What Driftaway Coffee does

Driftaway Coffee is a Brooklyn-based small-batch coffee roastery founded in 2013/2014 by husband-and-wife co-founders Anu Menon and Suyog Mody. It operates as a BIPOC woman-led direct-to-consumer e-commerce business on Shopify, selling freshly roasted specialty coffee within 24 hours of roasting to US customers. The core commercial mechanic is a discovery-led subscription funnel: customers start with a Coffee Explorer Box tasting kit priced from $33, rate five single-origin coffees, and are then routed into recurring monthly or bi-weekly subscriptions segmented by roast preference (Light Roasts from $18/delivery, Medium/Dark from $16, Espresso from $15, All Roasts from $17, Gift Subscription from $56, Office Subscription from $68).

The product portfolio extends beyond subscriptions to single bags of coffee (11 oz to 5 lb), the Rising Tide Box of rare and experimental lots (from $40), cold brew, decaf, chocolate pairings, brewing equipment, and a digital gift card. A secondary B2B revenue stream is built around corporate virtual and in-person tasting experiences — Coffees of the World Talks ($40/participant + $50 event fee), Coffee Tastings ($46/participant + $75), Chocolate and Coffee Tastings ($70/participant + $100), Brewing Classes ($85/participant + $75), and Pour Over Classes ($157.50/participant + $100) — scaled across thousands of sessions since a 2020 launch.

Operational differentiators include the Farmer Feedback Program (monthly reports to growers on roasting, shipping destinations, pricing, and customer feedback), the Bean for Bean donation of $0.05/lb roasted to World Coffee Research, full price transparency with farmers paid 3-5x Fair Trade, 100% compostable PFAS-free packaging, carbon-neutral shipping via Cool Effect's Alto Mayo project, and a sourcing goal of 50% from women-owned farms. Distribution is exclusively DTC through the owned storefront plus a weekend Brooklyn tasting room at 85 Debevoise Avenue; a wholesale page targets cafes and retailers as a third channel. The company is founder-owned with no disclosed external funding and reports 1-10 employees.

Name

Driftaway Coffee

Legal name

Driftaway Inc.

Website

https://driftaway.coffee

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Driftaway Coffee is a Brooklyn-based, BIPOC woman-led small-batch coffee roastery that sells freshly roasted specialty coffee directly to consumers via personalized subscriptions and a growing B2B corporate-tasting channel, with full supply-chain transparency and farmers paid 3-5x Fair Trade.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Coffee Roastery

NAICS

Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (311920), Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515)

SIC

Beverages (2080), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Coffee Blending & Flavoring (AFAFADAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Coffee Roasters with Cafe (Roastery Cafes) (THAFADAE), Specialty Coffee & Tea Retail (Beans, Leaves, Accessories) (CRAHAGAI)

Keywords

• Specialty coffee roasting
• Coffee subscription service
• Direct-to-consumer coffee
• Small-batch roastery
• Single-origin coffee

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Coffee Subscriptions: Recurring monthly or bi-weekly deliveries of freshly roasted coffee beans matched to customer taste preferences. Subscribers start with an Explorer Box tasting kit to establish preferences, then receive personalized ongoing shipments. Subscription tiers include Light Roasts, Medium/Dark Roasts, Espresso, and All Roasts options.
2. Single Bag Purchases: One-time purchases of individual coffee bags ranging from 11 ounces to 5 pounds. Includes single-origin coffees from various countries (Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Guatemala, etc.) and blends.
3. Corporate Tasting Events: Paid virtual and in-person corporate coffee tasting experiences for team building and client engagement. Pricing ranges from $40-$85 per participant plus event fees. Includes kit shipping to all participants.
4. Corporate Gifting: Corporate coffee gift packages and office coffee subscriptions for businesses, including personalized packaging and bulk pricing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Driftaway Coffee is a Brooklyn-based small-batch coffee roaster that sells freshly roasted specialty coffee direct-to-consumer through personalized subscriptions and single-bag purchases. New customers begin with an Explorer Box tasting kit of five single-origin coffees to identify their taste profile, after which they receive recurring shipments matched to their preferences (Light Roasts, Medium/Dark, Espresso, or All Roasts). The company also operates a Brooklyn tasting room and runs paid corporate virtual and in-person coffee tasting experiences for team-building and gifting.

Product overview

Driftaway Coffee is a BIPOC woman-led small-batch coffee roastery based in Brooklyn, NY, operating as a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform powered by Shopify. The core offering centers on personalized coffee subscriptions that start with an Explorer box tasting kit to determine customer preferences, followed by recurring deliveries of curated single-origin coffees. The product portfolio includes multiple subscription tiers (All Roasts, Light Roasts, Medium/Dark Roasts, Espresso, Office), single bags of coffee, specialty products (Rising Tide experimental lots, Cold Brew, Decaf), corporate and virtual tasting services, and coffee accessories. The company differentiates through direct farmer relationships, radical supply chain transparency including price paid to farmers, and a Farmer Feedback program that shares customer responses back with growers. Sustainability is embedded throughout with compostable packaging, carbon-neutral shipping, and Bean for Bean donations to World Coffee Research.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Explorer Box: Coffee sampler box featuring five coffees from around the world for at-home tasting experiences.
• Rising Tide Box
• She Roars

