Ever since WHS senior Alex Joseph was young, he had an interest in coffee. It fascinated him that small beans from all over the world could come together and create such a balanced drink, and he wanted to know more. 

So, he started to conduct research on what turns good coffee into great coffee, and how the different ratios of beans to water could create different coffee flavor profiles. After his college application process came to an end, Joseph found himself with more time, and wanted to turn his passion for coffee into a business. Thus, the Mr. Joseph Coffee Company was born.

  As Mr. Joseph Coffee Company was starting to come to fruition, Joseph did even more research on what coffee to use for his new company. He wanted a flavor that was unique, but he also needed to make sure that the coffee was in a price range that would allow him to sell it at a reasonable price. Once he found the right coffee for his company, he began working on a recipe.

“The cold brew espresso is one of a kind,” Joseph said. “I create an espresso concentrate that brews for 24 hours in the fridge. I then filter the concentrate three times to remove any coffee particulate. After the coffee concentrate brews, I mix it with sugar, skim milk, light cream and salt to preserve and intensify the coffee.”

Joseph developed his blend, he started to give out samples for some feedback.  That presented a dilemma: There was too much discrepancy between opinions; some said it was too sweet and for others it wasn’t sweet enough. This sparked the idea to create his first flavor of the coffee: cream and sugar. 

Joseph picked this flavor, “to appease both coffee aficionados and coffee novices. [I] created something that was not only smooth, but included a lot of natural nuanced flavors like chocolate and hazelnut that are seen without any flavoring, just pure coffee.”

Now that he had a finished product, he needed a way to distribute his cold-brew espresso to customers. He contacted many bottling companies to figure out how he was going to bottle his creation. Originally, Joseph decided to bottle his product in brown glass bottles, but he quickly switched to clear glass bottles. They were more school friendly, as the clear bottles did not look too much like alcohol bottles. He then created a bottle label, and Mr. Joseph Coffee Company finally had a product to sell to the public.

Mr. Joseph Coffee Company was an instant hit, so much so that the company immediately had trouble keeping up with the demands, and they were running out of product too quickly. Because of this, Joseph brought four of his closest friends, WHS seniors Shayan Burns, Daniel Singh and Elijah Soh, into the company to help him meet customer demands.

Producing enough cold brew espresso has still been a challenge for Joseph and his company. He makes the product at his house, and there is only so much he can do at a time. The group is actively looking for a commercial kitchen space that would allow them to make more bottles of cold brew espresso.

But, just like all small businesses right now, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Joseph’s company. He shared that when COVID-19 became increasingly more prevalent in Italy, he had trouble getting his coffee, as it is shipped from Italy. Additionally, sales have slowed down a bit because Joseph is unable to reach out to customers because of quarantining and social distancing; however, the extra time is giving him an opportunity to experiment with new flavors such as Mocha, Americano and French Vanilla, while also stocking up on more product so he will have many bottles to sell when he can start reaching customers again.

Before COVID-19, Joseph had been in talks with many local businesses to get his product in their stores, but those talks were halted due to the pandemic.

Nonetheless, Joseph hopes to get his company’s product on shelves at local stores soon, and one day, stores around the country as he continues to grow his brand and line of cold-brew espresso. 

To follow Joseph and Mr. Joseph Coffee Co.’s journey, follow them on Instagram @mr.josephcoffee.