Montréal, Quebec — May 2026 — Nick Usborne has spent 40 years writing for some of the most recognizable brands on the planet. Now he’s working for roasters across North America — and he thinks that’s the more interesting job.
- New Agency Brings Big-Brand Storytelling Expertise To Independent Specialty Coffee
- Proof Of Concept: Heavy Metal Meets Specialty Grade Coffee
- Podium Coffee Club Features Newly Crowned U.S. Coffee Roasting Champion Wenbo Yang As May 2026 Featured Roaster
- Rocket Espresso Announces New R58 Tune Dual-Boiler Espresso Machine
- The First Sip! 2026 Convenes Coffee Industry Leaders In San Diego To Highlight Equity & Community
- Stronghold Unveils S2: The Revolutionary Micro-Batch Roaster Shattering The Limits Of Precision & Power
Usborne, whose copywriting and creative direction career spans clients including Apple, Disney, Reuters, and The New York Times, has launched Bean & Brand (beanandbrand.com), a boutique creative agency with one very specific focus: helping independent specialty coffee companies find and tell their authentic brand story.
The problem he’s trying to solve is one any Sprudge reader will recognize immediately. Look through the websites of a hundred independent roasters and you’ll encounter the same language, over and over: passionate, craft, quality, sustainable. Words that once meant something and no longer mean much of anything.
Meanwhile, the stories that actually set these businesses apart — why someone walked away from a career to start a roastery, or the decade-long relationship with a farm family in Ethiopia, or the deliberate choice to serve one neighborhood and serve it well — are buried somewhere on an About page — if they’re there at all.
“Story is the one layer of brand identity that your competitors can’t copy — because story is rooted in lived, specific, organizational truth. It is the only layer that is, by definition, unique to your business.”
Usborne is not an outside observer parachuting into specialty coffee. He has written about coffee for consumers at coffeedetective.com for more than 20 years — long enough to have a feel for both the industry and the people who love what it produces. He is also the author of Net Words (McGraw-Hill, 2001), one of the first books written about copywriting for the web.
Bean & Brand works with independent roasters, cafés, and specialty coffee businesses — founder-led operations at the stage where story starts to matter most — that have a real story to tell and, so far, haven’t quite told it.
“Big brands buy awareness. Small companies earn it. They don’t do it with polished marketing scripts, but through raw, human stories. Whether it’s the founder’s ‘why,’ a customer’s win, or an employee’s journey, a story told well does more than sell. It gives your audience a cause to believe in, and your team a reason to care.”
Bean & Brand is based in Montréal, Quebec, and currently focuses on clients across North America.
About Bean & Brand
Bean & Brand is a boutique creative agency specializing in brand storytelling for independent specialty coffee companies. Founded by Nick Usborne, an award-winning copywriter with 45 years of experience, the agency helps roasters, cafés, and specialty coffee businesses develop the authentic brand narrative that sets them apart in a crowded, often generic-sounding market. More information at beanandbrand.com.
About Nick Usborne
Nick Usborne is an award-winning copywriter and creative director with 40 years of experience. His clients have included Apple, Disney, Reuters, and The New York Times. He is the author of Net Words (McGraw-Hill, 2001) and has written about coffee for consumers at coffeedetective.com for more than 20 years.
This press release was provided to Sprudge for Sprudge Press Releases. Interested in submitting a press release? Get in touch!
