Pull up to Possessed by Coffee on a weekday morning and you’ll find a pumpkin spice orange truck parked outside Montclair High School, cartoon ghosts painted on the side, jazz coming out of the service window and a line of students ordering matcha lattes. It looks like something out of a Halloween carnival. It operates like a well-funded startup.
That’s what Montclair Pod hosts Farnoosh Torabi and Mike Schreiber found when they stopped by for a tour this week. “I can definitely make any drink in 45 seconds or less,” said founder Tom Carrera. “We wanted speed, high quality and consistency.”
That contrast, between the playful horror branding and the technical precision behind the counter, is not an accident.
Who Is Behind the Possessed by Coffee Truck?
Tom Carrera and co-founder Steven Oliveira grew up together in Belleville, N.J. and built this business without any background in coffee. Oliveira comes from software development. Carrera logged two decades in film and TV production before his contract ended and he made a decision.
“I can either keep looking for jobs in film and TV production or I can finally bet on myself,” he said.
What that bet looked like surprised even him. “I decided, you know what? I’m gonna do a coffee truck, ’cause what do I love? I love horror movies, I like coffee and I like jazz. And that’s what I went with.”
His wife, Hiromi Nishino, a manga artist, drew the ghosts that cover the truck. She is the artist behind the whipped cream-looking ghost design.
What Makes This Montclair Coffee Truck Worth Finding
From the start, the founders chose mobility as the operating principle.
“I just didn’t wanna be another brick-and-mortar place,” Carrera said. “I also could not just depend on foot traffic just existing. So I decided I have enough energy to go after people and find out where they need coffee and just be there.”
The truck runs on solar panels and battery power. No gas. “We charge the batteries overnight,” Oliveira said. “They last longer than any working day we’ve ever had.”
Then there’s the espresso machine. Carrera and Oliveira talked about it the way parents talk about a kid who just made the honor roll. It puts out 175 espressos per hour, calibrated specifically to their beans, and had never been installed inside a truck before theirs. Farnoosh and Mike asked what it cost.
“More than the truck,” Carrera said. “More than the truck, yeah.”
Where to Find Possessed by Coffee in Montclair
Carrera starts his day at 4 a.m. By 6 a.m. he’s at Walnut Street Station, timed to the NJ Transit schedule so commuters can grab their order before the train pulls in. From there he moves to Nishuane or Watchung School for the morning parent rush. By mid-morning he’s at Montclair High.
The menu covers the classics: espressos, lattes, flat whites, mochas, cappuccinos, hot chocolate. And then there’s the matcha.
“My wife’s Japanese, so our matcha is actually Uji matcha,” Carrera said. Uji matcha is a premium green tea from the Uji region of Kyoto, one of the most prized varieties in Japan.
The truck takes bookings for corporate events, community festivals and private gatherings. Track the daily location at @possessed.by.coffee on Instagram or at possessedbycoffee.com.
