the authentic aroma of Ecuadorian coffee in Brooklyn

Located south of the equator, Zaruma is a magical town, where its people, gold and coffee are part of the charm.

Three thousand miles away, we found a little piece of this land in Brooklyn.

This is the Zaruma Gold Coffee cafeteria. After years in New York, Diana Aguilar had decided to return to Ecuador to set up a cafeteria there in the style of those in the capital of the world. However, the pandemic did not allow it.

“Just a couple of months before the pandemic, they had given me the plans for what the cafeteria was going to be, unfortunately it could not be given, but don’t get frustrated, because I said things happen for a reason”, says Aguilar.

And so fate has other plans, sometimes even better. They and their 4 children decided to open the cafeteria in Brooklyn. Patricia, Diana, Xavier and Christian are part of their mother’s success. “For us children, we were a bit nervous because, as you say, it’s not anywhere… It’s Brooklyn, Dumbo, New York…

…So it kind of requires a higher standard, but we support her, she always has her fixed goal, we are there supporting what she needed and here we are”, says Diana Romero Aguilar, one of the daughters.

And the aroma of Ecuadorian coffee is felt throughout this exclusive area of ​​Brooklyn known as DUMBO. Part of the success of the Romero Aguilar family is the fact that the cafeteria is right here.

But success did not come overnight, Diana has been planning her dream for more than 15 years:

“We were learning along the way, we made many mistakes, we have fallen a few times, hard falls, but from there we have risen,” says the Ecuadorian entrepreneur, Diana Aguilar.

“During the months of confinement, I began to plan regional coffee, I entertained myself to dispel everything we were experiencing, regional coffee, contacting Ecuadorian producers online, by telephone, all the packaging, everything comes from Ecuador “, indicates.

Xavier Romero, also works at Zaruma Gold Coffee.

“Part of the company’s values ​​and mission is to buy from coffee growers in the area, pay the fair price of the coffee and of course this also motivates other people to work on the land, and continue growing coffee” .

To accompany a good product, the ocelot cannot be missing, as well as mashed green plantain mixed with cheese, pork rinds, and an egg that will make your mouth water.

Flavio Córdova Guillen, is a client of Zaruma:

“It seems spectacular to me that there is a place where they sell exclusively Ecuadorian coffee, Zaruma coffee, so it is not something that is easily obtained in New York or anywhere and that seems very good to me, a source of pride as an Ecuadorian,” he says.

“You feel the family atmosphere and that group work, that they develop, that everyone puts their shoulder into making an effort, for a common good and to achieve the objectives,” says Ligia López, also an Ecuadorian client.