Bartholomew Jones – Cxffeeblack

Bartholomew Jones, the co-founder of Cxffeeblack, discusses how his brand seeks to reclaim coffee's African roots while empowering Black farmers and promoting social justice. Through storytelling, music, and ethically sourced ingredients, Cxffeeblack offers an authentic coffee experience that emphasizes cultural connection and community.

Key Takeaways

• Bartholomew's journey from hip-hop artist to coffee entrepreneur
• The mission of Cxffeeblack to create an equitable Black future
• The importance of storytelling in brand building
• Diversity and inclusion within the coffee industry 
• Upcoming initiatives like the Pan-African Barista Exchange Program
• The impact of coffee's colonial history on today's market 
• Building community around curiosity and quality coffee 
• Differentiating Cxffeeblack through authenticity and flavor 
• Unique supply chain connecting Ethiopia to Memphis 

And don’t miss how we bring all this brilliant insight into our lab and transform it into an impactful 30-second piece that truly brews the perfect cup of Cxffeeblack.

Pitch Lab is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios and hosted by Merrick Chief Creative Officer, Tom Frank and content marketer, storyteller, and brand strategist, William "Classic" Thomas. Tune in to hear this thought-provoking brand discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You ready?
Classic yes, all right.
Welcome to Pitch Lab, the placewhere big ideas, bold branding
and a little comic flair collide.
I'm Tom Frank, chief CreativeOfficer at Merit.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Creative and I am Classic, the inquisitive one
brand builder, head of contentall across the board.
We take founders with seriousambition and turn their stories
into memorable content.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
You've got a game-changing idea, you're
raising capital, or maybe you'rejust trying to get people to
care about what you're building.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
That's where we come in.
We dig into what makes yourbrand tick.
Pull out the gold.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
And then we flip it into a 30-second content piece
that's got personality punch andmaybe even a little pizzazz.
Pizzazz.
You say, I do Branding needs alittle flair.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
That's fair.
So if you're a founder of agreat pitch or one that needs a
little work, stick around.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Because this is Pitch Lab Classic.
We got a very interesting guesttoday in the lab.
Oh, tell me more.
We are talking to the one andonly Bartholomew Jones, the

(01:07):
co-founder of Coffee Black, acommunity oriented,
multidisciplinary, educationbased coffee company founded in
2019 by Bartholomew and his wife, renata Henderson.
Coffee Black is a socialenterprise on a mission to
return coffee to its Africanroots and, in the process,
create an equitable black future.
The company is a trailblazer inthe coffee industry by creating

(01:30):
an entirely all-black coffeesupply chain from Ethiopia to
Memphis, tennessee.
Welcome to Pitch Lab,bartholomew Jones.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
How are you Good to be here, man.
I'm doing great.
I got my coffee.
It's vibing.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I kind of wish I had some right now.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Why don't you do something after the show I got
you?

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, I'm already thirsty from just saying the
words coffee a couple differenttimes.
Yes sir, yes sir.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
I was your neighbor for a bit.
I was in Nashville for like ayear and a half, maybe two years
, when I was doing my WeFunderwork.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Hey, nashville, yeah, that's dope.
I feel like I've been inNashville more in the last two
years of my life than I've beenin my life.
You know what I'm saying.
Like the work with Vanderbilt,the work with WeFunder, I'm
growing to love it.
There's like a little siblingrivalry between Memphis and
Nashville.
I'm sure so, yes, but it's beengood to connect.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, Now are you a Memphis born and raised guy.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yes, sir.
Yeah, grew up in Black Haven.
It's called White Haven, but wecall it Black Haven.
You know, duke Deuce or any ofthose rappers like that, famous
from that part of the community.
But yeah, born and bred inMemphis, I left the city for
undergrad I went to WheatonCollege, came back and got my
master's.
But love Memphis, we got rootshere and I really believe

(02:49):
Memphis is a part of the future.
So we're building.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah.
So let's kind of figure outwhat we're talking about here
today, like what?
What inspired you, like where,where did this whole idea of
Coffee Black come from?

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, honestly, it came from some bars.
So I'm an independent rapper,an educator, a community
educator, and spend a lot oftime just like taking
inspiration.
At heart, I'm a nerd, to behonest.
Like growing up I was intoanime, comic books, like
anything detail-oriented I love,and that eventually led me back
into hip hop, especially likethe more like creative, like

(03:22):
nerdy, backpacker side of things.
And I got into school inChicago, but I always loved the
music and when I was in ChicagoI accidentally also got into
specialty coffee.
So my dad, like as a kid, wouldalways present coffee to me.
He went to Kenya when we were,before we were born, and was
like you got to try this Africancoffee.
And I was like, dad, this isgross, you know what I'm saying.
I want to drink this the onlyway.

(03:43):
You know.
This is the only way you wouldcatch me.
Drinking coffee is like with abunch of the powdery creamer and
powdery sugar.
I used to like put a few dropsof coffee mixed, as you know,
called a trappuccino, but likethat was the only way I was
really sipping on coffee.
But when I went to school inchicago, they started talking
about like I would see thesebags and they were like notes of
strawberry rhubarb for stemming.

