Our History

A little bit about our brand.                                     

Cuba is the natural place for coffee and tobacco to grow. Tropical weather and rich soil make the aroma and taste in these products unique and distinct.  Naturally, this is where our story begins.

The Tactical Underground Coffee Company had been an idea in the making for over 40 years.  As an immigrant from Cuba and a coffee drinker from birth, it was a natural transition after thirty five years as a cop for me to go from cop to coffee. 

But that’s only a very small part of it.  The real background is my father, Rafael Salas, who this coffee is named after, was born in the old country.  Rafael attended “la academia” as a boy and rose in the Cuban National Police to the rank of Chief or “EL Jefe”, hence the brand EL Jefe.

Throughout his life, my dad could always be identified by his trademark cigar and the “café” that he drank.  A fair but driven man, he epitomized what a cop was in the day.  Always a leader, Rafael Salas died in a hail of gunfire October 31^st, 1956.  I was a year old.

                                                                                 

A little more background.

Throughout my childhood, my parents provided me with the best café con leche a baby bottle could hold.  Later as a cop patrolling the streets of Miami, it was natural to stop at a café walk up window several times a day, drink café and just talk with others on a personal level.  This activity probably provided the first community policing on record.  After 35 plus years it was time to hang up the badge and gun belt and return to my roots, coffee.  Today, the walk up café window is still the place to meet, talk business or politics and just basically socialize. 

Paying it forward.  

We know that there are several companies that currently provide assistance to veterans and servicemen through the sale of coffee.  Those companies are amazing and we support their cause.  As a long time cop and new entrepreneur, we wanted to find a way for our company to pay it forward.  What better cause than our brothers in blue.  Tactical Underground Coffee will set aside no less than ten percent of ALL net sales proceeds to benefit police officers.  We are currently engaged in providing  a means to help officers injured in the line of duty who cannot return to duty and thus lack their paycheck.  Our company is working on ways to secure funds for these families to offset costs not addressed by benefits.  Often those officers are forgotten as time goes on. 

We will never forget them!

Ralph Salas, CEO Tactical Underground Coffee. LEO (ret)