We're the Couple behind Miami Ice
A couple of locals that met in college here in South Florida.
Our shared passion for travel led us on frequent adventures abroad with a group of our closest friends from FIU (Florida International University.)
Sunsets on the beach in Costa Rica were accompanied by hand-made carts and the sound of ice being scraped by hand and served to tourists.
We flew kites in Old San Juan with "Piragua" (the Puerto Rican style shaved ice.)
Colorful markets all throughout Colombia.
And India, during an FIU sponsored service trip, we traveled through multiple markets hand picking fabrics for a social initiative we were deeply involved in.
These experiences were life-changing and gave us new perspective on our own future.
We were inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit we encountered everywhere we traveled; from rural communities and those living in extreme poverty to more developed businesses here in Miami.
The creativity, hard work, and dedication we witnessed stuck out to us the most and inspired us to start our own venture here in Miami with just a bike cart and the motivation to learn.
Our Values:
These are the values we've defined over time and continue to be the driving force behind all of our actions in Miami Ice!
I'm Elizabeth
Like some of you, I was born in South America and was raised right here in Hollywood, FL.
Thanks mom:)
I graduated from FIU, but began my studies in Broward College. P.S. This is where I actually met Joseph.
I graduated with a degree in Supply Chain Management, never thinking I would use my studies as an entrepreneur but tremendously grateful for it.
I am a crab by nature but very much enjoy meeting everyone at the events and markets we pop up at.
I'm a fan of "just doing it." It's the mantra that I chose to lead my life & I highly recommend it
I'm Joseph
A Marine Corps vet with a passion for travel, adventure, free diving, entrepreneurship, coffee, and playing the Ukulele 🤙🏼
If you've seen us recently you've probably heard me talk about our cold brewing process, recent accomplishments, our plans for the future or go into detail on a few projects we're currently working on.
How we got into Cold Brew Coffee
We started as a Shaved Ice cart; manually shaving ice we froze over a 3 day period at 10 degrees using Florida Spring water. We were making our own natural fruit syrups from raw, fresh fruit and even found a way to make them sugar free. We created variations based on the styles we've tried in other cool places we've visited like Puerto Rico, Colombia, & Costa Rica ... and then kind of hit a wall.
That's about as far as you can go with shaved ice; at least creatively from what we could tell.
Then we had the idea for coffee; not just coffee though, Cold Brewed Coffee. We started looking more into it, then experimenting and reading more.
We were hooked.
Coffee goes deep; way deeper than shaved ice. We were reading how elevation and soil acidity in the ground where coffee plants are growing can actually effect the final drinking experience.
There was a lot of information on Coffee but not as much on Cold Brewed Coffee. By this point our interests were already peaked.
We were curious how water temp, acidity, and hardness combined with specific bean blends and roast levels could create x, y, or z experiences given a defined time frame. Most forums repeated similar methods and time frames without a deeper dive into the reasons why or how each variable can effect the final brew.
An opportunity?
We began our own research collecting qualitative and quantitative data points on our own batches then altering brewing variables slightly to retest and record what difference it made. We were learning how certain variables could be altered to create a certain experience. We developed a passion in what we were doing and took notes all along the way.
We're really into the brew we serve on tap today and intend to create new experiences in the future with altered brew variables and bean origins. We're super transparent about what we're doing (side effects of being millennials) so we're always talking about our brewing process. If you've ever seen us in person, you've probably witnessed this first hand!
Miami Ice has been our creative outlet since the Quarantine. We've learned a lot since then and intend to keep growing.
