Emma Chamberlain is a lot of things: podcaster, fashion plate, YouTube creator, bestie to the masses and, as of this week, a Rolling Stone cover model. But one of her biggest impacts on the cultural zeitgeist has been as Gen Z’s coffee connoisseur.
The drink rode shotgun on Chamberlain’s rise to fame, in part thanks to her pervasive editing of loud slurping noises over video clips of her sipping her first (or second… or fourth) cup of the day. She now sells custom blends under her own brand, Chamberlain Coffee, which has so far focused on at-home brewing with significant success.
This week, Chamberlain Coffee is introducing a new range of ready-to-drink plant-based brews available in Walmart stores across the country: Cinnamon Bun, Mocha, Vanilla, and plain Cold Brew Lattes. We sat down with Emma for a quick chat about coffee, caring, and keeping yourself in tune with pop culture.
Mashable: Hi Emma! I was going to take this call from bed in your honor but I didn’t because I was like, you know, “first impressions.”
Emma Chamberlain: Oh, that’s always allowed with me. If we speak again, just know you can be camera off, in your PJs, with coffee on your nightstand, doing your thing. OK? You never have to dress up for me.
OK, raincheck on an interview from bed. I got your ready-to-drink cans in the mail. I think they’re gorgeous and they smell great, but I don’t drink coffee.
You’re forgiven. You’re safe with us.
Thank you. If you were to craft the perfect food to go with these flavors what would it be?
See, it’s funny because with a hot latte, my choice is always a chocolate croissant. But with these it’s a little different. It could go with a full breakfast spread, like eggs, bacon, toast, avocado toast… That’s such an LA thing to say. My LA is showing! Or honestly, a super-loaded bagel like salty, yummy. It does go really well with a nice savory brunch moment. It’s like the perfect sweet pairing to like a savory brunch.
If I ever enter my coffee era, that’ll be the first thing I eat. I wonder what your favorite Walmart memory is… my only memory is of those bouncy ball cages. Do you remember those?
Yes! My first Walmart memory is on the East Coast. I used to go to Maine every summer. I still kind of do. And we would go to Walmart, and this was the only time I got to go to one because I didn’t live near one growing up. It was like a magical land for me. My family and I would spend so long in there. I don’t even think we needed anything; I feel like we were just in there because it was fun. And so that’s my favorite Walmart memory: growing up on the east coast at Walmart, getting random stuff, beach towels, and sunscreen. But, most importantly, we would play with the ball cages.
Each of your coffee blends has its own animal mascot. If you were to create a mascot for Walmart, what would it be?
I feel like it’s a big animal because Walmart stores are huge. It’s like a golden retriever. That’s one thing I’m seeing in my head but I can also see, weirdly, a rodent. That would be insulting if most people said it but for me I’m a rodent lover, like I have a rodent tattooed on my arm. We’re pro-rodent. I’m picturing even like a giraffe? That’s what I’m going with, either a giraffe or a classic golden retriever.
Did a giraffe come to mind because it used to be the mascot for Toys”R”Us?
Oh my God, was that subliminal? It actually could be.
Toys”R”Us is no longer around so they don’t get to claim the giraffe anymore.
Now there’s like there’s a spot open for the giraffe. The giraffe is finding a job and it might be for Walmart.
Last summer you traveled all over Europe. How did that affect the way that you experienced coffee or perceived coffee culture?
Obviously, I didn’t have my espresso machine or complicated tools so I was left to experience the coffee all over Europe, which was actually amazing, because I learned a lot about the different ways that other places enjoy coffee. For example, in Italy, it’s like an affogato. You have the ice cream and the espresso. In other places they only serve coffee hot, so you can’t get an iced drink. There were some cafes where they were like, “Iced drink? What are you talking about? We don’t do that.”
Learning to enjoy coffee in ways that I wasn’t prior. Before spending time in Europe, I wouldn’t be caught dead just drinking an espresso. You know what I’m saying? That was not gonna happen, but I was forced to get out of my routine and try new things. And it was really enjoyable. Being someone who’s in the coffee space, it’s important for me to not only be drinking my coffee but to be going out in the world and experiencing coffee everywhere. I want to be a consumer as much as I am a creator in the space, so that was perfect research: discovering more about myself as a coffee drinker so that I can kind of put my mind into as many customers’ minds as possible…in the least creepy way possible [laughs].
