OUR DREAM
AINA & CRISTY
CopperCup is truly a family run small business. We still make all of our mixes by hand in San Francisco. Our team consists of our family , a few friends and our amazing production assistant, Mary Grace. Cristy handles sales and logistics and Aina is the mixologist. Our dream is to make CopperCup " a way of being" and not just a drink company.
WHO WE ARE
Aina & Cristy are both white light and karuna reiki masters. They believe in to power of integrating traditional and indigenous healing with modern medicine.
INTEGRATING OUR HERITAGE
Both Aina and Cristy have roots in Hawaii and feel deeply connected to the islands and the people. "Pua Olena" or Turmeric Flower happened to be a song that tugged at both of their heartstrings. Who knew they would grow up and be involved in promoting the healing powers of Turmeric aka Olena. Both of them have witnessed the power of Hawaiian indigenous healers and understand the power of nature, faith and goodness as natural medicine. For this reason they returned to Hawaii to study Reiki. They integrate all of their cultural beliefs into this practice. You will even find them sending reiki energy into their batches of CopperCup and meditating while mixing the batches. We believe that food can feel and absorb love. Never cook when angry as it passes on to the receiver.
Aina is Taiwanese on her mother's side. You will find that she has infused ingredients that have been used for several generations by her family - ginger, ginseng, black sesame. That simple comfort food recipe mom made had secret health benefits all along.
In 2012 both Aina and Cristy flew to Southern India and checked into an ashram. This is where they both knew that it was time to pivot their lives. This marked the beginning of the journey of healing.
A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
At the end of 2018 the original founders of CopperCup, Kat and Adam, invited Aina and Cristy over for dinner. Magic happened. Adam and Aina knew that they worked well together and had similar values but when all four of them sat down to dinner they found out that there was synergy between all four. The next day Adam called Aina and asked if Aina and Cristy would like to take over the business. Without hesitation the answer was YES. CopperCup is the perfect forum for Aina and Cristy to build a socially conscious business that promotes healthy living.
NOW
Adam and Kat are off to their next big adventure and have trusted the company to Aina and Cristy. Through CopperCup they are working to fulfill their dreams of creating a strong shared economy model. They are partnering with amazing groups like Diaspora Co in an effort to decolonize the spice trade and to put profits back in the hands of small organic family farms.
FROM GOLDEN MILK TO TURMERIC LATTE
Like any local San Franciscan, Kat has what some would consider extraordinarily high standards for healthy food. When an herbologist friend introduced her and her boyfriend Adam to the millennia-old Indian home remedy "golden milk" (haldi ka doodh or turmeric milk), she fell in love at first taste. This spice, she found out, made her feel great.
After about a week of drinking it every day, she felt stable and robust in mood, energized throughout her 6am-6pm work day, was enjoyng her yoga more, and was sleeping better beyond belief. For totally selfish reasons, Adam and she started developing a tastier, more convenient recipe. That began obsessive researching, experimenting, and guzzling of mug after mug to find a recipe that struck just the right balance of delicious and nutrient-packed.
THE SEARCH FOR A TURMERIC MASTERPIECE
Adam thought their recipe was good, but it could be better. He started drinking multiple mugfuls a day and couldn't believe all the different ways it made his body feel great: he was sleeping more deeply, his soreness from weightlifting and hiking went away much faster, and his mind was clearer and sharper. After a few more months of R&D and searching for sources of the finest ingredients, they landed on a masterpiece recipe that we need to share with the world.