Origin: The shout of “¡Azúcar!” ¿Who came up with it? Well, here is the story.              

All artists have a catchphrase that they use to connect with their target audience, the catchphrase of Celia Cruz was a shout of “¡Azúcar!” (Sugar!)

And according to a conversation that Celia Cruz had one day with Dr. Marvette Pérez (1961-2013), the Curator of Latino History and Culture at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.    

The phrase originated when Celia Cruz and her husband Pedro Knight nicknamed “Cabecita de Algodón” (Cotton Head), were having dinner in a restaurant in Miami and after they finished the waiter said, ¿Do you want your black coffee with or without sugar?  

And Celia Cruz enthused told the waiter, with sugar of course I'm Cuban, how else I'm going to drink my coffee! 

Then that night Celia Cruz told the story to her audience during a performance in a nightclub in Miami, Florida, and they laughed at the joke and gave her a loud round of applause. 

Celia Cruz also said “¡Azúcar!” was a battle cry and an allusion to African slaves who worked Cuba's sugar plantations.