Black-owned food and beverage brands like Mumgry, McBride Sisters Wine Co. and A Dozen Cousins are sold at retailers across the country and ship nationwide.Mumgry; McBride Sisters Wine Company; A Dozen Cousins
Amber Jackson, founder of The Black Leaf Tea & Culture Shop, uses her background in food science to create tea blends for customers to enjoy at home. She also dedicates part of her business to engaging with the Black community. Jackson hosts monthly events for young Black professionals to connect Tea Talks, which Jackson says is a “space where [Black individuals can] talk about things that matter to us in a space that’s just for us.”
Coco5 is a sports drink with electrolytes and minerals free from chemical additives, dyes, caffeine and high fructose corn syrup. It was developed by a group of nutritionists and sports medicine experts from the Chicago area, and today, it’s led by pro athletes and sports commentators. According to the brand, Coco5 is currently stocked in over 65 collegiate and professional sports locker rooms. You can purchase it in flavors like cherry, passion fruit and limon.
Shanae Jones is an herbalist who spent six years studying plant medicine before launching Flyest, a tea company inspired by hip-hop culture. The brand’s blends are made with ingredients Jones sources from small herb farms and co-ops. Each tea blend has a different flavor, and options include Blood Orange, Breathe, Not Coffee and Yella.
Sip Herbals was born from the founder’s desire to find an alternative to coffee. Orleatha Smith and Kelly Raulerson call their herbal drinks “faux joe,” which you brew similar to loose-leaf tea or coffee grounds. You can enjoy Sip Herbals’ beverages hot or iced and purchase a standard blend that tastes similar to coffee and blends in flavors like peppermint mocha and cinnamon roll.
After realizing how detrimental sugary soda was to her health, Regina Brewton turned to tea instead. She grew to love sipping on teas harvested in countries like Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa and Kenya, which inspired her to start her company. Brewton says Sibahle — “we are beautiful” in Zulu — celebrates the beauty of loose-leaf African tea. The brand’s products are named after affirmations like “I am Mindful,” a green mint tea, and “I am Smooth,” a bourbon vanilla rooibos.
LaTonia Cokely was an educator for over 13 years before starting Adjourn Tea House, which specializes in organic, full-leaf tea blends. While drinking them, Cokely hopes customers take a moment to themselves, pause and recenter, which is why she says she first fell in love with drinking tea. Adjourn Tea House was featured on The Magnolia Network in 2022, where Cokely shared how she creates each tea blend. You can purchase the brand’s teas online, including Mint Juju, Sunday Morning and Home Sweet.
Jackie Summers, CEO of Sorel Liqueur, left his 25-year corporate career in 2010 after surviving a cancer scare. He decided to dedicate his life to preserving Caribbean culture by creating an alcoholic, shelf-stable version of a traditional hibiscus-based beverage. He launched a micro-distillery in 2012, also when Summers says he became the first Black person in the U.S. to hold a distiller’s license post-prohibition.
While starting their business, co-founders Andréa McBride John and Robin McBride told us that one of their biggest challenges was not being taken seriously as winemakers in a white, male-dominated space. The success of their businesses has helped to break the status quo around what winemakers look like, the sisters say. One of their goals is to use their platform to empower women of color. In 2019, the sisters launched the McBride Sisters SHE CAN Fund to provide professional development scholarships and grants to emerging female leaders.
Aboisola Abidemi’s original goal for 2020 was to buy a house. Instead, she pursued a different dream: Starting her own whiskey company. “I realized that there’s no real representation or celebration for the modern-day whiskey drinkers,” she told us. Many people think of whiskey as harsh and smelling bad, so Abidemi created Abisola Whiskey, which she says is a non-traditional, smooth-tasting liquor that appeals to a wide audience.
Chrishon Lampley focused on building Love Cork Screw after her Chicago art and wine bar was destroyed in a flood. The company sells a variety of wines, including sauvignon blanc, cabernet and rosé, plus wine-scented body butters and candles.
Danica Dias grew up in a big Louisiana Creole family where adults often came together to enjoy food and drinks. Doing so was the epitome of being “grown,” so as a child, she referred to the adults who attended the gatherings as “grown folk.” Now an adult herself, Dias imagines her hard seltzers as the beverages her loved ones would have sipped on when they spent time together. The canned drinks taste sweet and come in flavors inspired by soul food like key lime pie, ambrosia and peach cobbler.
Layla-Joy Williams spent over 20 years designing shoes for major brands in the fashion industry before making a career pivot and starting Iylia, her wine company. The brand produces its wines in the Valencian region of Spain, including rosés, whites and reds. Iylia also partners with charities throughout the year and donates some of its profits to them. Currently, $1 of each Iylia wine purchase goes to The Deliver Fund, a nonprofit that works to end human trafficking in the U.S.
Zoe Malin is an associate updates editor at NBC Select who covers minority-owned businesses, including women-owned brands, AAPI-owned brands, Latino-owned brands and LGBTQ-owned brands. For this article, she rounded up food and beverage brands that confirmed they’re at least 51% Black-owned, which aligns with the Census Bureau’s definition of a Black-owned business.
