Coffee is an entrepreneurial cliché at this point.
“He would sit as his computer late into the night, fueled by coffee and Red Bull and passion.”
“They were heads down for 72 hours before the release, drinking endless cups of coffee from the office Keurig.”
But cliché or not, we wanted to know how entrepreneurs imbibe their caffeine. We've already heard what they eat for breakfast and lunch, and a few entrepreneurs told us their favorite coffee spots. But do they prefer black coffee, chai tea, or Diet Coke to stay awake?
23 entrepreneurs shared their favorite caffeine, from the stereotypical coffee to lattes, teas, sodas, and a few surprises:
Espresso and coffee
“Nespresso's keep our office going all day. The favorite single serves from this machine include the El Vazio and the Stormio.”
– Ben Pappas, CEO of Call Creator Plus
“My caffeine of choice comes from our Nespresso machine, and I have 3-4 of them each day.”
– John Peebles, CEO of Administrate
“When we're talking about coffee, I'm with the best – Juan Valdez Colombian Coffee's my weakness!”
– Juan Velasquez, marketing specialist at Do It Wiser
“My caffeine of choice is coffee. Currently I am a fan of Doma Coffee with French Vanilla mixed in.”
– Tania Ryseck, business development associate at nVisium
“My caffeine of choice is dependent on the weather. I prefer hot black coffee if the temperature is below 78 degrees and iced black coffee if the temperature is above 80 degrees. In that wild in-between place, my preference is totally random.”
– Margaret Roth, COO of An Estuary
“I actually love Joyride Coffee. We have their cold-brew kegs at the Rise office, and the team takes full advantage :)”
– Suneel Gupta, CEO and founder of Rise
“Definitely coffee. That's what gets me through those 16-hour days.”
– Brandon Howard, partner at Toner Emporium
“I've recently traded my soda habit for Philz coffee brewed via pour-over – at 4x the caffeine I'm sure. A member of the Doximity team laser-etched our custom coffee station for the kitchen.”
– Jeff Tangney, CEO of Doximity
“Philz Coffee makes an incredible Mint Mojito ice coffee, and I can’t rave enough about it. It’s delightfully sweet, and pretty unique. It’s a must-try.”
– Fernando Campos, cofounder of Topwick
“Of course, single-origin drip coffee.”
– Gee-Hwan Chuang, CEO of Listia
“Most days I make a pot of Thrive coffee when I arrive and we end up making several more pots of Thrive throughout the day (not only is it some of the best coffee we've ever had, but they give farmers much more than even ‘fair-trade'). It is not unusual for our team to grab a fresh cup of Octane from the pop-up coffee bar as well.”
– Valerie Uhlir, cofounder at Ethereal Innovations
Lattes and more
“My caffeine of choice is usually a skinny cinnamon dolce latte from Starbucks or a cold diet Mountain Dew. Office coffee is on the menu as well, however I prefer lattes. I have been known to drink an energy drink as well for the extra boost when needed, especially for long days.”
– Rod Brown, COO of OnceLogix
“Caffeine messes up my sleeping, so I can't invent new stuff while I'm dreaming. I'm trying to avoid it. If I have to, black filter coffee at home or Italian-style cappuccino in places where they know how to do it. Otherwise my choice is a flat white. This is the photo of the coffee I made myself in my parents' bar in Poland – I got them a big coffee machine from Italy a few years ago. In Pret, I was a barista for three years and I enjoyed doing latte art.”
– Michal Kubacki, CEO and founder of 5-TILES keyboard
“The local coffee shop on the first floor makes me a drink that they named after me, the ‘Mikhail.' It's a traditional vanilla latte but they only use half the vanilla syrup and half caramel syrup.”
– Mikhail Avady, CMO of Smartup
Tea
“My trusty, stable caffeine source is green tea.”
– Katie Kirsch, CMO for Sisu Global Health
“I love persian tea!”
– Ben Nader, founder and CEO of Butterfleye
“My favorite chai tea”
– Brett DeColyse, cofounder and CFO of Embark.org
“The four stimulant groups: soft drinks, tea, coffee, and maté. My favorite is the Tejava tea.”
– Chris Nicholson, head of communications and recruiting at FutureAdvisor
“I've actually never had a coffee, but love tea! I typically sip on English Breakfast or green tea before starting my day.”
– LP Maurice, CEO and cofounder of Busbud
Soda
“The favorite drink around the office seems to be a Coke, maybe because its logo color is red – just like CloudOne.”
– John McDonald, CEO of CloudOne
“My caffeine of choice is Coke Zero – and my 3X/week run with my morning run partner.”
– Marni Mandell, head of business development at Roojoom
Yum?
“It's important to stay healthy while remaining highly caffeinated in a startup, so my team and I keep the Espresso Coconut water from Zola stocked up in the tall cans!”
– Brandon Ancier, director of customer happiness at Tint
“I have a serious addiction to some serious junk. It's Maxwell House's ‘International Cafe.' But there is nothing sophisticated about it. (Their marketing pitch is ‘Also great as a CREAMER,' i.e., it's pure sugar-free candy).”
– Antonia Townsend, Founder of [Enclosed]
