WASHINGTON — If your morning cup of coffee isn’t delivering the boost of energy you need to power through the day, Jake DeCicco is confident that he can help.
The Georgetown University business school senior and football player is the chief operations officer of Sunniva Caffe, an organic protein-packed coffee that hits the shelves at three area Whole Foods Markets next week.
The drink was developed out of desperation. DeCicco’s brother, Jordan, also a college athlete, found it difficult to stay awake in his classes at Philadelphia University following his 5 a.m. basketball practice. So he started adding some protein to his morning cup of Joe.
“He wanted to make a super coffee that allowed him to make it through the day,” DeCicco explains. “Protein after a workout is kind of where it came in for Jordan.”
The coffee helped Jordan stay awake in class, and his teammates quickly took notice. Soon, they started asking to try the caffeinated elixir. Jordan reached out to his business-school brother for help. He knew if he wanted to take his product to the next level, he couldn’t continue making the coffee in his dorm room.
The two brothers teamed up with the food scientists at the Rutgers Food Innovation Center to further develop Jordan’s drink and refine the recipe for the product, which they call Sunniva Caffe.
While the coffee was originally intended as a drink for athletes, DeCicco says it’s not strictly a sports drink. In fact, he says, it’s geared more toward the health-conscious coffee drinker.
“It’s really a coffee drink that gives the health benefits that protein offers,” he says. Each 10-ounce bottle has 10 grams of protein. (Originally, the drink had 20 grams of protein, but lower levels of protein tested better among everyday coffee drinkers.)
Sunniva Caffe ingredients include organic Arabica coffee from Colombia, organic agave nectar, milk protein concentrate and organic stevia leaf extract. Vanilla bean extract, organic cinnamon and organic cocoa bean extract provide the flavors for the three varieties: natural vanilla, pure cinnamon and natural mocha.
Medium chain triglycerides, which DeCicco calls the “key ingredient,” are also included in the product.
“They give this sustained boost of energy and mental clarity and focus,” he says, explaining that the fatty acids are derived from coconut oil.
Unlike many protein-packed drinks, the coffees are not thick, like a shake. DeCicco describes the consistency as smooth: “It’s a cappuccino-like texture,” he says.
There is also no added sugar — a decision DeCicco says was intentional to set the product apart from other bottled coffee products on the market.
“There are coffee drinkers out there who love coffee, but would never drink a Starbucks Frappuccino or a bottled coffee in the genre because it’s so sweet,” he says. “In the current market, you can either get your bottled black cold brew or these Frappuccino-type drinks, and there’s not really an in between. That medium is really what we’re going for.”
DeCicco is plenty busy getting ready for his final football season and his final year of college, but he’s also thinking about his plans for after graduation. By then, he says, he hopes to have Sunniva Caffe available at Whole Foods Markets nationwide.
In the upcoming weeks, DeCicco will be pouring samples of the three “super coffee” varieties at the Foggy Bottom, Glover Park and the Tenleytown Whole Foods Markets — and he encourages all coffee lovers to come out and try the product.
Dates and times for the demos will be announced on Sunniva Caffe’s Twitter page. Sunniva Caffe is one of 13 student and alumni startups in the Startup Hoyas Summer Launch Program at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
