Brewing Connection: CMU Names Its First Coffee Ambassador
By Angie Reyes-Meza
I am very excited to announce the launch of a brand-new initiative at Carnegie Mellon focused on connecting our university community with coffee systems and the amazing people who make it possible.
There’s no doubt that college campuses run on coffee. According to a national survey conducted by Grand Canyon University in 2025, coffee was by far students’ preferred source for caffeine, outranking energy drinks, soda, and tea. Whether you’re hunkering down in La Prima for a study session, or grabbing a quick cup in between classes at the Zebra Lounge, there’s no shortage of options on campus for your daily dose of caffeine. But what does it really mean to drink coffee? Is it just another way to get through the week, or can it be a way to connect with friends amidst a hectic schedule? And what, exactly, goes into each cup?
As CMU’s inaugural Coffee Ambassador, I hope to help students explore these questions and build a coffee culture that reflects the collaboration, sustainability, and creativity at the heart of our university.
For me, coffee has always been about personal identity and family history. Growing up as the daughter of proud Honduran immigrants, I can’t remember a family gathering without the comforting smell of coffee grounds and the warmth of a mug in between my hands. For most of my life, I took this experience for granted, never fully realizing just how much it meant to me until I was 900 miles away from everything I knew and desperately missing home. That perspective began to shift when I enrolled in Coffee and Capitalism with Professors John Soluri and Saurin Nanavati during the spring of my junior year. Thanks to some incredible lectures, mentorship, and encouragement, I dove headfirst into the world of coffee and began to see the drink I grew up with in an entirely new way.
We have some pretty big plans for coffee at CMU, and I really can’t wait to share them with you all. My hope is that these programs will inspire students to slow down, smell the coffee, and reconnect with the people, stories, and livelihoods behind each cup. There’s no real precedent for this role—it’s truly first-of-its-kind—but I think that’s what makes it so exciting. I get to learn alongside my fellow students, build something new, and explore just how powerful coffee can be. Ultimately, I hope we can transform the way we think about coffee at CMU, from something we simply consume into something that connects us to one another and to the world beyond our campus.
Reyes-Meza's Coffee Farm Visit
