ZIPURE isn't an ordinary coffee brand. It's the first-ever coffee crystal brand in the US - coffee flash-frozen solid as a single, intact tablet instead of ground into powder or blasted into instant granules. It was founded by Jessica Cheng and Elin Wang, two women who met as classmates in the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business One-Year Full-Time MBA program, and built the brand during the program, not after it.
The Problem They Couldn't Ignore
Jessica Cheng arrived at USC from Hong Kong, with years of experience building brands and launching products across APAC. Elin Wang arrived from Beijing, having led global business expansion across technology markets. They came from different professional worlds but landed in the same one-year program - no summers, no slow weeks - and ran into the same small problem.
Between lectures, late-night sessions, and the relentless pace of the program, the rituals that used to ground them quietly disappeared. There was no time for a café run, but bitter, stale instant coffee wasn't an option either. They looked for something better and couldn't find it. So they built it. That question - why doesn't this exist? - became ZIPURE.
What Is a Coffee Crystal and Why Is ZIPURE the First?
Most coffee that isn't brewed fresh falls into one of two categories. Traditional instant coffee is blasted with hot air until the water evaporates, a process that strips out most of the aroma, oil, and flavor along with the moisture. Standard freeze-dried coffee is a step up - brewed, then frozen into sheets and broken into granules - but it arrives at your cup already fragmented, with flavor loss baked into that break point.
ZIPURE built a third category: the coffee crystal. It's a single tablet of freshly pulled espresso, flash-frozen at -40°C until it's completely solid - a deep-freeze process that acts like a pause button on freshness. Rather than being ground or broken apart before it reaches you, the crystal stays fully intact until the moment hot or cold liquid hits it. That's when it wakes up and tastes like the espresso it started as - sourced from single-origin arabica in Ethiopia and Colombia, custom roasted to capture peak flavor, water-cooled ground to protect the aroma, and brewed to Gold Cup quality.
No grinding it down first. No breaking it apart in transit. That intact, solid format is what the founders mean when they call ZIPURE the first coffee crystal brand in the US - not a faster instant coffee, and not a better freeze-dried granule, but a format that didn't exist in the category before.
Built During the Program, Not After
Most people wait until after a demanding MBA to start a company. Jessica and Elin didn't. The goal was never just convenience - it was to replicate the exact experience of a barista-made cup and put it in your pocket. ZIPURE launched while the MBA program was still in session. Not after. During.
Jessica applied what she learned in leadership and communication directly to ZIPURE's brand identity, storytelling, and go-to-market strategy - the program's immersive, cross-cultural environment sharpened her instinct for what resonates across audiences, and gave her the self-awareness to lead with conviction rather than hesitation. Elin used the pace of the MBA program to rewire how she made decisions - moving from planning in hours to planning in minutes, refining through action instead of waiting for certainty. That mindset became the engine behind ZIPURE's operations, sourcing, and product development.
What the MBA program gave them, more than any single class or framework, was the confidence to build something real while the program was still happening around them.
In Their Own Words
“Fear is the doorway. Uncertainty is the path. Keep walking and trust yourself.” — Jessica Cheng
“Aim high. Stay curious. Move with courage. Win your own race.” — Elin Wang
Two different answers to the same question everyone asks - how did you actually pull this off — but the same underlying belief: momentum matters more than perfect conditions, and building under pressure isn't a liability. It's a proof of concept.
Not Just Another Coffee Brand
ZIPURE isn't trying to be another coffee brand on a crowded shelf - it's building the category around the coffee crystal from the ground up, for people who move fast and refuse to compromise: the commuter, the traveler, the early riser, the late worker. Anyone who wants the ritual of great coffee without the friction.
To learn more or try the product, visit zipurelife.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded ZIPURE?
ZIPURE was founded by Jessica Cheng and Elin Wang, who met as classmates in the MBA program at USC Marshall School of Business and built the brand during their one-year program.
What makes ZIPURE the first coffee crystal brand in the US?
ZIPURE flash-freezes freshly pulled espresso into a single, solid tablet - a format distinct from both traditional instant coffee and standard freeze-dried granules, which is why the founders call it the first coffee crystal brand in the US.
What is a “coffee crystal”?
It's ZIPURE's term for its core product format - a single tablet of freshly pulled espresso, flash-frozen at -40°C until solid, that dissolves completely the moment it meets water, hot or cold.
Does “flash-frozen” mean I need to store it in the fridge?
No — the flash-freezing happens during production, to lock in the espresso's flavor and aroma before each coffee crystal is sealed. Once sealed, ZIPURE is shelf-stable at room temperature for up to two years, with no refrigeration needed before or after opening.
Where does ZIPURE source its coffee?
ZIPURE sources single-origin arabica from Ethiopia and Colombia, custom-roasted for each bean's individual flavor profile.
