Move over, decaf. There’s a new way to enjoy coffee — and an energy boost — without the negative side effects of caffeine.
Rarebird is the first patented jitterless coffee. It replaces caffeine with paraxanthine (Px), the substance that’s created when the human body breaks down caffeine.
“I love coffee, but I hate caffeine,” said founder and CEO Jeffrey Dietrich.
As a bioengineer with a doctorate from UC Berkeley, Dietrich found research that showed the benefits of Px compared to caffeine: it’s less harmful because creates less anxiety while creating a strong wake affect. Px also gets cleared out of the body faster, making it OK to drink a cup of Rarebird coffee late in the afternoon.
Rarebird began with a soft launch in 2023, having received U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory allowance for Px as an ingredient in 2022. This year has been about scaling for the company, which employs five full-time.
Rarebird
Industry: Coffee production
Founded: 2020
Top exec(s): Jeffrey Dietrich, founder and CEO; AD Andracchio, chief business officer and co-founder
Address: 500 W. Fifth Street, Suite 400, Winston-Salem, NC 27017
Website: rarebird.coffee
In April, Rarebird received a patent for its formulation of Px coffee. That same month, the company – which currently infuses synthetic Px into a medium-roast Colombian coffee – began a new production process. Since then, its sales have doubled, Dietrich said, although he declined to disclose specific sales numbers.
The company is also expanding beyond ground coffee.
“We’re thinking about all the different ways that people drink coffee,” Dietrich said, adding that coffee is one of the most-consumed beverages worldwide.
Accounting for 25% of sales since it launched in April, the company has found success with ready-to-drink canned coffee. Dietrich said that Rarebird will launch a single-use coffee pod later this summer and will expand into other roasts later this year.
Rarebird has seen a “very high retention rate” among its customers, especially through its subscription model, according to Dietrich. About half the company’s revenue comes from its subscriptions, he added. A 12-oz. bag of Rarebird ground coffee retails for $27 online, while a subscription for the same bag — delivered at your choice of frequency — costs $22.95. Up to four bags can be ordered at a time, with the subscription model saving a customer up to 30%.
To date, Rarebird has raised over $7 million, including a $275,000 National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant. The grant will help take the biology that humans use to convert caffeine into Px and made it a natural process outside the body. Dietrich says the company will need to fundraise again but is unsure when; the next round will go toward marketing and taking the coffee to the next level of expansion.
“My vision is for Px coffee to be in every single coffee shop across the country,” Dietrich said.
