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You’re reading the second edition of Variety Act Miami. This is your compère, Natalie Guevara. It feels good to have a second act! You can hear about why this newsletter exists here and catch up on the inaugural edition starring the Arsht Center’s Gino Campodonico here.
Without further ado, let’s get into why we’re gathered today.
One morning a couple of months ago, I was shopping at my local artisanal grocer when a playful, sleek new product caught my eye: Jibby Coffee, cold-brewed, small-batch, organic Colombian coffee enhanced with CBD. I bought a can and, upon returning home, whipped up an oat milk iced latte. I was pleasantly alert for the rest of my day, never once death-gripped by adrenaline, anxiety, or that headache-inducing caffeine high. I felt like Bradley Cooper in Limitless, or maybe Reese Witherspoon on the cover of Fast Company. Hmm, just what *is* brewing with this CBD coffee business, exactly?
My happiness grew exponentially when I later researched Jibby and discovered it’s a homegrown Miami brand (!) with two young, brilliant, and incredibly enthusiastic entrepreneurs running the show (!!): Alvaro Ortega and James Reina.
I’m proud to say that since my first encounter with Jibby, a week hasn’t gone by without some in my fridge. I’ve graduated from the individual to-go cans to the full coffee box so that I can enjoy my CBD coffee on tap, hello. Plus, get this: the awesome Alvaro and James are offering you, dear Variety Act Miami reader, a special offer code to sweeten the deal when treating yourself to some Jibby! You can pick up some CBD coffee on jibbycoffee.com with free shipping and 10% off by using the offer code VARIETYACT at checkout.
So, who are the gentlemen of Jibby and just how did they build buzz around CBD coffee?
MEET ALVARO ORTEGA & JAMES REINA OF JIBBY COFFEE.
On their early gravitational pulls towards entrepreneurship:
Alvaro: As a kid, I wasn’t great at school. I have learning difficulties. I was also not exceptionally athletic even though I played a lot of sports.
In high school, my mom found this summer program for entrepreneurship and sent me. For the first time, I felt like I was good at something—at creating ideas and visualizing them into existence. That was very liberating and I felt a strong urge to foster that feeling. So, I founded a business club at my school and created an extracurricular program where I could do entrepreneurship. I would participate in business plan competitions and pitches, plus coach other kids.
I was not very disciplined, however. Though I eventually wanted to start a business, I knew I needed to gain the skill of managing myself first. When I was a senior in college, I felt lost trying to find the right job that would catapult me into my own “thing.” That’s when I found Venture for America. It’s a program that connects young college graduates with startups around the country. When you join, you spend a summer learning from business, marketing, and finance experts and befriend other entrepreneurial-minded people. It was business camp all over again.
James: Both of my parents are small-business owners: my mom owns a hand papermaking studio, and my father fabricates papermaking equipment (that’s how they met!). So, as soon as I was old enough to work I was helping out in their studios, packing orders for my mom and welding for my dad (talk about free labor!). They’ve been a huge source of inspiration and instilled that do-it-yourself attitude in me from a young age. In 2015, when I was 17, they were a big reason I was able to open my first pop-up coffee shop in Brooklyn, Devil Spit Coffee. Over the next few years I experimented with other businesses ideas (one of which I’m still running today on the side), but I can confidently say I’m happy to be back where my entrepreneurial journey started: coffee.
On what sparked Jibby Coffee and led to its playful brand identity:
James: CBD is so new to the market that we knew right off the bat we needed to create a familiar brand identity that would be approachable and help demystify any negative stigma around the ingredient. Actually, even coffee these days can be a bit off-putting or intimidating for your average Joe who might not know (or care) about the subtleties and nuances that the third-wave coffee movement has brought forward.
We wanted to create an approachable and transparent brand that would not only instill confidence in CBD as a functional ingredient, but also translate our coffee expertise into something that was familiar and inclusive. There’s something so simple about a product with just three core ingredients—coffee, water, and CBD—and we wanted to reflect that in our brand.
