The inspiration for the JoGo originated when co-founder Joey Jones was on a 28,000-mile solo motorcycle expedition from Minnesota to Argentina in 2016. While in Argentina, a family gave him a “bombilla”-- a straw with a filter on the bottom that is designed for drinking the popular loose leaf Yerba Mate tea.

The first bombillas were first created by the Guaraní people and took the form of a simple and straight tube constructed out of the Taquara plant. In the 17th and 18th centuries, craftsmen developed the first metal bombillas, using alpaca and brass. They would eventually be adopted by the legendary Argentinian Gauchos and are widely used in many regions of South America today, as well as parts of Europe, Asia, and more recently the United States.

For Joey's next adventure after he returned from his motorcycle trip, he teamed up with Nick to lead a canoe trip in the Canadian wilderness. One morning at breakfast they had an idea – could they use the sustainable brewing method of the bombilla, and apply it to the often wasteful world of coffee? They discovered, however, that while the traditional bombilla’s filter worked with Yerba Mate, it wasn’t fine enough to filter the finer ground coffee and would even get clogged. Nonetheless, they were stoked at the prospect of innovation on the horizon. 

After their trip, the two went to work. After countless trials and rigorous testing of various prototypes (in which they experienced dangerously high levels of caffeine), they finally attained a design that filtered out the grounds, didn’t get clogged, was easy to clean, and looked pretty dang cool to boot! They named their little 2 oz stainless steel baby “JoGo” and launched on Kickstarter in April, 2021. During their 30 day campaign, JoGo raised nearly $400,000 in pre-order sales from coffee lovers around the world, making it the third most backed coffee-Kickstarter of all time.They are excited to share this convenient, flavorful, and sustainable new way to enjoy coffee with the world!

Every year we will contribute 5% of our profits to Survival International, a nonprofit organization that works “in partnership with Indigenous and tribal communities to help them defend their lives, protect their lands, and determine their own futures.” We do this because the destruction of First Nation land and critical habitat is a global problem that requires collective action. Conservation needs to be decolonized, and by managing and understanding their environment better than anyone else, indigenous people have proven to be the best conservationists. As the JoGo was inspired by the Yerba Mate straws created by the Guaraní tribe, a partner of Survival International, we believe it is our duty, and privilege, to give back to this nation.

Our annual contribution will be in the form of unrestricted funds so that Survival International, and their tribal partners, can allocate resources in response to real-time needs. As we are located in Minnesota, we are not equipped to understand or address the complex social, political, and environmental issues in these regions. And we believe that the people who can best resolve them are the ones who are being the most affected by them.

Our co-founder Joey is a coffee lover, outdoor educator, and world traveler who was inspired to launch JoGo while leading groups of kids and adults on canoe and backpacking trips. He was tired (literally) of the difficulty involved in the usual methods of brewing a good cup of coffee. From this problem, the idea for the JoGo sprouted – a solution that would make coffee easier and less wasteful!

He gathered his life savings to try and make this dream a reality. JoGo is a sustainable and effortless new way to brew a high-quality cup of coffee that blends tasteful design with a durability you can depend on.