Boulder coffee duo sets sights on outdoor industry

BOULDER — Boulder adventure-seeking duo Jenny Verrochi and Alyssa Evans wanted a delicious coffee that fit their outdoor lifestyle, so they came up with their own brand — Wild Barn Coffee.

The duo, into camping, hiking and outdoor sports, thought of the name on a whim after their original name fell through, while heading to a crag in Clear Creek Canyon.

“Alyssa was behind me and shouted out ‘wild barn’ and it stuck,” said Verrochi, co-owner and merry mingler in charge of networking and sales.

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The name is for their company, but also fits their first product, Wild Barn Nitro Cold-Brew, which was released last year, followed by Sunshine Brigade 12-ounce whole bean medium roast coffee that came out at the end of August. Both products are organic, certified fair trade and fill a void for healthy on-the-go beverages free of additives, dairy and sugar — plus they are small batch with a less acidic flavor.

“We have a fun, cheeky, wild brand,” said Verrochi, whose degree is in marketing and communications. “We are not trying to be another vanilla, play-it-safe coffee company. Wild is the perfect way to describe Alyssa and I.”

“Wild” also refers to the outdoor adventure lifestyle Verrochi and Evans both like. Verrochi is a huge snowboarder into mountain biking and horseback riding, plus being outside with friends. Evans likes fishing, rafting and paddle boarding, and both dabble in other outdoor sports and adventures.

The “barn” in the name refers to a barn in Massachusetts — it’s located in the backyard of the home of Verrochi’s parents, who, in 1997, began roasting coffee there and founded Red Barn Coffee Roasters. Verrochi’s parents, Lisa and Mark, roast coffee beans for different coffee shops and labels as well as Wild Barn Nitro Cold-Brew, a product idea Verrochi came up with when she decided to serve it in a can.

While living in San Diego, Verrochi tinkered with one of her parents’ original cold-brew recipes and mixed in goji berries, a superfood with vitamin-rich antioxidants, to create a healthier, energy-boosting product. She brings together the berries with coffee and cacao nibs, the purest form of chocolate that also has antioxidants, to achieve a frothy nitro head on top of a smooth, bold brew.

“The nitrogen makes it taste really smooth and creamy,” Verrochi said. “It feels like cream in your mouth. It’s delicious.” 

Verrochi, who moved to Boulder in 2016, needed packaging for the cold-brew that would grab attention, so in 2018, she partnered with her best friend and neighbor, Evans, co-founder and chief pixel pusher. Evans has a degree in graphic design and worked for a New York City ad agency and created packaging for a food company. She designed the company logo and created the label, which features a naked female skier, ponytail flying as she launches through the air. 

“It’s really inspired by our goofy group of friends, not taking things seriously, getting outside and having fun,” Evans said. “We want to represent that fun on the front of the can.”

Verrochi and Evans launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign at the end of 2018 to develop Backcountry Nitro, but encountered trademark issues in fall 2019, requiring a name change. 

“We switched to Wild Barn. We consider that our secondary launch,” Verrochi said. 

Verrochi and Evans partnered with Café Solar to source the coffee beans, which are produced at a carbon-neutral process facility in Honduras in the Yoro Biological Corridor that supports solar and biofuel processing and forest-friendly coffee plantations. 

After the beans are roasted, Verrochi and Evans brew and can the product for distribution in places like Alfalfa’s Market, Lucky’s Market and Lolita’s Market & Deli in Boulder and Eldora Mountain Resort in Boulder County, as well as through their website, wildbarncoffee.com. They distribute the whole bean coffee exclusively through backcountry.com, with plans to expand to local Boulder stores. They decided to focus on the whole beans to preserve the freshness and allow for grinding to preference, such as coarse, fine, French press or pour over. The flavor profile of the beans features cacao nibs, apple and herbs and has a stronger, bolder taste than the cold-brew. 

Verrochi and Evans launched a subscription-based coffee service in September of six- and 12-can packs of the cold-brew and the whole coffee beans. They also plan to create a sweeter tasting cold-brew, adding in things such as oat milk and other natural ingredients — they don’t have a release date as of yet but expect it will be within the next few months. Eventually, they would like to go national with their company and to be seen as the beverage of the outdoor industry. 

“We want to be the coffee brand of the outdoor industry (with a) heavy play on finding your own adventure,” Verrochi said. “For us, coffee is connection, meeting with old friends, catching up with family.” 

Verrochi also likes that she gets to be creative with the coffee and the business, she said.

“I always knew I wanted to start a company,” Verrochi said. “Starting a business is a bunch of problem-solving, and you add in your own values.”

Those values for Verrochi and Evans include climate change, fairly exchanged products and diversifying the outdoors, so that everyone feels included from women to people of color, Verrochi said. 

“It’s important to support female-owned companies and entrepreneurs,” Verrochi said, adding that she and Evans are in white, male-dominated worlds both in the office and the outdoor sports they like. “Being a female entrepreneur and in business, you’re starting at a disadvantaged space. A lot of men don’t take you seriously until you say you’re a female CEO. … We are making our way just fine, but we definitely come up with challenges.”