There is nothing quite like starting your morning with a good cup of coffee. It’s a traditional practiced by billions of people but what makes this morning ritual more memorable than that of a simple instant pack of coffee dust, is when it’s lovingly crafted by coffee lovers who want to feed your body, mind and soul. This is where Concept Cafes Coffee comes in, a coffee disruptor unlike any other in the business. Their ethos isn’t just about selling coffee to those that need their fix, instead, its creator Mike Tonsetic has created a unique blend where coffee meets art in a way that brings people together.
Growing up as an introverted military brat, Mike’s upbringing brought about an identity crisis that could only be filled with a strong concoction of music, art and coffee. His experiences would lead him to creating Concept Cafes Coffee which unlike wine, beer and other beverage brands offers a cultural mixing pot for coffee enthusiasts, skaters, horror nerds, metalheads, motorcycle chicks and art lovers alike.
Mike’s business is unique in its aesthetics, instead of focusing on building a brand he’s instead built a business focused on uplifting the voices often forgotten by big brand marketing strategies. Concept Cafes Coffee is instead a hub of creative energy ranging from metal legends like Motorhead and Cannibal Corpse, to horror streaming platform Shudder to Beautiful Bizarre’s very own Jasmine Becket-Griffith.
In this exclusive interview, I chat with Mike to learn more about Concept Cafes Coffee, his passion as a coffee connoisseur and his thoughts on how art and coffee interact with one another.
Coffee is the great communicator of consumables, and as it is shared between people from all over the globe, what not better amplifier for art itself to connect to the world.
Can you tell me more about how Concept Cafes Coffee first began and how your passion for coffee, music and art all culminated into this one brand?
Well, it’s actually kinda funny, as technically, we’re not even a brand ourselves, hence the generic company name, created on purpose. We’re more of a brand ‘enhancer’ if that makes sense; a purely private label purveyor. The very abridged version of how we got here is, whilst coffee is one of the most heavily traded commodities in the global economy, it’s really only marketed to a small percentage of the population. The marketing is often presented in a very boring, Home Goods store aesthetic, when in actuality coffee in itself is (as we think) an artistic medium.
We saw an opportunity in the white label market to reintroduce a colourful coffee culture, as was apparent in the 60s and 90s, by going to the fringes of subculture and strategically working our way into modern pop culture through partnering with icons of music, fine arts, motorcycle, tattoo culture, etc. If we can turn a few people on to better coffee, coffee that really speaks to them, then at the end of the day we’ve done our job, and if we can help support the artists and their art as well, then we’re really making an impact by disrupting the status quo.
What is your personal favourite coffee blend?
HA! This is our least favourite question, as we hate playing favourites! Seriously though, it changes from week-to-week and it depends a lot on the weather, and actually on how lazy or enthusiastic we are that week regarding prep. In other words, when it’s 100F outside, add another 10F+ to that inside standing next to a production roaster, we’re usually siphoning nitro cold brew from the kegerator, so it really comes down to whomever is on tap that week.
Now that it’s starting to cool off a lil coming into spooky season, and with fresh harvest landing, we’ve been pulling more quad-shot espressos. We also have our newest addition to the ‘Strangling Collection’ which recently launched at Comic Con LA, which is a Papa New Guinea Red Mountain Natural that unusually has a lot of bold fruit-forward notes instead of traditional very earthy wet-hulled notes. We’re confident the Strangeling fans are gonna ninja flip for this one!
I’m curious to learn more about the behind the scenes of what goes into making a new coffee blend especially when a big artist/musician is attached to it. What is the process like?
Patience, patience, and more patience! It’s really all about the patience during the process especially considering the insane schedules we often have to work with as many of our artists are touring globally and have strict work/recording schedules. Coffee samples and packaging prototypes are continuously chasing them across the globe and since most artists touring cycles are synonymous, that adds a whole other level of complication to the mix. With that said, we can produce a new label in 60 days but in reality these projects can take up to two years to be developed before finally releasing.
The process always starts with the initial conceptualisation of what the overall end product is going to look like. Sometimes we already have a concept in mind before approaching our artists and sometimes we have to dig deep through their portfolio/discography before we finally have that eureka moment and can begin the process.
Then begins the long process of narrowing down what the artist wants to see in a coffee, as well as what their fans expect. So, the creative process, like anything else takes a lot of patience (there’s that word again), but when it all starts to come together near the finish line, then this snowball effect starts to happen and chaos ensues before finally unleashing the final coffee offering to the world. Since each artists we work with is so unique, and they want different things, sometimes there’s no real method to the madness, just a lot of holding onto the reins and seeing where the runaway stagecoach winds up (and hopefully not at the bottom of a gulley).
How do you think coffee and art go together? Do you think the two are well suited for one another?
Absolutely!! The coffee really amplifies the artwork taking it from canvas and transforming it into more of an installation piece, if that makes sense. It’s not just fine art either, but music, theatre, cinema, any art form really. Coffee is the great communicator of consumables, and as it’s shared between people from all over the globe, what better amplifier for art itself to connect to the world.
Alongside working with some huge musical talents, you’ve also collaborated with Jasmine Becket-Griffith on her ‘Strangeling Collection’ which is a bit of a curve ball from working with Cannibal Corpse and Motorhead! I’d love to learn more about how this collaboration came about and its significance to your brand!
Yeah, I know right; considering Cannibal Corpse had album art banned in countries like the DE & AUS for decades; but there are a lot more similarities than one might think initially. We’ve actually been fans of Jasmine’s going back years, especially since we are based out of Central Florida and within shouting distance of Disney, well, might as well just call Central Florida Disney now anyways haha.
But, yeah, we were set up at the Spooky Empire Horror Convention last year as a main sponsor back-to-back with Jasmine, so we walked over, introduced ourselves and asked if she’d ever thought of presenting her art in a consumable way; generally that’s how most initial conversations go, it’s pretty simple. She loved the idea, and since we’ve been getting more & more into brining back coffee in a tin culture, we all thought what not a better canvas to display her art and convey it than with a coffee pairing.
I think we should have about 6 releases this year in total which is pretty cool and since Jasmine’s handling all of the art, it takes some of the creative weight off our shoulders. Jasmine and her team have been nothing short of amazing to work with, as we’re all on the same page with creating this immersive experiences of the senses for her fans.
Do you hope to do more art focused collaborations in the future? If so, do you have any ideas of artists you’d love to work with?
Great question, and definitely, emphatically, YES! A lot of the Concept Cafes Coffee family are artists in their own right, so naturally we’re also big fans of a whole roster of artists and would love nothing more than the opportunity to work with some of them. For me personally, at the top of my wish list would be Cattelan, Schnabel, maybe Koons; someone we could really go outside the borders with, since that’s really been our own MO.
