TAMPA, Fla. — There’s a Tampa woman who's changing the way we consume coffee. Instead of pouring it into a glass, she’s infusing it into desserts.
“So we infuse all our baked goods with espresso, whether it’s the brownies, the chocolate chip cookies, we even have espresso-infused snickerdoodles,” said Lizette Rivera.
Many of Lizette Rivera’s recipes can be traced back to her mother and their Cuban family roots.
“She would tell me, ‘this needs to be a little stronger,’ in our culture, we really want to taste that coffee in the brownie,” said Rivera about her mother, Rose.
Rose, who lived with dementia, would always ask Rivera to put the treats in a box for her to take home.
“I didn’t know she was putting it on stoops of people that either had COVID or didn’t really have family,” said Rivera.
It turns out the feedback was just as strong as the espresso itself, and Roasted Whisk was born, a coffee-inspired gift box business.
Each box has a memento, like a sticker, mug or candle, that lets the recipient know someone understands what they are going through. An idea Rivera got from her mom.
“Make people feel like when they got it, they were sitting here in the kitchen with me having coffee just talking because it does bring people together,” said Rivera.
In recognition of Dementia Awareness Month, Rivera introduced a special box called 'Forget Me Knot,' with proceeds going back to The Dementia Society of America.
“It's really important. I can’t tell you the number of people around me, friends, family, that a parent, grandparent, loved one, has dementia or Alzheimer’s,” said Rivera.
She said when she started baking, she was hoping to make something tasty, but what she ended up with was something truly heartfelt between her and her mother that will touch so many families battling this disease.
“It means so much to me that I can do this business in her honor,” said Rivera.
