiastic about the young entrepreneurs' commitment to Puerto Rico’s coasts.

Morales added that the LMC Foundation believes that “children should be validated, integrated and be a core part of the proposals that are taking place throughout the country.” This incredible support has been a source of inspiration and motivation to continue providing tools and a platform for SEEDS alumni and future students! 

Sometimes it can be a challenge to pick activities and fun spots to hit up for the summer. Here are three fantastic restaurants and shops to visit in some of Amapola's favorite cities! Let them know Café Ama sent you.   

Aguadilla, PR

For a great time on the west coast of Puerto Rico, visit Vittata Gastropub in Aguadilla's urban center! 

Chicago, IL

Looking for sweet treats with that unique Puerto Rican flavor? Head over to Borinken Cakes in the South Side!

Washington, DC

If you are visiting the U.S. capital this summer, be sure to stop at La Famosa in Washington Navy Yard!  

This past July 3rd, our SEEDS 2021 Scholars graduated from their program! Together we celebrated over 30 students from Aibonito, Barranquitas, Guaynabo, Toa Baja & Vieques who have started their journey of entrepreneurship.

You can also watch the 2021 SEEDS Experience Recap, which shares all of their amazing achievements! Join us as we prepare to begin a new year of the SEEDS Program and continue brewing change in Puerto Rico. 

Learn more about the SEEDS Program, and how you can help develop a new generation of leaders! 

Café Ama Nice Cream Recipe! 

Looking for a plant-based sweet treat this summer? Try making this Café Ama infused nice cream! 

• 1/2 cup Café Ama brew 
• 3 frozen bananas
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup of cocoa powder (or choco protein powder for an extra boost!) 

Add in your plant-based milk as you blend until you get the desired consistency! If it's too runny, just pop the mixture in the freezer and serve in a few hours! Use an ice cream scoop, it'll look just like the real thing! 

Indulge with this sweet creation inspired by World Chocolate Day! 

Blend all the ingredients together, except the whipped cream! You'll want to use it as a topping. Finish by sprinkling some chocolate chips, drizzling a bit of chocolate syrup and enjoy! 

We hope you have a great weekend and rest of this Café Ama Summer! 

By Angie Gomez 

Café Ama is happy to announce that we have partnered with Café Rican, founded by Reynaldo Delgado Santos, to share our products with the people of North Carolina! 

Delgado Santos, originally from the municipality of Corozal, established Café Rican in 2017. Inspired by his love for Puerto Rican coffee, his company imports local coffee brands from the island and sells their products at various markets and events. 

“Sharing my culture, one coffee cup at a time, to help Puerto Rico’s coffee economy and its people. That is my mission.” 

Café Rican introduced Café Ama for the first time on June 19th, at the Art-N-Soul Market in Mystic Farm & Distillery. The market was just one of the many events in which Delgado Santos will share our delicious social impact coffee. The people at Art-N-Soul loved learning that they can help women and children by simply purchasing Café Ama. Over 20 bags were sold! 

That social impact, our mission, is precisely what drove Café Rican to partner with us. Delgado Santos says it is “amazing and humbling” to know that he can sell a coffee that results in Puerto Rican children being taught and given “all the right tools to open their own small businesses.” 

Café Rican will bring Café Ama to Durham Central Park this Sunday, in a market by The MAKRS Society from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. 

In August, you can find them at the following events:

• August 8th, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Downtown Cary Food and Flea Market
• August 21st, once again at Mystic Farm & Distillery in Durham.
• August 28th, from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. in Raleigh’s International Food Festival. 

If you are North Carolina, be sure to follow Café Rican on Instagram and Facebook for more updates! 

By Angie Gomez 

Drinking coffee and cultivating the plant dates back centuries, to the Arabian Peninsula. Nowadays, it’s hard to believe that anyone doesn’t drink coffee. Whether whole bean, ground or brewed, researchers have discovered different health benefits when it comes to coffee. 

1. Coffee can strengthen your heart, DNA, and liver

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, coffee may help ward off heart failure, and decrease breakage in DNA strands which can cause future health issues such as tumors and cancer. Additionally, coffee drinkers tend to have healthy and protective liver enzyme levels. 

2. Coffee can decrease your chance of developing certain diseases.

Caffeine is linked to a lower chance of developing Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and dementia in general. This is particularly significant for women, since almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease are women. 

Feeling good is important, but imagine if you looked just as good as you feel! Coffee also has some external benefits to be aware of. 

