Harold Lerner, Inbru Coffee Flavors

Offering the highest-quality coffee has been Howard Lerner’s focus since 1994, when he founded Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Company in St. Louis, Mo. It started as a single corner cafe serving Fair Trade and organic coffees, and grew to five retail stores selling to hundreds of wholesale accounts. He sold the business in 2007 and turned his attention to flavoring coffees. “Up to now, your choice has been variety or freshness,” Lerner notes. After three years of development and working with rice farmers, flavorists and coffee professionals, he created a revolutionary way to flavor coffee in a product he dubbed Inbru. Rather than flavoring the beans, he developed a system for flavoring each batch of coffee during brewing. By simply scooping Inbru into your coffee pot, you get a naturally flavored coffee.

“With Inbru and a bag of your favorite coffee, you can enjoy a wonderfully new and different taste experience every day of the week,” Lerner says. Inbru Coffee Flavors contains no sugar, carbs, fat or calories and each jar includes a scoop and enough Inbru to flavor 80 cups of java. Flavors range from French Vanilla and Mountain Hazelnut to Chocolate Fudge and Macadamia Nut. Tea lovers take note: Next spring Lerner will debut Inbru Tea Flavors.  

Lerner shared more of his story with us:

How did you come up with the idea for Inbru?

As a roaster and retailer, it occurred to me that, much like the barista has creative control over how an espresso beverage is prepared, retailers and consumers should have similar control over how and which coffees are flavored. The only way to do that is to break the flavor out from the bean. I set my sights high and decided to create a totally new product that allows people in a cafe or at home to flavor any coffee at the point of brew with no liquids, sweeteners, whiteners, fat, sugar or calories. My theory was that better coffee makes better-tasting flavored coffee.

What is the most satisfying or challenging part of your job?

I love working with retailers. I get tremendous satisfaction from helping them solve problems and operate more efficiently. Inbru is one of those products that really taps into the value stream of a small business, and it's no coincidence that I gravitate toward that end of the business. The big challenge is getting a little time with that retailer. These entrepreneurs have so many things that compete for their attention. I have to be persistent—but they always thank me in the end!

If someone could shadow you for one day at your job, what would surprise that person most?

They’d be surprised by how accessible I am. A lot of people don’t realize that Inbru is a new company and that I work one-on-one with my customers, distributors and suppliers. I’m meticulous about direct communication—I think that’s considered pretty rare in business today.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

My father was the quintessential “company man.” He always encouraged me to work for myself, however. So, I was very entrepreneurial. I thought I'd be an inventor or a writer—something creative. My dream has come true—I created something that adds value to the lives of coffee retailers.

Aside from your products, what three food items can you always find in your kitchen?

Sesame oil, capers and soy milk.—Denise Shoukas

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor and is the author of foodspring’s food forager blog.

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