On the area of business-building they enjoy the most:
Alvaro: I love making things that people love. I get very moved when people tell me they like our product. My initial inclination is to say “bullsh*t” in my head, but over time I’ve come to believe that people actually like it. That’s not to say that I’ll ever take that for granted. I love giving them new reasons to like Jibby Coffee and I search for every opportunity to do so. That’s what I love: making a difference in their day or shifting what they can expect from other businesses. That starts with being one of many businesses nudging customers to make more sustainable choices, but it can be as simple as writing a little note that treats them like a friend.
James: A few years back, I had an amazing summer job working for a small design studio in Berlin (Us Berlin), and that was the first time I saw just how much work goes into every little visual decision to create something cohesive. Since then, I’ve loved and respected brand-building tremendously. Visual identity is especially important for a product like ours that lives on the shelf amongst many other amazing brands, so it’s imperative to stand out. Standing out for Jibby doesn’t mean bright colors—we landed on a cool matte seafoam for our cans to show off that steady, all-day energy from drinking CBD coffee.
On the element of brand-building that’s not discussed enough:
James: I read once that decent brands focus on the what—for example, ”We make CBD coffee.” Good brands focus on the how—e.g., “We infuse high-efficacy CBD with premium organic coffee.” But great brands focus on the why. We started Jibby Coffee because we believe simple daily changes can fundamentally improve your health and lifestyle. We do that by marrying the world’s ritualistic love of coffee with a novel functional ingredient.
On promoting Jibby Coffee in Miami and its fantastic reception so far:
James: The Miami community has been so kind, welcoming, and positive to Jibby. It’s always nice to play in your own backyard, and just being local to Miami has really helped build on community support. Huge shoutout to everyone here who’s helped along the way: Golden Hog Market in the Key, Showfields on the Beach, Minty Z in the Grove, Manna Life Food downtown, Mendez Fuel on Coral Way—just to name a few of our early stockists and supporters!
On their cultural diets:
Alvaro: I just finished watching Invincible on Amazon Prime. I’m a huge fan of superheroes. I’ll watch every Marvel movie or show that comes out. In the last month, I binged WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I think I'm drawn to their sense of conviction and sense of ownership over the well-being of their community.
I also consume a lot of comics. In the comics, especially, heroes are unrelenting and persistent. After 80+ years of Batman comics, Batman is still not done defending Gotham City. These childish escapes really help me put the present battle into perspective. They say, “Businesses don’t fail, entrepreneurs quit.” I’m trying to test that.
James: I’ve been digging that Netflix series Abstract: The Art of Design (it’s a bit old, but excellent). Each episode highlights a discipline (photography, architecture, toy design, et al) through the lens of an individual who is at the absolute top of his or her game in that field. It’s an interesting juxtaposition to my day-to-day because as a founder I have to focus on so many roles at once. So, for me it’s really refreshing and inspiring to see someone who’s just dug deep into certain niches.
On what they’re up to at 8 am on a Monday:
James: Asleep, hah. I’m not a morning person. That must be why I love coffee so much, because it’s the only way to get my day started. The first thing I do in the morning is weigh, grind, and brew a pot of coffee. Right now I’m drinking a Rwanda blend from one of my favorite coffee shops in Detroit, Astro Coffee.
Alvaro is a morning bird—he gets the worm. There have been times when Alvaro’s been back from a run on the beach and I’m just rolling out of bed. These days, he’s been getting up early to tackle a part-time job that he’s working on to help fund our bootstrapped business.
On what they’re up to at 6 pm on a Friday:
Alvaro: I’ll probably be getting finished packing out the last few online orders for the week and loading them in the car to take them to the UPS store. I’ll then probably go with my girlfriend to whatever cool, new Miami spot she found on Yelp that doesn’t need a reservation a month in advance.
James: In this business, work certainly doesn’t stop when the 9-to-5 is over. That being said, Alvaro and I are doing our best to work harder and smarter than everyone around us while also staying mentally healthy. Since moving back to NYC, I’ve spent a lot of my off-time in my father’s shop—either building something out of wood (last week I turned a new portafilter handle on the lathe for my espresso machine), or tooling around on my old car, which I’ll drive down to Miami soon because it’s the perfect Miami convertible: a silver 1987 Mercedes 560SL.