3. Coffee grounds can give your skin a boost.

 Using coffee grounds in combination with coconut oil and sugar can create an exfoliating scrub that’ll give you a natural glow while stimulating blood flow. 

4. Drinking coffee can give you a healthier smile. 

Antioxidant properties in coffee can help prevent cavities and fight bacterias that fight plaque, giving you a healthier smile! Make sure to brush your teeth after drinking though, since coffee stains teeth!

Overall, coffee is known to give a boost of energy! There are so many ways in which you can drink it and use it, so take advantage of its properties and find what’s best for you! 

By Claudia Quezada 

The west coast of Puerto Rico is home to many wonderful restaurants, including Vittata Gastropub in Aguadilla. Here you can find a delicious menu featuring a merge of Puerto Rican and international cuisine, accompanied by a wide variety of house cocktails. In addition to its tropical feel and ocean view, the restaurant makes a mesmerizing brunch destination.

On May 30, Vittata Gastroprub invited Café Ama Love to their restaurant where we served our product for the day. Knowing that our beans are locally grown in Puerto Rico really suited the restaurant's theme. The freshly brewed taste and its powerful aroma quickly made customers try our coffee and take the product home.

This became a great event to meet the people of Aguadilla and close by municipal cities to spread the love through every cup of coffee. Accepting Vittata's collaboration was the perfect opportunity to show the powerful results that could come from local businesses working together.

For those visiting or living in Aguadilla, make sure to take a break and enjoy the incredible experience Vittata Gastropub has to offer. You won’t regret it! 

You can find Vittata Gastropub on Facebook and follow them on Instagram @vittatagastropub. 

By Angie Gomez 

Protecting the environment is pivotal for everything that we do and anything that we hope to achieve. Earth is our only home, and we must take care of it so that it can continue to take care of us!

Café Ama prides itself in sharing delicious Puerto Rican coffee with ethically sourced beans from local farmers. The goal is to produce with conservation in mind, as well as supporting the local economy. This mindset is part of what drives the SEEDS Program and motivates our scholars. 

Several of our SEEDS Biz were created with conservation in mind. To celebrate this year’s World Environment Day, we want to highlight two special businesses: New World and Guarda Costas. Recently, these young entrepreneurs shared their products at Mercado Ballajá in Old San Juan. 

Marileen Vega, Keyvier Feliciano, Marielis Sneed & Julio A. García Ortiz joined forces to create New World. This young business, based in Guaynabo, produces hand-made items and accessories from recycled materials. With fun designs and innovative ideas, these students aim to reduce waste and influence others to do the same. 

Over in Barranquitas, Yan O.  Cruz Burgos, Jyann Michael & Adrian Padilla founded Guarda Costas. Inspired by their trips to the beach, the group creates ocean themed products to increase awareness. Through their business, they hope to motivate others to protect the coasts and sea life. 

Seeing our SEEDS students so passionate about the environment is beyond inspiring. There is something we can all learn from them! 

Visit https://www.friendsofpuertorico.org/seeds to read more about the SEEDS Program and how you can support it! 

By Carolina Quintero 

Earlier this month, Café Ama joined forces with Tory Burch to support several of our SEEDS entrepreneurs. It was a fun event not only for our students, but also our founder Amapola who got to visit and show some love! 

The Tory Burch Foundation focuses on empowering women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial education. This mission closely aligns with the work Friends of Puerto Rico is doing with the SEEDS and Amigas programs. On this occasion we collaborated with Delma Torres, store manager of Tory Burch at The Mall of San Juan, to highlight some of the SEEDS businesses founded by girls. During the weekend of May 15-16, four of our SEEDS Businesses had the opportunity to present their products in the Tory Burch store.

Throughout the weekend, the store received Kiarita’s Cakes and More, Nahle Creatie, Ellie’s Arts and Paradise Accessories. Saturday, May 15 we had Kiarita’s Cakes and More. Kiara Liz Rivera Cumba (11) from the school S.U. Pasto in Aibonito, prepares home-made cakes, leveraging her passion for baking to create products for the community. Her most popular cake, the carrot cake, sold out two hours after the event started. By the end of the day, Kiara had sold all of her inventory.

That same day we had Nahle Creatie, who makes soaps, hand sanitizers, dog shampoos, and candles with natural products promoting healthy lifestyles. Nahir Santos Santiago (11) also from S.U. Pasto in Aibonito started participating in the marketplaces very shyly, and by this event she received more than $100 in profits. 

