Our Story

A life on the water. A passion for the cup.

Where It All Began

My name is Jimmy Romero. I was born in Queens, New York, to a Puerto Rican family — but from the age of two, I was raised by a foster family who eventually adopted me and my biological sister. They were an Afro-Cuban family, and they gave us something that no paperwork could ever fully describe: unconditional love, a sense of belonging, and a home where the kitchen was always the heart of everything.

In that home, coffee was never just a drink. It was the first thing made in the morning and the last thing poured at night. Cuban coffee — strong, sweet, shared in tiny cups — was the language of hospitality in our house. It was how you said "welcome." It was how you said "stay a while." It was how you said "I love you" without saying it at all. That is where my relationship with coffee began, long before I knew it had a name.

“In my Cuban home, coffee wasn’t made — it was performed. The colador, the espumita, the tiny cups passed hand to hand. I didn’t know it then, but that kitchen was my first coffee education.”

30 Years on the Water

I spent over 30 years in the marine electronics industry across South Florida — in sales, service, and project management on some of the most extraordinary vessels in the world. Superyachts, commercial ships, working boats that traveled to every corner of the globe. I hold NMEA and NMEA 2000 certifications and a TWIC Card. I am bilingual in English and Spanish. The water was my career and my classroom.

And in every port those vessels visited, I noticed the same thing: every culture, every country had its own coffee story. Istanbul brewed thick, foamy cups in copper cezves buried in hot sand. Ethiopia performed a three-round ceremony from a clay jebena over open coals — a ritual older than almost anything else on earth. Japan elevated tea to an art form requiring years of study just to pour a cup correctly. Yemen grew coffee on ancient hillsides using methods unchanged for 600 years. The world was telling me something. I just needed to listen long enough to hear it.

Why The Cup of the World

In 2026, I founded Romero Ventures LLC and built The Cup of the World around a simple belief: the world's greatest coffees and teas deserve to be in more people's cups — and every great cup deserves to come with its story.

I am not a farmer or a roaster. I am a curator — someone shaped by a Cuban kitchen in Queens, three decades of working on the water, and a lifetime of paying attention to what makes a cup extraordinary. Every product on this site has earned its place through quality, origin, and the story behind it.

I built this store for the curious. For the ones who slow down for a good cup. For anyone who grew up in a home where coffee meant something more than caffeine — where it meant family, culture, and belonging. If that sounds like you, you are in the right place.

Our Promise

• Every product comes from a place with a real story.
• We only feature what we would drink ourselves.
• Tasting notes are honest — not marketing language.
• The journey of the bean or the leaf matters as much as what’s in the bag.
• We are bilingual — English and Spanish — because great coffee has no language barrier.

Welcome to The Cup of the World. Built by a kid from Queens, raised on Cuban coffee, shaped by 30 years on the water, and driven by the belief that every cup tells a story worth knowing.