“Coffee is the Spell, You are the Magic” Finding Joy in Every Moment with Fay of Pixie’s Brew
words by Luke Leffel
photos by Fay and Luke Leffel
I'm not exactly sure how Fay and I met the first time. It might’ve been a post from one of our businesses on social media, a random online interaction between coffee folks, or some combination of the two; who knows? But in the time I’ve gotten to know Fay, the energy and enthusiasm she’s brought to her work, the resilience I’ve witnessed as she’s overcome the difficulties of being a businessperson, and the persistent optimism she brings to every interaction - it’s an understatement to say that Fay is an inspiration.
Fay is an entrepreneur at heart, and she’s not new to founding a business. In 2016, Fay started a niche online clothing brand and ran it for the next 4 years. I didn’t know her then, but it sounds like the feeling somewhere between ambition and curiosity that guided her then might be a built-in trait for her, and is what is still guiding her now. Balancing the drive for making-something-of-your-own while also exploring-and-growing-to-see-what’s-possible is a hard thing to forget, once it’s grabbed ahold of you.
And as every explorer knows, you just keep searching until you find what’s next.
As the clothing business came to a close and she was moving into the next phase of things, Fay noticed a pull to the moments that she might’ve been taking for granted all along. Having grown up with her mother who notably took coffee seriously, Fay realized that she had a particular appreciation for the connective moments that happen during this ritual.
Combining this appreciation of her mother’s routine with the continued urge to create, Fay realized that there was a unique opportunity to bring her childhood experience to others and created Pixie’s Brew.
Pixie’s Brew offers a collection of travel ready, pour-over sachets that are rooted in the idea of finding joy in life’s moments that are so meaningful to all of us. Fay’s family is from Taiwan, a place in which pour over sachets are commonplace and routinely used for daily coffee rituals. Pre-ground specialty coffee is just now starting to gain some traction in the states, and Fay noticed this gap in the market was a perfect opportunity to bring her family’s ritual to the U.S.
But it didn’t happen without the tenacity, persistence and resilience that I spoke of earlier - the qualities of which Fay is especially familiar.
First of all, being a consumer and lover of coffee and the ritual around it doesn’t immediately mean that one knows how to start a coffee company. While the specialty coffee community is often known for its hospitality, it’s still true that there’s a lot to learn about the ins and outs of a new industry.
This was no reason to stop her, but it’s always a learning process none-the-less. Fay is quick to admit that the struggles she encountered created a perfect opportunity for her to learn about herself and thus reinforce the beautiful (although sometimes difficult) process knowing herself better.
And it wasn’t just being new to the scene that presented difficulties. While waiting to receive her on of her initial shipments of product, there were delays and misrouted shipping errors, and in the process multiple units of product were simply lost. She was was simply told by the shipping company that there was nothing they, or she, could do about it.
When you’re starting something new, excited but perpetually nervous about how it’s all going to turn out, a loss like that can be devastating. Fay wondered what this meant for her and her new business. Was the Universe telling her to say “fuck this” and give up?
What had started as a fun project and exciting new venture was now headaches, lost money and continued difficulty. But Fay persisted, and a phrase that she said in one of our conversations really got to me:
“The Universe doesn’t communicate in negativity.”
As she insisted that the process of knowing herself better is kind of the point, Fay was being asked what she truly cared about at each moment along the way. Whether times were good, bad, scary, frustrating or exciting, the point is continue to show up to do what you love, and trust that things happen for the a reason-or rather, things happen and we get to decide the meaning we’re gonna make of it.
Fast forward to just a few months later, Fay started shipping product regularly and is gaining a following in her business. She’s had friends come alongside to support and join the journey of starting their own businesses. Pixie’s Brew has also recently expanded to carry whole bean coffee with a partner roaster.
The meaning of Pixie’s Brew, celebrating mindfulness in each moment, sharing with others over a shared ritual, a way to use coffee as a medium for connection; all of these are coming true for Fay, one step at a time.
