We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessica Taylor. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessica below.

Jessica, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Ezra Coffee Company prides itself on being a homegrown specialty coffee brand that connects coffee, culture, and history with every blend. We offer mixed-origin, naturally flavored blends bold in flavor without any of the pesky allergens. Our blend names and stories highlight significant events and individuals within our collective American history, giving you a boost of energy and empowerment in every cup.

Ezra is Hebrew for “he who helps” and is the core essence of Ezra Coffee Co. Ezra’s founder, Jessica Taylor, created Ezra Coffee Co. out of a side passion, a commitment to higher education, a desire for storytelling, and a yearning to help. Jessica’s summers sipping coffee with her sister and her grandfather grounded her love for coffee. However, when her sister developed food allergies and lactose-intolerance, she could no longer consume specialty coffee drinks. So, Jessica began experimenting with flavoring beans to help her sister enjoy the coffee of their childhood. Perfecting her process for flavoring beans and creating an allergen-free blend, Jessica saw an additional opportunity to propel Ezra into a new coffee stratosphere. Thus, Ezra’s packaging was created with the mission of connecting coffee, community, culture, and collective history. As WFAA’s Cleo Greene dubbed it, Ezra is “coffee with a cause.”

As a former educator, Jessica incorporates a dose of knowledge in every blend. Her goal with Ezra is to not only create flavorful, delicious, allergen-free coffee, but to create a space for African American culture and history to exist in everyday life. Jessica believes that there’s always an opportunity to learn something new and grow from that knowledge, even during your morning caffeine fix. That’s why behind every Ezra blend name is a story that highlights significant events, individuals, experiences, and untold stories of African-Americans and the larger diaspora (Afro-Latina, Afro-Mexican, etc) that have greatly contributed to our collective American history.

Ezra Coffee Company brings that collective history to a new level by sharing cultural and unique experiences to BIPOC communities. Ezra’s integration of black & BIPOC histories allows it to not only function as a phenomenal coffee brand, but as a sociocultural vehicle elevating the voices of unsung heroes within our community.

And we don’t just tell the stories of the BIPOC community, we help create future stories, future leaders, future activists, entrepreneurs, engineers, educators, artists, etc. We don’t just elevate the voices of the unsung heroes, we scream for, cheer for, and support the voices of the soon-to-be sung heroes! Ezra’s business model includes a support system for underrepresented students attending post-secondary institutions. Our commitment to our community enables us to support students pursuing four-year degrees through our bi-annual scholarships.

We know that in order to achieve change, you must support change at every level. We see you. We hear you. We believe in you. We support you.

That’s what Ezra Coffee Company strives to do: tell a story in every cup. We tell a tale of history, a collection of our collective American history. We don’t just tell a story, though. We help you tell your story.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

To secure the initial capital to properly start up Ezra Coffee Company required a lot of bootstrapping. From utilizing my savings to finding, applying for, and receiving grants, I have continued to reinvest every dollar I make into my business to allow it the proper funds to grow. When I first decided to start my business, I had to sacrifice a lot of my personal assets. For example, I was driving a really nice luxury SUV at the time. However, I decided to trade that in for a more economical vehicle. I used the money I would normally have paid in a monthly payment and insurance to further grow my business. I have since applied for multiple grants and accelerator programs, some of which I have been awarded! Every award I have been granted has been used as capital for Ezra. I have also participated in a lot of rewards programs through credit cards that have allowed me to cover different expenses, such as travel for business trips and business needs, via the rewards points program. These types of financial incentives have also allowed me to save capital and increase Ezra’s profitability.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

In addition to the current trends of marketing: email marketing, social media, and text marketing, I would say that events, pop-ups, and press have been a wonderful way to grow our clientele and expand our business. Social media is wonderful and it certainly has its upsides, but events allow us to tell our story AND for people to sample our products simultaneously. Our story is incredible, but our products seal the deal! It’s one thing to tempt new customers to taste the coffee via an online order and it’s another thing to have new customers WANT to taste the coffee, be BLOWN AWAY, and know that they can’t leave the event WITHOUT a bag or two (or usually three) of Ezra Coffee.

Contact Info:

• Website: ezracoffeeco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ezracoffeeco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ezracoffeeco/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ezra-coffee-company/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ezracoffeeco

Image Credits
Rachel Bell Creative