You don’t have to be in Gainesville to taste a local company’s cold brew anymore.
Brio Cold Brew Coffee, which is based in Gainesville, now has its products available in Whole Foods in Florida. Their products first started appearing on shelves in Florida Whole Foods Market stores in April. On Sept. 7, brio! officially became available in all 29 stores, which Brio Cold Brew Coffee announced publicly on Facebook and Instagram.
Co-founders Miguel Cardona, 27, and Jose Nieves, 28, said they first met the store manager for Whole Foods in Gainesville at Haile farmers’ market. The collaboration began when the manager sampled and enjoyed the coffee, Cardona said.
Brio Cold Brew Coffee, a local startup that pays above fair-trade prices for their coffee beans in Gainesville, was co founded by childhood friends Cardona and Nieves. Cardona has a degree in architecture and design from UF, while Nieves has a background in culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of America in New York.
“We are trying to take a step back, take it in and appreciate it for the accomplishment it is,” Cardona said.
Their brio! cold brew has two ingredients — 100 percent Arabica coffee beans from Colombia and Florida spring water. The company offers an 8-ounce black cold brew for $4.99 and a 32-ounce black cold brew for $17.99, Cardona said.
“A lot of customers who try brio! for the first time are taken aback by its unique flavor profile,” Nieves said.
Its farm-to-bottle timeline averages 21 days, starting from farms in Tolima, a region in Colombia, and ending in their bottles in Gainesville, Cardona said. They still hand-bottle small batches.
The company delivers their products to Whole Foods with a rented refrigerated truck, leaving Gainesville at midnight to get to Sarasota between 4 and 5 a.m., Cardona said.
Cardona and Nieves said they are focusing on fundraising and expanding their marketing campaigns across the state of Florida, he said.
Beverly Turbiner, 67, a loyal customer and coffee enthusiast, said she stumbled across brio! when her husband ordered it after their dinner at the Leonardo’s 706 restaurant in May 2018.
“He loved it,” Turbiner said. “When I tasted it, it was like the coffee equivalent of fine wine.”
She hopes getting into Whole Foods stores in Florida is Brio Cold Brew Coffee’s big break, she said.
“Miguel and Jose have put enormous effort and heart into making brio! and it's evident in every bottle,” Turbiner said.
Jose Nieves, 28, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in New York, and Miguel Cardona, 27, who graduated from the UF School of Architecture.
