On February 6, 2017, Adam Rioux launched his very own cold brew coffee business, Cold Mountain Brew. The idea is that customers go online to their website to order their own simple cold brew coffee kit as well as a subscription for a monthly supply of fresh cold brew coffee beans (for the incredibly low price of just $1 per day). It’s delivered straight to your door – free of shipping charges! Cheap, convenient and quality coffee…what more could college students ask for? Her Campus FSU got the chance to interview Cold Mountain Brew’s founder.
Name: Adam Christopher Rioux
Age: 21
Hometown: Port Charlotte, Fla.
Major: Marketing with a minor in Entrepreneurship
Relationship Status: Single
Her Campus (HC): You just launched your own cold brew coffee business; that’s quite a feat! How does it feel?
Adam Rioux (AR): Starting a company is an awesome rush; it feels great. I’ve never done something this big, and it’s been a lot of work to get to this point, but it’s been such an amazing feeling to see the business come into reality. I’m very excited! Cold Brew is trending upwards and slowly becoming many people’s favorite type of coffee. I think we’re a very attractive option for people that are serious about their cold brew coffee in the morning.
HC: I assume this has been a work in progress, how long has this idea been in the works?
AR: We had the idea around mid-December in 2016. We wanted to start a business with a product we loved and what better place to start than the caffeine beverage we drink every morning to start our day. We bounced ideas back and forth about how to make the business work and outlined how it could fail. Ultimately, it made too much sense not to explore. After quite a few long nights (fueled by Cold Brew), we made Cold Mountain Brew happen. Since the launch, the support has been incredible. People love their Cold Mountain Brew, and we’re committed to providing the people the best cold brew coffee possible.
HC: Why did you specifically decide to go the cold brew coffee route?
AR: Cold brew coffee is easy and it fits our lives. We love iced-coffee, but to be honest, it’s a pain to make it. I don’t have time to wait for coffee to cool after I brew it with K-Cups or a drip coffee maker, and I hate when it melts the ice and dilutes the coffee. Cold brew not only tastes better than hot brewed coffee, but it’s so much more convenient. Through two minutes of effort, you have a week’s worth of cold brew, right in your own home. I looked for other companies who offered cold brew, but the only options were overpriced concentrates in grocery stores that contained a bunch of additives and sugars. I wanted a sustainable source of amazing organic, pure cold brew every morning.
HC: What processes did you go through to pin down the taste you wanted for your unique cold brew?
AR: We spent so much time discussing with our cold brew coffee roasters on how to find the best cold brew taste. After some trial and error, with combinations of different beans and grinding size for perfect cold brew, we narrowed our choices and started the taste testing. I actually made a lot of friends offering free cold brew coffee. After hundreds of people tasting, we found the best beans and grind for our Cold Mountain Brew.
HC: You’re in this business with your brother John, correct? How has this experience been working with your sibling so far?
AR: It’s been awesome working with my brother! He’s always been the one to inspire me and push me to chase down business opportunities. We wanted to work together, but needed the right idea. Cold Mountain Brew gave us that opportunity. Sometimes it feels like a time machine back to when we were kids and we would fight over something small. Now that we’re older, and slightly more mature, we just talk things out and end up with a stronger plan than we had in the first place.
HC: What do you wish to come out of your Cold Mountain Brew business and how do you hope it influences your customers?
AR: I hope that people realize how easy and reasonable it is to make amazing cold brew coffee at home. There’s so much confusion around cold brew, but it’s actually really easy. Standing in line at Starbucks and overpaying every day doesn’t fit in our schedule, and it probably doesn’t fit yours either. Cold Mountain Brew lets you have a constant supply of top-tier cold brew coffee for less than you’d pay for a burnt-tasting cup of regular joe anywhere else (I’m looking at you, Starbucks). This way, our customers save money and time. We’d rather you take that time and money you save every day, and dedicate it to something you love.
HC: Do you have any other projects in the works for the future?
AR: We have a ton of ideas for the future. One of my next moves is traveling down to Colombia to meet our cold brew coffee bean farmers. Since we’re 100% Organic and Fair Trade coffee, we want to bring that story to our consumers. We want to show people how buying Cold Mountain Brew directly helps these farmers and their families through our Fair Trade Cooperative partners on the ground.
For more information and cold brew recipes, check out their website here!