Business Spotlight: Bri*sta Coffee Co
Quotes Courtesy of Brittany Culver and Brianne Buck
Giggles, the sweetest smiles, music, ground coffee beans percolating in the espresso machine, and tinkly voices fill the space; Bri*Sta Coffee Co has come to town!
Sisters and besties Brittany Culver and Brianne Buck (who make the Bri in Bri*Sta), were born in La Grande, OR, and they eventually moved to the Walla Walla Valley in their youth. Brianne started working at our local Sub Shop #38 at the young age of 15 where she found that she loved customer service-based jobs, interacting with and bringing smiles to customer’s faces. Prior to entrepreneurship, Brianne had seven years of management experience in coffee shops, while Brittany spent 15 years as a hair dresser.
Having always loved coffee, Brittany and Brianne had been talking about opening a new coffee shop for a long time. They were looking for general locations on Highway 11 and, one night about a year ago, the owner of JC Tires had advertised on Facebook that he had a piece of property available on his lot which would be perfect for a little coffee stand! In December 2021, they began the planning process on their path to entrepreneurship. They pooled their life savings, and with a little help from Dad who is their “biggest cheerleader”, had a shop custom-built just for them. And, on October 20th of this year, Bri*Sta Coffee Co opened for business, with Brianne-who runs the shop by herself 4 days per week-primarily making the drinks and Brittany doing the administrative work and supply runs.
The girls love mixing and trying different flavor combinations; every morning they create and advertise a new drink to see what customers will enjoy. Bri*Sta Coffee Co offers an unrivaled drink menu with a range of flavors such as Lavender, Cupcake, Cookie Butter, and Passion Fruit. They do their best to source their products locally, currently partnering with Sweet Bee Honey Company and Dee’s Sweets to provide a Milton-Freewater-flavored menu. Their most popular drinks are the Salty Blonde: a white chocolate & salted caramel mocha, and Cold Brew which they even sell by the growler. Their goal every day is to have “everyone leave in a better mood than when they showed up.” Showcasing their hearts of gold, a portion of their t-shirt sales goes to Hope Street, a sober recovery shelter in Walla Walla.
Although Bri*Sta Coffee Co has been in business for less than one month, they’ve already got a cult following and, unsurprisingly, average over 100 customers per day! Brianne loves developing relationships with her customer base, telling an endearing story about a local mom who had a crying little one in the car, so Brianne “loaded him up with whip and sprinkles” and he left a happy boy. Today, the mom and her boy are back, along with about 20 other people who are cued up in line at all times over the hour we are together. Brianne and Brittany recount how they’ve been so warmly supported within this community, and how they cry with gratitude nearly every day. Brittany says, “Milton-Freewater is an incredible community. The people who live here are so nice, and they take care of each other. And people keep coming back! We’re doing it! It’s better than anything I expected, and it’s very surreal.”
Bri*Sta Coffee Co is open Monday-Friday 5AM-5PM; Saturday & Sunday 7AM-3PM and can be found at 85350 Highway 11, 97862. Order in advance by sending them a message on their Facebook page. For more information, email bri.stacoffeeco@gmail.com, or visit their website.