The second and last day of our SEEDS Biz event, Tory Burch hosted Paradise Accessories and Ellies’ Arts. Paradise Accessories is a jewelry business created by four girls from the school Delia Davila de Caban in Toa Baja. Two of the founders are twins, Emilyann and Emylianis Rojas Sánchez (11), who represented their business during the event. Paradise has exceeded expectations by selling more than $200 in all of our events.  

The fourth business is a newly created business during the second phase of our SEEDS program. The business, Ellie’s Arts by Elizairyan Rivera Viera (12) from the school Santiago Iglesias Pantin (Guaynabo), has allowed the student to gain confidence in her artistic abilities. Starting without believing she could sell her paintings, she has now sold over 20 paintings in her last two exhibitions.

Overall, this was an amazing partnership event with Tory Burch who provided a platform for our girls to express themselves and exhibit their businesses.

Every Tory Burch client who collaborated with Friends of Puerto Rico by buying two packs of Cafe Ama Love was automatically enrolled in a raffle for a chance to win a Tory Burch purse. Our winners were: Odaliz Miranda, Peggy Gonzalez, and Cristina Diaz. 

We are grateful for our partner Tory Burch and their support to women and girls entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico. With your support we can continue to empower women and children of the island. If you would like to contribute, please consider being a mentor to our SEEDS students or buying or social impact coffee, Café Ama Love. 

By Claudia Quezada

Chicago got a taste of coffee with purpose! On May 8, our Café Ama coffee arrived at the Mercado del Pueblo in Humboldt Park, where we joined a Puerto Rican community in their weekly event hosted by the Puerto Rican Cultural Center.

Upon arrival, we could instantly feel the amazing and welcoming energy everyone had. As we started brewing our coffee, people would visit our booth -- excited to learn that our beans were directly from Puerto Rico! It was like bringing the community a little piece of our island to them.

We were lucky enough to receive a visit from the amazing Ana Belaval who joined us for #ACupOfLove . 

Offering samples allowed us to speak with everyone. The conversation would start with “¿y de qué parte de Puerto Rico eres?" which translates to: “which part of Puerto Rico are you from?" After that, we were part of the community.

Being able to bring Café Ama to Mercado del Pueblo allowed us to see the reaction to our organization's purpose. As soon as we said that all our proceeds go to helping kids build businesses, everyone wanted to contribute. It was very rewarding to see that people not only liked the taste of our coffee, but also wanted to help. After this event, I am certain that “coffee with purpose” is the perfect description for Café Ama.

Mercado del Pueblo, boricua roots in Chicago

Mercado del Pueblo is an initiative organized by the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, or PRCC, that provides free rent to vendors and artists to allow them to operate and develop businesses. The space is also open to non-Puerto Ricans – including business owners from Black communities and other Latino communities. The Mercado del Pueblo is located at the corner of Division and Rockwell streets in Humboldt Park. It’s open from 4-8 p.m. Fridays and 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Social distancing and face masks are required.

Thank you to Puerto Rican Cultural Center for the opportunity! We hope to continue sharing Café Ama with the Chicago community. 

By Angie Gomez

As part of Café Ama Love and Friends of Puerto Rico’s ongoing efforts to aid the community, an inspiring new project has been officially established with Casa Pensamiento de Mujer del Centro. 

Casa Pensamiento, led by Mrs. Jenniffer Berríos Rubert, is an organization based in the municipality of Aibonito, Puerto Rico. Their team brings aid and services to victims of abuse, whether they be women, men or members of the LGBTTIQA+ community, as well as support for the victims' families. Friends of Puerto Rico strongly believes in Casa Pensamiento’s mission for equality and healthy families, as well as their philosophy of “Transforming Today the Woman of Tomorrow”. 

That is why a joint effort under the ESMERALDA Project has begun: “Cafés en Junte'', an initiative focused on education via workshops and organized discussions. 

Cafés en Junte aim to guide and empower, as well as prevent and avoid situations that can result in child abuse. By creating a safe and comfortable environment, participants can feel at ease to learn more about how they can establish healthy relationships within their family dynamic, among many other relevant topics. With an initial donation of 500 Café Ama Love coffee bags, Friends of Puerto Rico hopes to nurture a culture of conversation for the betterment of our communities. 

To learn more about Casa Pensamiento de Mujer del Centro’s services, you can visit their Facebook and Instagram, as well as email casapensamientodemujer@gmail.com