When the country locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lizette Rivera and her daughter, Samantha, did what many did. They baked. However, they had no clue their little hobby would soon turn into a small business — Roasted Whisk. Now they create and sell outrageously good espresso brownies, snicker doodles and other gifts to the community. All while helping support dementia research and services for those who need them.
Starting from scratch
Initially, with supplies hard to find during the Pandemic, the mother-daughter duo had to scramble for ingredients. But they found them. And Lizette’s mom, Rose Rivera, who has dementia, became their chief taste tester.
“Mom would sit at the bar and tell us her opinion on what we were making, whether we needed more or less espresso, more or less chocolate,” Lizette Rivera said. What Lizette didn’t know was that Rose was then taking home some of the treats and leaving them on neighbors’ stoops. Mostly neighbors who had COVID or seniors with no family.
“We were just making coffee and bonding, all three of us together,” she said. “It kind of gave us time to make and do some fun things together.”
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As Rose continued to take treats to her neighbors, people began to notice the extra caffeine boost that came with them. “We would give her brownies and cookies and she was taking them back to her 55 and older community. The lightbulb really went off when the quarantine was lifted. A neighbor started talking about how she was up all night and couldn’t get to sleep. Then said, ‘by the way, those brownies were amazing. Do you have any more?’ That was when I realized mom was sharing them.” Rose had clearly not warned her neighbors about the espresso.
Lizette saw that her coffee-infused treated were getting rave reviews from neighbors. So why not combine their family’s Cuban culture with espresso and baked goods and share them with everyone? Thus, was born, Roasted Whisk.
United by coffee
Despite Rose Rivera’s dementia, she was still very much aware of the warm feeling people get when they share coffee and sweets. And Samantha knew her mom’s love for coffee and urged her to make her own.
So Lizette met with local roasters and soon began to create her very own espresso for her gift boxes.
“I started looking at how to present these boxes, what people would like. I really think coffee brings people together. You don’t just drink coffee. You sit with friends and chat or talk about the future. Coffee unites people,” Lizette explains.
And apparently, so do those espresso brownies, which so far are Rivera’s top seller. In addition to her private clients, she also has corporate clients for whom she makers however many boxes they need for their customers.
Next year, she plans to work with Door Dash and Uber Eats, but for now, all boxes are shipped. The price runs between $32 and $79, depending on what is in them. That could be cookies, coffee, handmade soap and lotion, or other combinations customer’s request. And she has had so many requests for just the brownies, she plans to add boxes of just brownies and other sweets in 2023.
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Lizette even began sending the crusty ends of the brownies to Samantha, who is attending college in Maine. Apparently athletes love to eat them before their workouts, due to the added espresso.
“It’s really the cutest thing. So many of them had never had real Cuban coffee before. They were in love,” says Lizette.
Lizette is marketing her small business heavily on social media and doing a lot of networking, she said. “I want people to hear my story and get the word out that this is a fun and unique gift box.”
The company also helps with dementia research and services for those suffering from dementia. A percentage of the sale of every Forget-Me-Not box goes to the Dementia Society of America.
“It helps bring awareness of dementia and Alzheimer’s,” Lizette said. “It is something we don’t talk about enough. People need to know the signs, since dementia can cause rapid deterioration.”
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