Centerville grad’s decaf coffee business grows
Savorista collected $25K in prize money as winner of UD business competition last year.
Americans love coffee. Just a few decades ago, most restaurants sold regular coffee without much embellishment. But today, so called gourmet coffee drinks have helped national chains and local coffee shops boost sales and gain popularity. The one drawback for some people is the caffeine.
Centerville native Kait Brown, a coffee lover since she was a senior at Centerville High School in 2002, discovered the adverse effects of too much caffeine when she was working in a stressful job and dealing with family health concerns.
“I was in a pattern,” Brown said. “I would get out of bed in the morning and have a few cups of coffee. But then at night I was too jittery to sleep.”
Brown continued to love coffee but hated most decaf. She set out on a mission, searching the world for a full-flavored decaf coffee.
“I wanted to look into creating something I was excited to drink and that other decaf drinkers would be excited about also,” Brown said.
During a visit to Columbus in 2018, she tasted more than 200 different coffees and narrowed those down to two favorites. After extensive market research, Brown, who always loved the idea of having her own business, started Savorista Coffee, LLC.
“In the beginning we only had one coffee,” Brown said. “Since then, we have defined ourselves as a caffeine conscious coffee company.”
Savorista recently went through a rebranding process and today the company offers three “halfcaf ” and five decaffeinated coffees. And in 2019, the company won a People’s Choice Award in Cincinnati for best new coffee company.
“This was a coffee festival with all kinds of different coffees and booths and a lot of people walking around tasting them all,” Brown said. “It was so exciting to win!”
Fast forward to 2020 and the global pandemic and festivals like this one were abruptly canceled. Brown used the time to develop new coffees and to partner with coffee shops who agreed to serve them.
“Our first partnership was with a shop in Michigan and we became their decaf option,” Brown said. “We were working to do more of that when COVID hit.”
Like most small business owners, Brown had to rethink everything she was doing in 2020. She wanted to not only keep the business afloat but also keep her staff paid.
“We decided to pause and focus on product development,” Brown said. “We had lots of customers asking for quick and easy brew and K cups (for Kuerig).”
Savorista released her pour over paper filter that fits directly over mugs at the Columbus Coffee Festival
in September of 2020. Since that event could not go on as usual, people instead had an option of purchasing a Coffee Festival Curated Take Home Experience Box, which featured local roasters samples, including Brown’s single serving coffees.
The company continued transforming as the holiday season approached in 2020 when Brown created a coffee-themed holiday greeting, so people could send a cup of coffee to their friends and family. And at the same time, she began rebranding her company to give it a more premium feel. She launched the new brand in late February.
“We were honored to win the University of Dayton business competition,” Brown said. “We received $25,000 in prize money and a grant for services from the Entrepreneur Center.”
Brown used that money to help launch her new branding and product development. And she appreciates the support she continues to receive from other small community startups in Dayton who continually encourage one another.
Many people have asked her if she intends to open a full-service brick and mortar location, but Brown realizes that the decaffeinated and half-caffeinated coffee market is not nearly as robust as the more traditional one.
“It would be difficult for us to support a store with the morning coffee rush,” Brown said. “But we do see ourselves and our coffees being a choice in other coffee shops.”
Savorista.com today features craft coffees with names like “Total Eclipse” and “Columbian Adventure,” as well as “brew gear” to help people easily brew their Savorista coffees at home.
“If anyone would like to feature our coffee in their store or shop, we’d love them to reach out,” Brown said. “Our goal is to be the decaf and half-caf choice.”
To order samples or purchase, log on to savorista.com.