Products and services

• Coffee Explorer Box A tasting kit featuring five single-origin coffees from around the world in various roast levels, designed to help customers identify their coffee preferences through a guided tasting experience and serve as the entry point to personalized subscriptions.
• All Roasts Subscription Recurring subscription delivering a rotating selection of coffees from light to dark roasts fresh each shipment, with customizable roast profile preferences.
• Light Roasts Subscription Subscription featuring lighter coffees with bright, lively flavors and origin-forward characteristics for customers who enjoy delicate brews.
• Medium and Dark Roasts Subscription Subscription delivering smooth, chocolate-forward coffees with deeper, comforting flavors; customers can choose medium roasts, dark roasts, or both.
• Espresso Roasts Subscription Full-bodied, well-rounded coffees optimized for espresso extraction and suitable for milk-based drinks or moka pots.
• Coffee Gift Subscription A gift subscription that starts with an Explorer box and delivers new coffees monthly, allowing recipients to discover and rate different varieties.
• Office Subscription Coffee subscription service for office environments, providing fresh-roasted coffee delivered to workplaces with flexible sizing options and bulk pricing.
• Single Bags of Coffee Individual bags of freshly roasted specialty coffee available in sizes from 11 ounces to 5 pounds, sourced from single-origin farms in countries such as Colombia, Ethiopia, India, and Guatemala.
• The Rising Tide Box A curated box featuring rare coffee varieties and experimental lots from innovative producers, focused on light roast profiles.
• Cerro Azul Cold Brew Medium roast cold brew blend featuring easy-to-brew mesh bags, with tasting notes of toasted almonds, earth, and rich flavor.
• Decaf Coffee Medium roast decaf coffee from Colombia El Nevado del Huila with tasting notes of brown sugar, strawberry jam, and molasses.
• Corporate Tasting Experiences Virtual and in-person team-building coffee tasting events for corporations, led by expert educators with customizable experiences ranging from 15 to 60 minutes, including kit shipping to participants.
• Chocolate and Coffee Tasting A 60-minute virtual tasting experience pairing Driftaway coffees with chocolate, accommodating 1 to 300 participants, priced at $70 per participant plus an event fee.
• Coffee Brewing Class A 30-minute virtual class teaching coffee brewing techniques, priced at $85 per participant plus an event fee.
• Pour Over Coffee Class A specialized class teaching professional pour over techniques, limited to 50 participants at $157.50 per participant plus an event fee.
• Coffees of the World Talk A 15-minute educational presentation on coffee origins worldwide, priced at $40 per participant plus an event fee.
• Coffee & Chocolate Pairing Box A curated box pairing single-origin coffees with complementary chocolates for an enhanced at-home tasting experience.
• Coffee Tasting Kit Professional-grade tasting kit designed for coffee cupping and sensory evaluation, enabling customers to explore flavor profiles at home.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3x-5x Fair Trade price paid to farmers
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Transparency Pledge ConsortiumminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2019Joint project with several specialty coffee companies to establish common code for transparency reporting in the coffee industry. Members commit to publicly available transparency data including FOB prices, producer information, SCA scores, lot sizes, and relationship lengths.
• World Coffee ResearchcoreOthersFor every pound of coffee roasted, Driftaway donates 5 cents to World Coffee Research. WCR's mission is to grow, protect, and enhance supplies of quality coffee while improving livelihoods of farming families. Funding supports breeding climate-resilient coffee varieties, tools for farmers to identify best coffee varieties, and the world's largest coffee seed exchange.
• Cool EffectcoreOthersCarbon offset partner with over 20 years operating history. Over 90% of funds go directly to projects. Cool Effect provides carbon offset measurement and project management for Driftaway's carbon-neutral operations.
• Alto Mayo Protection ForestminorOthers450,000-acre protected forest area in northern Peru. Project protects forest from deforestation while training over 600 families to improve coffee yields. Driftaway offsets carbon through this reforestation and agricultural training project.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Heart Coffee Roasters: Small-batch specialty roaster with a minimalist, design-forward brand and direct-trade sourcing. Comparable in scale, aesthetic positioning, and DTC + cafe hybrid model.
• Crema Coffee Roasters: Small-batch specialty roaster with subscription and e-commerce focus. Comparable in size, scale, and DTC subscription orientation within the premium specialty segment.
• Verve Coffee Roasters: Specialty roaster combining DTC subscriptions with flagship cafes. Directly comparable on small-batch roasting, sustainability positioning, and cafe-retail hybrid model.
• Counter Culture Coffee: Specialty coffee roaster with similar commitments to direct trade, sustainability, and education. Closely comparable in values-led positioning, wholesale + DTC model, and coffee education programming.
• Trade Coffee: Online coffee marketplace and subscription service matching customers to roasters. Comparable as a curated DTC coffee subscription experience, though Trade is a multi-roaster marketplace rather than a single roaster.
• Atlas Coffee Club: Subscription-focused coffee club sourcing single-origin coffees from around the world. Closely comparable to Driftaway's international-origin subscription thesis and Discovery Kit onboarding.
• Onyx Coffee Lab: Award-winning specialty roaster and prior Roast Magazine Roaster of the Year. Highly comparable in competition circuit focus, premium pricing, and modern branding toward enthusiast consumers.

Broad incumbents

• Intelligentsia Coffee: Established specialty roaster with strong direct-trade and education heritage. Comparable positioning but operates at meaningfully larger scale and broader wholesale reach.
• Blue Bottle Coffee: Premium specialty coffee brand (Nestlé-owned) with flagship cafes and DTC subscriptions. Comparable on premium DTC positioning but with vastly larger capital base and physical footprint.
• Stumptown Coffee Roasters: Pioneer specialty roaster (now owned by Peet's) with broad DTC, wholesale, and cafe footprint. Comparable as a category-defining specialty roaster but at much larger scale than Driftaway.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/driftawaycoffee
• Instagraminstagram.com/driftawaycoffee
• Xx.com/driftawaycoffee
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/driftaway-coffee

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Driftaway Coffee