The Chic Guide: What is Fifty5 Rivers Cold Brew?
Lynne Mowery, Co-Founder of Fifty5 Rivers Cold Brew: We are a local family-owned business that specializes in cold brew beverages. Mainly, cold brew coffee. At our retail location it is a grab-and-go concept all our beverages are packaged in ready-to-go pouches (currently 750ml, 1.5L, and 5L). We sell cold brew merchandise, cold brew gear, cold brew at-home kits (both coffee and tea), and cold brew coffee beans (whole and ground).
If you are looking for beverages by the glass, you can find this on our Fifty5 Rivers BARge. The Fifty5 Rivers BARge is our cold brew tap trailer where we serve cold brew coffee, cold brew lattes, Riverade (lemonade), and River Chilled Tea (black tea) by the glass as well as sweet treats (our cold brew pairs well with sweet treats).
The Chic Guide: What’s the inspiration behind it?
Mowery: My husband James was not a fan of any type of coffee 6 years ago but that all changed when he first tasted cold brew coffee. The discovery of cold brew coffee sent James and myself on a journey to create a great-tasting cold brew that does not need a lot of flavorings or creamers to truly enjoy. We officially opened the retail business in the middle of the pandemic on August 1, 2020, and followed up with our maiden voyage of the Fifty5 Rivers BARge a refrigerated tap trailer on August 28, 2021. Since then we have been redefining cold brew and Bringing the Brew to You. We pride ourselves on our smooth, non-bitter cold brew that is easy to drink without flavorings. When serving our drinks on the BARge all our lattes use Sugar-Free creamers and Sugar-Free syrups which allows everyone to enjoy a wonderful cold brew latte for roughly 34 calories a glass. This is important to us as we were always wanting to watch our weight but lattes were always laden with a high caloric load. Since launching the BARge we have found a lot of customers appreciate the sugar-free menu and the low caloric load.
One of our values is Respect, we do our best to respect our community and the environment. We do our best to live our values and to showcase this value through being members of 1% for the Planet and being Climate Neutral Certified. We are also candidates for becoming B Corp certified.
We also believe in providing value to our community and one of our long terms goals is a create an entrepreneurial youth leadership program.
The Chic Guide: What’s on the coffee menu?
Mowery: Our base blends are Connection 102, Introspection 180, Decafinition 253, and Cafinition 353.
Connection 102 Cold Brew Coffee is a smooth 3 bean blend with hints of hazel and caramel, bathed in chocolate. This blend uses medium to dark roast beans that have been fluid bed roasted (air roasted).
Introspection 180 Cold Brew Coffee is a smooth 4 bean blend with hints of fruit, and brown sugar, with a vanilla aroma. This blend uses light to medium roast beans that have been fluid bed roasted (air roasted).
Decafinition 253 uses decaffeinated medium roasted beans providing tasting notes of Citrus and Chocolate. The honey process allows for the sweetness to come through and the mountain water process organically removes the caffeine with pure mountain water. It is a single-origin coffee grown and harvested by the De La Finca Marcala Collective in Marcala, Honduras. It then took a trip to Descamex in Mexico for the decaffeination process and roasted by Poppets Coffee in Dayton, Ohio.
Cafinition 353 is a single origin 100% Specialty Grade Robusta from India. In our search for beans that provide a higher caffeine content for those who desire a little extra “ignition” to get going, we found a bean that offers just that. Indian Robusta naturally has twice the caffeine of your typical Arabica Coffee.
We always have Connection 102 and Introspection 180 on our shelves. Decafinition 253 is at least once a month, and Cafinition is every few months. We also feature a Guest or River Series from time to time. A Guest Series is something new that we are trying for the first time. A River Series is a guest series that received enough positive feedback that we brought it back. We use various roasters for the Guest and River Series brews.
On the Fifty5 Rivers BARge, we carry the pouches we mentioned above as well as open glass drinks. We have cold brew lattes: White Rapids (French Vanilla and White Chocolate), Caramel Creek (Caramel and Hazlenut), EnCHAIted River (Chai and Coffee) plus a few seasonal drinks. Our lattes can be served still or River Rushed (Food Grade Nitrogen infused at the taps making the drink smoother and creamier), we can also substitute our Decafinition 253 in for any of our lattes. Oat Milk can be used in place of our creamer. Available on the BARge is our Riverade (lemonade), which can be served still or River Rushed, flavorings such as Raspberry or Strawberry Rose can be added to our Riverade. Lastly, we have a wonderful River Chilled Tea available which is an unsweetened black tea.
The Chic Guide: Can you share more about your space?
Mowery: Our current space is where we brew. We also have a small retail section at the front of the building where customers can come in and purchase our ready-to-drink cold brew pouches. This is truly a grab-and-go concept, for a nominal fee we provide delivery on Wednesdays within 30 minutes drive time of our location. We are a try before you buy; all our cold brew coffees are available to taste so you know what the flavor profile is of the brew before you take home a pouch.
The Chic Guide: What makes Fifty5 Rivers unique?
Mowery: We are redefining cold brew. Our cold brew is smooth and flavorful without the “bite” and most customers after tasting our brew mention they can drink it straight with no creamers or flavorings at all. We take great pride in making a cold brew coffee that is great to drink with no assistance. That being said our brew takes creamer and flavorings really well, you just don’t need as much flavoring or creamers as other cold brews on the market.
The Chic Guide: Where are you located?
Mowery: Fifty5 Rivers Cold Brew is located at 644 N Broad Street in Fairborn. We can also be found throughout the Miami Valley via the Fifty5 Rivers BARge (check our social media and website for more information).
The Chic Guide: Is there anything new on the horizon?
Mowery: We are in the process of completing a second trailer that will allow us to serve open drinks in our parking lot as well as in other parts of our community. The current BARge is dependent on the weather as we serve outside in a tent. The new trailer will allow us to serve our drinks from the inside making us less dependent on the weather. We also recently launched our ability to do special events and corporate events.
We are also exploring the option of having a retail location where we can serve open drinks.
We recently were accepted to be a vendor at the Waner Subaru Outdoor Experience on October 1st and 2nd as well as the Fairborn Halloween Festival on October 14, 15 & 16. Beyond the Greater Dayton Area we can be found as vendors at the Columbus Coffee Festival on September 24 and the Cincinnati Coffee Festival on October 22 & 23.
The Chic Guide: Where can readers go to learn more and follow along?
Mowery: Everything starts at 55rivers.com; this site gives you more information about us and our retail location. The 55riversbarge.com site will give you information about where the Fifty5 Rivers BARge will be located. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.