Couplet Coffee was founded by first-generation immigrant, proud queer woman, and coffee lover Gefen Skolnick. While stuck at home during the COVID pandemic, Gefen found herself with plenty of time to reflect on her life and realized that she wasn’t passionate about her job in tech. As someone who had been obsessed with coffee for over a decade, Gefen decided to start a side project to fill a gap that she identified in the coffee category. She had witnessed a lack of accessibility in specialty coffee, which always seemed to be tailored to a very specific type of consumer and had a “bougie” reputation. Gefen wanted to create a specialty coffee brand that was more inclusive, relatable, and fun.

At the time, Gefen had built up a decent following on Twitter and leveraged her audience to raise initial funding for Couplet. Inspired by streetwear and Gen Z culture, she worked on designing colorful, holographic packaging for her coffee blends in an effort to build a more approachable and less intimidating brand. Through limited edition product drops, artist collaborations, and community events, Couplet racked up millions of views on social media and started to develop a cult following. The disruptive brand is skipping the pretentious and douchey tasting notes and creating specialty coffee for everyone, proving to the world that coffee doesn’t need to be taken so seriously.