A significant number of your most devoted customers are Gen Z. How would you describe Gen Z’s relationship to coffee?
The interesting thing about my generation is that we love our iced drinks, and that’s something that’s relatively new. I think generations past have just sort of gotten into the routine of hot coffee, but my generation consumes a lot of iced coffee. And so that’s number one, which I love because that’s my experience as well, although it’s funny because recently I’ve been loving a hot drink in the morning. So I’m changing, but I still love my iced drinks.Â
Evolution!
I know! We’re maturing, we’re evolving. The other thing about my generation is that we’re all about convenience. We want something that’s easy. And I’m not saying that’s even a negative thing, I don’t think it is. I think we’re all excited about technological advancements that make our lives easier, and we’re ready for the next thing. So something like a [ready-to-drink product] for me was on my bucket list since day one, because I love convenience but I also want the quality to be there, too.
I just haven’t found a convenient coffee drink yet that really fits my needs to a tee. And so that’s why I was so excited about this because I was like, I want convenience that’s high quality and hits all the markers, and I know that other people probably want that, too. Especially my generation, because I get it. I am in this generation, I’m living it, so I feel like I have an instinct for what we’re into because I think the majority of us are on the same page about a lot of things. Not everything! But a lot of things [laughs].Â
What three things have you learned in the past year about running a business?
I think the number one thing I’ve learned is that nobody knows everything. There’s no such thing as being perfectly qualified when it comes to being an entrepreneur. There’s always more to learn, and the second that you think that you’ve learned it all is when things go downhill. You have to constantly remind yourself, “I have endless amounts of learning to do and I’ll never reach a point where I’ve learned it all” and on top of that things are always changing.Â
You have to have your finger on the pulse of culture in a way. And that’s another huge element of learning as you go. What worked 10 years ago might not work today. And so constantly holding yourself accountable in the sense of not getting too big-headed or cocky because something’s working at a given moment and just reminding yourself, hey, you know what things are constantly changing and there’s still so much to learn. So that’s really the biggest thing.Â
I also think creating product that you yourself enjoy is so important. I’m a major consumer. I love finding new brands in every category: food, drink, clothing, technology, whatever it may be. I want to create products that I would buy and that’s huge because if you wouldn’t buy it, what the hell are you doing?
And last but not least, it’s OK to take a risk. My concern is always been doing what feels right to me, even if it’s going against the grain a little bit like, “Releasing this product might not do well because the data says this.” I might say, “Well, I don’t care because I want to do this, I enjoy this product.” I don’t care if five people buy it. If they love it and it makes them feel good and it’s a part of their routine and it’s special to them, then that’s all that matters to me.
Reminding myself that leading with my heart will just keep my passion invigorated, and that’s more important than having every single product we put out sell out immediately. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about making a brand that I’m proud of, that feels like a reflection of me, and what Chamberlain Coffee has now become as a result of everyone who works on it. There’s such a big team at this point, and we all put our hearts into it. It’s a reflection of us and our priorities and what we care about and what makes us happy.
A lot of your day-to-day involves being tapped into culture. That’s part of my job, too, and it can be really hard to do. How do you stay tapped in?
It’s so interesting because, if anything, I’ve sort of stepped back a lot from consuming content for my own mental stability. It’s getting harder and harder for me to have a healthy balance with my consumption of the internet, which is I think why it’s been so hard for me to figure out how I can post and keep healthy boundaries. It’s fucking tough, it’s so tough. Because it’s like, we know now that social media is a beautiful thing that can also be incredibly damaging. And I have not cracked the code on how to have the perfect balance. And so for me, I’m still figuring it out.
I’m lucky that a lot of it is completely intuitive for me. I think it’s because I’m still 21, I’m experiencing being a 21-year-old. Obviously, every 21-year-old’s experience is completely different from the next, but there are these overarching effects of society and culture that are impossible to push away or not experience. So I think just by nature, I’m tapped in because I’m that age, I’m living it. But I think at a certain point, maybe when I’m older and I’m not in my twenties anymore, it might be a little harder. Maybe it’s then asking my kids, who knows, but yeah, it’s weird. It’s almost like it just comes to me. I don’t have to even read anything to just feel it.
