“We love that these holiday flavors have a dedicated following,” said Angela Cottrell, Director of Marketing at Cups. “The holidays are when friends and families come together, and Cups neighborhood cafes and flavors are a perfect match for making memories.”

Christmas Cookie is brand new for 2023, and is a delicious mix of almonds, vanilla, and white chocolate available as a latte or flavored coffee.

Candy Cane Hot Chocolate, also new this year, is available hot or frozen, and is an alternative for non-coffee drinkers.

Mint Mocha is a balanced blend of sweet chocolate, bright hints of mint and dark espresso. 

Frosty’s Favorite is flavored with white chocolate and cinnamon and is available as a latte or flavored coffee. It’s a flavor that doesn’t just have fans, it has superfans, who get their flavor-roasted beans shipped across the country, or post on social media with their lattes. 

“Frosty’s Favorite sells out every year, no matter how much we make,” said Cottrell. “Last year alone, we roasted more than one ton of beans and shipped bags to places like Montana, West Virginia, and Vermont.”

Cups’ holiday flavors are available in stores through the holiday season, and fresh roasted flavored coffees can be ordered online.

About Cups Espresso Cafe: Founded in 1993, Cups Espresso Cafe has served communities across the state with quality coffee sourced from around the globe but roasted in Mississippi. With over 11 locations across Central Mississippi, each cafe offers a welcoming environment and a place for coffee lovers to create and be inspired. Learn more by visiting: https://cupsespressocafe.com/

Eamonn Cottrell, Cups’ Chief Operations Officer

For thirty years, Cups has been the go-to place for Mississippians to fuel up on their favorite espresso drinks and on inspiration from local art. We caught up with Eamonn Cottrell, Cups’ Chief Operations Officer, to get his take on how Cups continues to be a staple for local communities.

Eamonn has been with Cups for over twenty years. He started as a barista working at the cafe in Fondren. It was 2003 and he had just moved to Mississippi from Knoxville, TN. Cups helped him feel at home and find community while he worked to finish his education. 

A Connection to Community

“It was a lot of fun because I was able to do schooling and also have this cool job that for me–and the reason that I stayed there for so long in those years–connected me to a community that I was new to,” Eamonn said. “I got to know everyone from homeless people to doctors. I got to be friends with every facet of the community. That’s the thing I loved the most about it.”

After getting his business degree from Millsaps College in 2012, Eamonn returned to Cups, now as part of its business and operations. He noticed that Cups had become an even greater staple to local communities, as more and more people needed a place between work and home to recharge for the day. 

“What has not changed is the need to have a ‘third meeting place:’ somewhere to unwind between home and work,” Eamonn said. “And I think that’s why it’s so important for Cups to be in the various communities that it’s in, so that people have a spot to hang out and connect with each other. Zoom has been a godsend the last few years, but it’s not the same as being in person and sharing a coffee. There’s something about that in-person experience that will always be needed, especially at the local level.”

Looking Ahead

Eamonn says he’s excited for the new drinks, coffees, and innovative roasting techniques that are currently in the works. He also looks forward to seeing Cups continue its tradition as a go-to spot for Mississippi coffee lovers to be inspired.

“When Janice and Dennis talked about Cups, they talked about the desire for it to be a community staple for the neighborhood folks. And so, the core of what they wanted to do was have this art-filled place for anybody from any walk of life to be able to hang out and have a safe place to be. That core hasn’t changed, and it’s what I’ve always loved about Cups.”  

Reflecting on 30 Years of Cups

At the end of our chat, Eamonn shared a profound appreciation for Cups, the early days of his career, and all the memories made along the way. Here’s what he had to say:

“I’m about to be 40, so I’ve worked at Cups for half of my life at this point. Working at Cups has been one of the most influential things in my life, and I’m super grateful to the Camerons for starting it.”  

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates and special offers in celebration of our 30th anniversary!

Cups founder Janice Cameron

The dream of Cups started in Italy. It was in Italy that Janice and Dennis Cameron’s love for coffee grew into a passion that they wanted to bring home to Mississippi. Now after 30 years, 11 cafes, and countless memories, Cups continues to connect coffee lovers to classic Italian espresso. We spoke with our founder, Janice Cameron, to get the scoop on all things Cups, and celebrate our 30th anniversary. 

“My husband and I are both Italian, so we both grew up with coffee being an essential part of every meal,” Janice said. “After the wedding, we made plans to travel–Italy being first on our list. During our trip, we visited as many espresso shops as we could. And, that’s where our inspiration for Cups comes from–a love of our heritage and of coffee.”

Janice and her husband, Dennis, founded Cups on July 31, 1993, in Jackson, Mississippi. At that time, coffee houses weren’t a common occurrence in the city.

“We purchased Cups from a small business that had been in town for about a year. We were excited to continue the love of coffee in our own way,” Janice said. “When we started Cups, there really weren’t any coffee houses in the area. There were a few coffee franchises, but no coffee houses. We were the first in the region–and we did it because we thought it was a great opportunity to bring espresso to the city.”

Cups offered Jacksonians a coffee experience that wasn’t around at the time– a local connection to Italian espresso, Southern art, and music performed by artists in the area. Being an artist herself, Janice knew the importance of having a creative outlet in the community and incorporated that into Cups through live music and commission-free display options for visual artists. 

