GROUNDED IN love

Coffee aficionado Jessica Taylor is adding her own flavor and flair to the coffee scene with the opening of Ezra Coffee, a company that blends Taylor’s passions for storytelling, history and her love of the caffeinated beverage. She wanted to create a premium-flavored, ethically sourced specialty coffee brand, but one that also, and most importantly, offers community connections with a focus on education and culture.

Not a small order.

But when deciding what to call her brand, Taylor’s dreams fell into place with a name. In Hebrew, Ezra means “He who helps.” The meaning spoke to her. As the former assistant director of recruitment and retention at Purdue University, Taylor had helped students enroll in and graduate from college. Having seen firsthand students leaving school due to financial reasons, Taylor became passionate about helping them achieve their higher education goals.

The Ezra Scholar’s Scholarship donates a portion of its profits of its coffee sales to students seeking four-year degrees from various colleges and universities. “With this initiative,” Taylor states, “we hope that Ezra Coffee can both inspire the community as well as help students achieve their dreams of obtaining a college degree.”

Learning is important to Taylor. Even the packaging of Ezra Coffee was created to be educational with its logo and graphics taken from Ghanian Adinkra symbology and narratives.

“Ezra Coffee’s packaging is a storytelling vehicle,” Taylor explains. “When you hold a package of Ezra Coffee in your hand, you hold a package designed to connect people on a greater level with short stories [printed on the back] about the legacies and experiences of African Americans who have contributed to our collective American history.”

With the pour of every cup, Ezra Coffee strives to educate audiences about the interconnectedness of Black and American history by telling the stories of often unsung heroes. This history is also reflected in the names of the coffee blends, such as Lorde Baldwin, named after two iconic Black literary activists, Audre Lorde and James Baldwin, and the Le Grand Duc, named in honor of Eugene Bullard, the first Black combat pilot in World War I and owner of a famous Parisian nightclub. These are just two examples of the histories shared through Ezra Coffee. Remembering mornings spent with her grandfather while he drank his coffee and read the newspaper, Taylor feels the stories on the company’s packaging are perfect to read while “waiting for your coffee to brew or while sipping and relaxing a moment before beginning your day.” Many of the highlighted histories are not well-known stories and, Taylor adds, “I want people to leave Ezra saying, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that.’”

Ezra Coffee currently sells six different coffee blends. These range from light to dark roasts, and include three flavored blends. Taylor began playing with the idea of flavored coffees after her sister developed a lactose intolerance and could no longer add flavored creamers to her coffee. More flavors and blends are in the works, but Ezra Coffee presently offers “delicious flavors that we all know and love yet are unique in the flavored coffee space, such as our very popular Candied Yams,” Taylor says. Candied Yams is a light roast blend that integrates the sweet taste of the classic southern dish while also highlighting the yams’ voyage from West Africa all the way to Tuskegee, Alabama, where Dr. George Washington Carver historically used the yams in 500 different ways.

Other flavors are Toasted Southern Pecan and the cognac-infused Le Grand Duc. “Our coffees appeal to every type,” Taylor says. “Ezra Coffee creates an experience for the novice sipper to the most experienced coffee drinker.”

Ezra Coffee is sold online at ezracoffeeco. com, Target.com and at over 40 H-E-B stores.

Ezra Coffee offers samplers for those new to the coffee scene and subscriptions for those who know what they like.

With so many coffee brands to choose from today, Taylor has established herself and Ezra Coffee firmly in the history books. Whether through giving back and being of service to the community, through the company’s scholarship program, internships, mentorships or Ezra Coffee’s exceptional roasts and tastes, Taylor is proud of the work she’s already accomplished.

Expect to see more coffee blends, flavors and growth from Ezra Coffee in the future. But, whatever happens, Taylor wants her consumers to know, “When you purchase an Ezra Coffee blend, you’re supporting the history and empowerment of others.”

You can follow Ezra Coffee on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @ezracoffeeco.

As soon as she learned to read and write, that's all Emily Treadway wanted to do. She loves Texas history and, while she hates cooking, she loves eating, especially the diverse tastes and flavors of Texas cuisine.