“We’re obsessed with coffee in Australia,” Tom Baker, founder of Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, told us. A businessman. “It’s like religion. It’s a point of nationalism.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur. Tom Baker.
After World War II, Italians moved to this country and brought with them espresso machines and European cafe culture. The Australian coffee scene was so booming that Baker says his high school even had a barista.
Australians also like to drink, says Baker.
Baker wanted to start a business that would bring together the world’s passions for coffee and spirits, so he asked distiller Philip Moore to join him in the project. The co-founders started a campaign on the Australian crowdfunding site Pozible in 2013 and decided that if their coffee brandy sold 200 units – they would do it for real.
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“Coffee liqueur that tastes like coffee, not the sickly sugary fake stuff.”
According to Baker, Mr. Black’s quality taste sets it apart from competitors in the market. “It’s a coffee liqueur that actually tastes like coffee,” he explains, “not the sickly sugary fake stuff you might think of when someone says Kahlua or Tia Maria or those other brands.”
While Baker admits those big names are popular, he says they don’t do what Mr. Black does: almost “an $8 cup of coffee at a coffee shop.”
To achieve that flavor profile, Mr. Black offers a premium, single-origin coffee, two-thirds of which comes from Colombia. The company gets some from Ethiopia and Kenya. Every day, Mr Black’s Australian site roasts 1,000 kilograms of coffee, Baker said.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur
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In 2015, Diageo Investment Corporation became a minority investor in Mr Black through its accelerator program, Distill Ventures. That and subsequent investment allowed Mr Black to build a barbecue and winery and enter the US market.
Diageo acquired Mr Black for an undisclosed amount in September 2022. At the time, the brand was the top-selling liquor by volume in the US and was available in 22 countries.
“Americans love cold brew. [So] it was a good sign for American drinkers.”
Naturally, Mr. Black’s road to success was not always smooth. The pandemic has presented one of the most important challenges, Baker said. I New York Times published an article about the product on March 19, 2020, and “as you might imagine, it’s not what people were talking about on March 19, 2020.”
Mr Black also spent a lot of time and money setting up the bar area, where he sees most of its capacity in 2019. used social media to connect with cocktail and coffee lovers and encourage them to enjoy the product in the comfort of their homes.
The payoff was huge – and continues to be. It’s been seven years since Mr Black Black was launched in the US, and last year, the multi-billion dollar brand, which is available in all 50 states, has doubled its business here – and just sold its 100,000th nine-litre case.
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Baker attributes part of Mr Black’s popularity in the US to his approach to research and learning. According to this entrepreneur, Australians drink coffee hot no matter how warm the weather is, while people in the US tend to drink their caffeine cold.
“Americans love a cold drink,” Baker explained. “It was a good sign to American drinkers like, ‘Oh, great. You’re a new product. You’re not like dad’s coffee liqueur.’
“Everybody likes to go out and party and drink a few espresso martinis.”
Americans also love the espresso martini. The drink, which was invented in London by bartender Dick Bradsell in the 1980s, became popular in the 1990s, and grew in popularity at the end of the decade. After a decline, it has rebounded: Last year, the espresso martini rose five spots to the top ranking of US cocktails, according to CGA’s NielsenIQ’s cocktail sales tracker.
Baker says Mr. Black was “the driving force” in the renaissance of the espresso martini, noting that the brand has taught tens of thousands of bartenders how to make the drink and that he and his team have “probably personally drunk more espresso martinis in the US than most people.” “
Mr Black even brought his Espresso Martini Fest, which premiered in Australia in 2017, to the US three years ago. This year’s festival, which invited 250 bars across the country to showcase their “artificiality in using a wide variety of espresso martinis,” will run from September 19 to September 29. “It’s great,” Baker said. “Everybody likes to go out and party and drink a few espresso martinis.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur
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However, as much as Baker appreciates the mutually beneficial relationship between Mr. Black and the espresso martini, he disputes the idea that his brand has as many fans as it is. because caffeine cocktail. “It’s easy to attribute our success to this drink,” Baker said, “but it’s more interesting to ask, ‘Why do we win?’
The answer to that question, according to Baker, is simple and goes back to the beginning of Mr. Black’s story: Quality remains the distinguishing feature of his coffee liqueur.
“Maybe we could have saved millions of dollars and a couple of years I just spent another three months thinking about that.”
Additionally, as happy as Baker is with the brand’s success so far, he says Mr Black has only scratched the surface. “I’m not shy about my passion for the product,” he says. “We want to be No. 1 [in the world].”
For other cocktail enthusiasts hoping to start their own spirits brand, Baker has some advice that could save them a lot of time — and money.
First, realize that the playbook is different these days, so continuing to try to replicate another brand’s success to a tee won’t get you the results you want, Baker said. He suggests examining who your customers are – and how to keep them coming back.
“[I wish we’d] we spent a lot of time up front thinking about how we’re actually going to attract drinkers to our company,” Baker explained. “What are we going to be better at than all the other breweries? How will I enter [customers’] repertoire? I think we probably would have saved millions of dollars and in a few years I would have just spent another three months thinking about that before we started Mr Black. “
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