“We hosted live music for the first five years, and that gave young artists a chance to play and get their start,” Janice said. “Whoever wanted to come and play could come and play. It was a wonderful time!”

In addition to supporting the unique sound and look of its neighborhood, each cafe was purposefully designed to reflect its surrounding community.

“We’ve always allowed the owners or managers of our company stores to be creative when designing their space. Of course, we want all of our cafes to be welcoming and inviting, but the only thing we require is that we serve the best coffee,” Janice said. 

And the coffee–Cups’ trademark–is also centered on community, especially when it comes to developing new flavored coffees and drinks. Each season brings a new opportunity for Cups’ creative team to come together and talk coffee, flavor, and everything in between. Janice says the process is dynamic, creative, and also a lot of fun: 

“We come together and talk about what we think might be great for the season–we talk to our managers as well as our owners to hear their ideas. We look to see what people enjoy–what’s going on in the food world. Then, our team will create drinks and bring them to us to try. Then we decide. It’s a process that involves the whole Cups community and is a lot of fun,” Janice said. “This season, we’re really excited about our Spumoni latte. It was created by one of our managers at Cups in Madison and is absolutely delicious with strawberry, chocolate, and cherry.” 

What’s more, these mouth-watering flavors, designed specifically for your palette, are only made better by Cups’ focus on serving premium locally roasted coffee.

“We roast our own beans in small batches every week so that each time you stop by to get a cup of coffee or grab a bag of beans, it’s fresh. We use small-farm coffee beans for the best flavor,” Janice said. “And, we work closely with our roaster and supplier to get the best coffee. My roaster has worked with us for over 20 years, so we’re very dedicated to providing the best beans we can source.”

Janice said that she looked forward to seeing Cups continue to adapt to the needs of local artists and coffee lovers with each passing year. She also looks forward to enjoying her go-to café breve or mocha and getting inspired by the local art. Above all, though, she is grateful. Grateful to all the customers, baristas, and coffee lovers that make Cups feel like home. At the end of our chat, she had only this to say:

“Thank you for 30 years in this community!”

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates and special offers in celebration of our 30th anniversary! 

Shawn Rogers Cups’ Vice President of Operations

It’s a sunny spring morning. Beautiful, really. You’re about to leave for work and you’re surprised to discover you’re actually running a bit ahead of schedule for once. Excellent, you think. I have just enough time to stop by Cups before I head to the office!

Every traffic light between you and your closest cafe is green. You arrive between morning rushes, say hello to your favorite barista (you know the one) and order a cup of Guatemalan roast. The aroma hits your nostrils, and right as you take your first sip, you think, Now if only everything today could be this easy!

Want to know a secret? A whole lotta work went into making it that easy. That’s where Shawn Rogers comes in.

Shawn wears two hats at Cups—he’s both our Vice President of Operations and our coffee roaster. If that sounds like a lot of responsibility for one person, well…it is. He’s been with us for about 25 years now, so it’s safe to say he’s proven himself up to the challenge many times over.

Shawn began his Cups journey by working with us part-time while still in college. He began roasting in 1999 and later formalized his training through a series of certifications ranging from purchasing and buying to thermodynamics and heat transfer. “I am not a scientist,” says Shawn, laughing, “but I listen to the scientists who tell me how it works.”

In short? Shawn knows coffee.

It’s a good thing too. It’s no secret that COVID-19 has done a number on the global supply chain. Because of the lead time involved—coffee takes months to source, sample, and transport—our industry didn’t feel the full effects of the pandemic in the beginning, but that’s since changed.

“We’ve been buying (our Guatemalan roast) primarily from the Oriflama plantation for a very long time, which is a plantation owned by a couple of sisters,” says Shawn. “It’s really well done, great quality coffee. But we provide coffee for a dozen coffee shops, plus an online store, wholesale accounts, and so on. So, when I purchase a coffee, it has to be enough to meet that volume.”

With supply chain issues hitting the plantation, Shawn has had to get creative. He’s been working with the same importer for 20 years, and she recommended another source for Cups’ Guatemalan roast. However, Cups’ commitment to sourcing quality beans means Shawn needs to try the coffee himself.

So how does that work? For our new Guatemalan roast, Guatemala Huehuetenango, the process looked something like this:

First, promising batches of Guatemalan roast were shipped to a warehouse in Houston. Once they it arrived, samples of each batch were sent to Shawn—about a pot of coffee’s worth of beans—which he then roasted up to see if they met his exacting standards.

Our warehouse roaster prepares a new batch of fresh coffee

“If it’s something I approve,” says Shawn, “then they’ll move it to our warehouses in New Orleans where I store all my coffee. I have hundreds and hundreds of bags of coffee in New Orleans because I can’t store them up here. And about once a month, I get a truck brought up from New Orleans with all the coffee I need.”

So, just to recap: The sample needs to be shipped, roasted, tasted, and approved before the “real” work even begins.

Roastery expert preparing shipping labels

After a few samples were tested for quality and taste, Guatemala Huehuetenango was chosen as our new Guatemala origin coffee. An order was shipped to Cups’ warehouses, where it was then prepared for packaging and distribution–a process that is just as meticulous and exact as our quality testing.

Grounds are added carefully before shipping

Remember that the next time you take a sip of a brew that hits just right. Give yourself a mental high five for your discriminating taste and raise your mug to Shawn. Goodness knows he’s earned it.