TWO BIG RED BARNS dot the roadside along NM 47 in Peralta. But only one of them, home to Branded Coffee & More, will sell you top-notch coffee, tasty lunches, and whole rib eyes or filet mignon through the drive-through window.
Opened in March 2024 by mother-daughter duo Susie and Brittney Jones, the 1,300-square-foot shop sits just in front of the family’s original dairy barn, where three generations of Joneses raised milking cows. The family has since moved their farming and ranching enterprises farther south toward Estancia, but they remain deeply connected to Peralta.
“The community here is still really country,” says Susie, noting that folks still recall stopping to let cows cross the road right near where the shop now sits. “Everyone has some warm feelings about a grandparent or a friend’s farm, and we connect with the people a lot on that level.”
Owners Susie (left) and Brittney Jones.
Photograph courtesy of Branded Coffee & More.
Branded Coffee taps into those agricultural roots with a patio built to look like a corn bin, barstools made from saddles and tractor seats, and local cattle brands burned into the walls. “We had ranchers—friends and community—come in a few days before we opened and put up their brands,” Brittney explains. The tables, which feature fun facts about beef, coffee, and New Mexico agriculture, were handmade by Brittney’s uncle John Williams, and the saddles once belonged to Susie’s brother-in-law, Michael Cybularz. All the frozen beef in the coolers and on the menu comes from Triple B Beef, the Jones family’s black Angus cattle herd.
“We just wanted a place to sell our beef,” says Brittney of the shop’s origin story. But the family knew they’d need something more to lure people in, and coffee seemed like an obvious addition. The location itself, with an iconic red barn that took about nine months to build, has also been a draw, but the meat has been the thing that’s helped set the store apart.
“When we first opened, someone came through the drive-through and ordered just ground beef and went on their way,” Brittney recalls. The moment helped validate their idea that people would stop by on their way home from work and grab something to cook for dinner.
Customers order through the ride-thru window.
Photograph courtesy of Branded Coffee & More.
The pastries in the case are handmade by Los Lunas FFA student entrepreneur Josiah Vallejos, a junior at the School of Dreams Academy, who’s been operating his own commercial kitchen since 2021. Branded also sells a selection of sundry goods ranging from Red Doc Farm’s dry beans to New Mexican pecans. Employees are also trained to answer questions about where ingredients come from and how they’re connected to the farm. “We try to support farmers and ranchers in everything we do,” Susie says.
If you’re stopping for the first time, Brittney says you can’t go wrong with a Branded coffee—try the white chocolate mocha—and Susie recommends picking up a package of flatiron steaks from the meat case. And don’t forget to bag a chocolate chip cookie for the drive home.
