Cold Cycle Coffee, a cold brew company founded by three ‘25 master of business administration alumni, began as a project at UT. Inspired by founder Samuel Stein’s trip to Italy and a desire to speed up the 24-hour process of making cold brew, Stein put his mechanical engineering skills to use. He created what’s now the prototype for their machine, which brews 2 gallons of cold coffee in 30 minutes. Co-founders Monika Rao and Bruce Boville met Stein during graduate school, seeing the early versions of Cold Cycle Coffee, and in 2025, they teamed up to develop the company. The machine will launch commercially in December or January, Boville said.
On the fifth floor of the Omni Hotel on Saturday, the three debuted a coffee stand as a part of Capital Factory House, returning Sunday from 12-2 p.m. The Daily Texan spoke with Rao and Boville about the company and its UT roots.
The Daily Texan: When you were working on (the company) with the class at school, what was everyone’s opinion on it?
Bruce Boville: Everybody loves the coffee that comes out of the machine, and that makes them fully convinced that it’s a great business. There was a lot of work that went into actually figuring out how to turn a great product into (a) business. But I mean, the cool response was always, “This coffee is amazing. I can’t wait to see what y’all do with it.” And then we were always like, “Us too.”
DT: You said you’ve sold some of these machines. … Where are they?
BB: We’ve sold 11 of these machines. We have three at offices on the Gulf Coast. We have one at a shop in Pasadena, California, and then seven here in Austin. … The seven in Austin are all cafes. The one in L.A. is a cafe. And three in Houston. … We got at least one pre-order from an individual who wants one for their home, which is crazy.
Monika Rao: You can find us in Austin at Trianon (Coffee) in Bee Caves, Ghoul Coffee, they’re a truck in East Austin. Soundra (Roastery & Chai), they actually use our machine to make cold-cycled chai. So it’s cold Chai, and then she makes these South Asian-inspired syrups to make it taste more unique. We’re at Noble Joe, also on the East side.
BB: (And) then Far Horizon in Cedar Park (and) the Boring Bodega in Bastrop.
DT: Looking back, what is it like to be building this company after graduation and seeing how far it’s come?
MR: Honestly, I’m more and more surprised every day. I feel like seeing the iterations of what this machine, what it was before, what it is now. … Having this setup is not something I could have imagined even a few months ago. … It’s also been cool to see the support from the UT community. We got connected with a UT M.B.A. alum from 2016 who works at Starbucks, and she’s been a really great resource for us, giving us a lot of advice. … (Not in her official capacity with Starbucks), just as a UT connection. So it’s been really cool to see the McCombs network get excited about us and want to help. And in return, we give them coffee, because that’s all we have to offer right now.
