In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Andrew Salisbury, founder and CEO of Purity Coffee. After selling his B2B software company in Latin America, Andrew entered the coffee industry with zero experience but armed with a compelling hypothesis: what if every decision in coffee production was optimized for health rather than taste, cost, or convenience? Over the past decade, Purity Coffee has grown from an experimental concept to one of the fastest-growing coffee companies in America, earning five consecutive spots on the Inc. 5000 list. By creating the “circular health coffee” category and building direct relationships with consumers who value functional benefits, Salisbury has proven there’s a substantial market for premium coffee positioned as medicine rather than just beverage.

Topics Discussed:

• Transitioning from B2B enterprise software to direct-to-consumer coffee

• Creating a new category: “circular health coffee” vs. specialty coffee

• Building a health-focused brand without falling into the biohacker niche trap

• Leveraging word-of-mouth marketing through product quality and customer testimonials

• Strategic retail expansion focused on health-conscious distribution channels

• Testing and validating health claims through scientific partnerships

• Scaling from 100 enterprise customers to tens of thousands of coffee consumers

Lessons For Consumer Marketers:

Start with Product Excellence Before Marketing Strategy

Purity Coffee’s growth engine was built on product differentiation first, marketing second. Rather than investing heavily in acquisition channels, Andrew focused on maximizing antioxidants, eliminating contaminants, and creating a demonstrably superior product. This approach generated 51,000 testimonials with a 4.9-star rating, proving that exceptional product quality can drive organic word-of-mouth at scale.

Create New Categories Instead of Competing in Existing Ones

Rather than positioning against specialty coffee brands on taste, Purity Coffee defined “circular health coffee” as an entirely new category. This blue ocean strategy allowed them to avoid price competition while establishing premium positioning based on functional benefits that existing players couldn’t easily replicate.

Choose Distribution Channels That Align with Brand Positioning

Purity Coffee strategically entered retail through Erewhon rather than traditional grocery chains, recognizing that their premium health positioning required environments where “food as medicine” resonates. This channel strategy reinforced their brand narrative while reaching customers already primed for their value proposition.

Validate Large Markets Through Focused Testing

Despite identifying a massive addressable market (164 million daily coffee drinkers), Andrew used a systematic approach to validate key assumptions: Can health benefits be maximized? Can they be measured? Will it taste good? Will people pay a premium? This methodical validation reduced risk while maintaining broad market potential.

Leverage Industry Outsider Advantages

Coming from enterprise software with no coffee experience, Andrew could ask “dumb questions” that industry insiders wouldn’t consider. This outsider perspective led to innovations like testing every batch for mycotoxins (cost: $200) – something obvious to consumers but rarely done by coffee companies focused on traditional metrics.

Build Authentic Partnerships Through Product Usage

Many of Purity Coffee’s retail and partnership opportunities came from decision-makers who were already customers. The Erewhon partnership happened because owners were drinking the coffee, demonstrating how product quality can create inbound business development opportunities that feel authentic rather than transactional.