I first learned about Nickel City Nitro (NCN) when founders Jon Davis and Christopher Davis – two wandering baristas – rolled up to West Side Tilth Farm for a Saturday market. I was immediately impressed by the presentation of the product, which is toted around by bike. It’s called the Nitro Bike.
It wasn’t until a year later that I finally got to try their nitro-infused coffee products. I must say that being a hot, black coffee drinker, I was not expecting to like the nitro coffee as much as I did. But I ended up being an immediate convert. Not that I won’t still drink my regular coffee, it’s just that there’s something very exhilarating, refreshing, and gratifying about the NCN drink, which is poured via a tap system that is mounted onto the bike contraption.
Personally, I find that the draft latte is to my liking, made with oat milk. Man, there’s just something about it that gets me back on track if I’m feeling a little off kilter.
Nickel City Nitro steeps the coffee for 20 hours, and infuses the cold brew with nitrogen for a smooth, velvety finish.
Now that NCN is making appearances at The Stagecoach Market on Sundays, I figured that it would be a good time to catch up with the owners, per how they came to be in the driver’s seat of this unique operation.
“I was at Starbucks, just shy of a decade in retail operations,” Jon told me. “I found myself reevaluating my job, and wanted to know if I could do something that centered around more of my values. With a family in the near future, it was time to make a change. I saw the bike idea on the internet, and knew that there wasn’t one around here. It seemed like a good way to get away from working for a big company. The bike was meant to be a bridge, until I could figure out what I was going to do. I had trained Christopher as a store manager at Starbucks, and told him about the concept one day. He liked the idea and since there was a turnover of Starbucks management in the area, he decided to partner up with me. This was also around the time of the pandemic. It was a wild time – there were protests as well.”
The Nitro Bike is solar and human powered.
Now, with one year under their belts, Jon and Christopher have made some significant strides. With their electric (solar powered) bike, with a rustic-looking shipping box in front, and a tap system built in (made locally), the rolling café owners are not only attending festivals and markets, they have also embarked upon a “Coffee at the Office” program that sees them wholesale contracting with the likes of Undergrounds Coffee, Great Lakes Roastery, and Big Norwegian Kombucha. They recently signed a contract with Aloft Hotel at 500 Pearl. And newly minted is a deal with Fresh Catch, for an oat milk sesame latte! That means that in the off-season they still have retail outlets to attend to.
From being disenchanted with the Starbucks culture to having a big hit on his hands, Jon told me that it turned out to be the perfect time to get NCN on the road.
The coffee is a signature blend of Guatemalan and Kenyan beans expertly roasted Undergrounds Coffee.
“We like the storytelling aspect of it,” said Jon. “It’s a commentary on café culture – coffee is so ritualistic. People come together around coffee. And coming together is so important these days. The bike allows us to go to the customer. We also have a newsletter that allows us to tell our stories, and connect with the customers. It’s all about making those connections with people.”
It might be about the connections, but it’s also about the products, of course. Currently, there are three base products that Jon and Christopher are pedaling – the Nitro Cold Brew (on tap and in cans), the Oat Milk Draft Latte (on tap, with cans coming soon), and Blueberry Peach Nitro Tea (on tap, with cans coming soon).
Nickel City Nitro’s tagline is “To fuel adventure and human connection.”
“We care about the longterm positive sum of community building with our customers and the businesses that we work with,” said Jon.
That pretty much sums it up – a small startup with lofty goals that benefit the community. That’s a business model that we can all get behind. And it’s as easy as drinking some delicious café brews, served up on one of Buffalo’s most intriguing mobile café carts.
Nickel City Nitro | Instagram (for their schedule)
Catch them this Sunday, from 9am to 1pm at The Stagecoach Market, corner of Ashland and Bryant (at Trattoria Aroma). See market’s Instagram page for details.
The post The Nickel City Nitro Experience appeared first on Buffalo Rising.