Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah Mullin.
Hi Deborah, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I founded Copper Cow Coffee to elevate one of my favorite past-times: Vietnamese coffee. I grew up in California, but only ate Vietnamese food growing up. When I moved out, I was very surprised that the food I grew up loving was not easily available outside of Asian and Vietnamese grocery stores. At the same time, I began to discover healthier foods – such as organic produce and single-origin coffees, and I’d wonder why there wasn’t a version of Vietnamese coffee that fit these trends. When I decided to leave my job as a supply chain analyst at the World Bank, I knew I still wanted it to involve sustainability and my passion for Vietnamese food. Starting a California-inspired brand of Vietnamese coffee focused on innovative design and great ingredient sourcing perfectly aligned my passion to my skills. Fast-forward: three years later and I am so proud of how we make my favorite flavors so accessible to mainstream America. Today, we are the first company to convert organic Vietnamese farms and are proud to be on track to be the first organic certified Vietnamese coffee brand.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s a serious roller coaster. Like any business, we’ve celebrated big milestones and faced big challenges. From having to pitch 100 investors to get my first funding to showing up daily with donuts to factory floors to beg for line time – I’ve had to do it all. All that while navigating economic shifts during and after the pandemic. The key is to learn fast and fail forward – which we include in our company values.
On a personal note, the hardest part by far is work/life balance. I always worked hard in my old career, but when I was off, I was off. Now, even if I’m not in the office, I’m always thinking about work. No matter what milestone we’ve just hit, I can’t help but have a list of the hundreds of things I still need to do swimming in my head. I’ve learned the hard way that burnout is real and that I need to proactively make time for myself to recharge, even when work is incredibly exciting or stressful.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Copper Cow Coffee provides an in-home barista experience via an ethical, elevated, everyday Vietnamese coffee-inspired ritual. As an AAPI women-owned company, we work directly with Vietnamese farmers to ensure sustainable sourcing – paying twice the market rate to create better, more equitable opportunities. We sell DTC via coppercowcoffee.com & through nationwide retailers such as Whole Foods, Sprouts, H-E-B, Walmart, and more. We’ve even been featured on ABC’s Shark Tank!
As a team, we’re guided by our four values: Be a good citizen, bring others along, act like owners, and fail forward. Fueled by endless coffee and great benefits, our small but mighty team is on a mission to bring sustainability and a little extra coffee joy to your morning mug.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
That I was the captain of my high school wrestling team!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://coppercowcoffee.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coppercowcoffee/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coppercowcoffee/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@coppercowcoffee/