On the emerging brands they admire:
James: We’ve been closely following the success of Cann—they brew low-dose THC-infused social tonics, mainly marketed as an alcohol alternative. Though THC and CBD come from the same plant, they are vastly different ingredients. THC actually does get you high. CBD—what we use in Jibby—is completely non-psychoactive, and people take it for a range of things, from increasing focus and clarity to treating chronic pain and insomnia (plus, you’ll never fail a drug test from CBD).
We’re inspired by Cann because they’ve come out on top by defining an entirely new beverage category: THC-infused drinks. Our vision is for Jibby to do the same with CBD coffee. We want to be synonymous with CBD coffee and instill that feeling of a coffee that actually tastes good and feels good.
We also love Olipop, both from a design perspective and from a health perspective. They’ve really reshaped my view of “healthy food.” Whereas a Diet Coke or a sparkling water are “healthy” in absence, Olipop is healthy in substance, imbuing the sodas with fiber, probiotics, and other necessary nutrients. That’s really neat.
On one picture from each of their camera rolls:
Alvaro: This is a photo of me—still can’t believing I do this for a living—at our March sampling event at Showfields in Miami Beach.
James: I just spent roughly two years living in Detroit as part of the aforementioned Venture for America (which is how I was introduced to Alvaro). Recently, my mother flew out to help me move back to NYC. Since it was her first time seeing Detroit and she only had two days, I decided a bird’s-eye view would do the trick. So we flew around in a helicopter for half an hour, and this is a picture from right before we took off. Plus, it doubled as a Mother’s Day gift!
ALVARO & JAMES’S MIAMI FAVORITES.
Miami anthem (current or classic!):
Alvaro: ”Suavecito” by Malo
James: ”Paper Planes” by M.I.A.
Restaurants & bars:
Alvaro: For bars, The Cleat in the Key, Barracuda and Monty’s in the Grove, Cerveceria La Tropical in Wynwood, and Bodega in Miami Beach. For restaurants, LungYai Thai, Pho 79, Brasas Key Biscayne, Red Rooster Overtown, Mr. OmaKase, Sanguich, and Stiltsville Fish Bar.
James: Minty Z has excellent vegan dim sum in Coconut Grove (and you can find Jibby on their menu!).
Cafés, diners, bakeries, & ventanitas:
Alvaro: Mendez Fuel and Sergio’s on Coral Way, The Golden Hog in Key Biscayne, European Corner in South Miami, and Joanna’s Marketplace off of U.S. 1.
James: Flour & Weirdoughs in the Key.
Cultural centers:
Alvaro: Books & Books in Coral Gables and Tower Theater.
James: I’ve been meaning to check out the Rubell Museum but haven’t had a chance to go yet! Next trip.
Small businesses:
Alvaro: Korka Comics; Filomena Fernandez (owned by my sister-in-law’s family); Tacos y Mas KB; What’s Up Gran-Hola.
The Great Outdoors:
Alvaro: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden; David T. Kennedy Park; Alice C. Wainwright Park; running along Crandon Park Beach; the Key Biscayne Farmer’s Market; the Pinecrest Farmers Market; Knaus Berry Farm.
Miami childhood staple:
Alvaro: Whip ‘n Dip; A.C.’s Icees; Oasis in Key Biscayne (RIP); Dolphin Stadium; Miami Seaquarium.
Most delightful Miami discovery made during quarantine:
Alvaro: Miami’s parks.
The recommendation you’ll always give to a first-time Miami visitor:
Alvaro: Now, I’ll recommend Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.
THANKS, ALVARO & JAMES!
You can follow Alvaro and James at @jibbycoffee. Remember to treat yourself—or your mom (wink!)—to some Jibby and use the offer code VARIETYACT at checkout for free shipping and 10% off your order. Happy buzzing!