(04:04):
I'm like that's.
So I just wanted to try it andyou know, of course you see
people doing pour overs and yousee the craft and it was super
inspiring to me.
So I just used to post up atcoffee shops, like right outside
of the, the college campus, andwould just, you know, write
music, work on lesson plans.
I was an elementary educationmajor as well, sociology minor,

(04:24):
but I would just be therebecause it was an inspiring
place to be.
And you know, over time mycuriosity began to be a part of
my inspiration.
I think that's normal for mostpeople, like the things you're
curious about become a part ofyour inspiration.
As an artist, uh, I famouslyremember like chicago actually
getting put on mick jenkins andmick jenkins having like the
drink more water mixtape andlike taking his curiosity about

(04:46):
like health and the nature ofwater and flipping it into
metaphors for the community andlike for me, I was like, oh okay
, I gotta drink your coffeeblack.
You know, I'm saying that'sgonna be my niche, that's gonna
way, that's the way Idifferentiate yourself, because
the Memphis hip-hop scene is,you know, it is what it is and I
love it.
It's a part of my roots, but Ialso know like my particular
notes to borrow.
Borrow from coffee.
Language don't necessarilymirror what you would expect

(05:08):
when you meet a artist or arapper out of memphis, and so,
like, coffee was my way todifferentiate myself and we had
a song we did probably 2017 ofme and my brother spent forever
mixing it, but it was like itwas a song and it went like you
know, know, no sugar, no cream,please, don't cover my dreams.
No sugar, no cream, please,don't cover my dreams.

(05:30):
But that was the vibe of thesong.
It was kind of neo soul joint.
We were like, hey, man, coffeeblack is a metaphor for being
yourself.
It's a metaphor for connectedto the creator's purpose.
It's this metaphor for health,and it's like the copy is
actually way better when you getinto the notes and it's roasted
well and so on and so forth.
And I was like, yeah, this istight.
And we ended up doing a millionstreams off the music and I made

(05:51):
1200 bucks and my wife waslooking at me like what you
doing?
You know what I'm saying.
We definitely spent like 10bands on the marketing, the
mixing, the you know, and it wasjust like, okay, this is
something, but it's not thefinal point.
And we eventually everyonewould always ask me like you
know, I was a part-time baristaas well people actually like yo,

(06:12):
y'all gonna, y'all gonna starta coffee shop.
I'm like heck, no brother'sgonna gentrify my neighborhood.
Like we moved back to the hoodafter college and after graduate
school to start doingmentorship and community
development and I was like nowI'm gonna gent about my
community, I'm gonna do thiscontent, though, you know, I'm
gonna educate people about thisindustry, we're gonna do this
art.
And eventually, bro, like weended up dropping like maybe 50
pounds of coffee as merch likebasically flipped it like

(06:34):
streetwear, like limited edition.
You gotta come to this concert,buy a ticket, you get this
piece.
It was a guji man actually gotthe, got the bag right here.
So, like yo, it feels like apiece of merch, you know.
And so for me, it was like asan indie artist, merch was my
salvation for being able to paymy bills.
That's how you made the money,yeah, yeah.
So we did it and I made likethree beds in like two hours.

(06:56):
I was like whoa, there'ssomething here, hold up, that's
different.
And people kept hitting me up.
We started having shops reachout like yo, can I carry it?
And at this point we weren'teven roasting, we were
co-roasting or basically havingsomebody white label for us.
It was one of my homies, kenny,and so this led me on a very
long journey to start learningmore about the industry and, of
course, as I got into it, I'malways the only black person in

(07:16):
the coffee shop, right, even ifthe coffee shop is in a black
neighborhood.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
You know what I'm saying, saying like I'm the only
one who's in thereparticipating in the culture and
it made me realize like, oh,this is an opportunity to start
bringing way more transformation, and that really led us on the
journey to start coffee black.
Yeah, so so let me, I gotta ask.
So it to me that you have rootsin coffee, you have roots in
music.
This is as much of a movementas it is a product.
Yeah, but at the end of the day, you gotta've got to have a
product too.
And so tell me more about theproduct.
What makes it special?

(07:51):
I mean, you obviously have donea good job from a branding
perspective and, as you said,making it into almost it's like
merchandise.
But how have you figured outthe coffee?
Because coffee is competitive,right, I go down the block and
there's three coffee shops.
Have you figured out the?

Speaker 3 (08:04):
coffee Because coffee is competitive, right.
I go down the block and there'sthree coffee shops yeah for
sure.
And I think part of that istalent, right, and I kind of
explain coffee in this way.
There's generally two valuepropositions that you see in the
coffee industry, and this isjust from my 10 years of being a
barista, being a connoisseur,being a nerd and just nerding
out on coffee right.
The first picture is what we'reall familiar with, which is
like we have the cheapest coffee, right, and we can think of a

(08:27):
billion brands that fall intothat category, and people work
with super, super low marginsand that's how they get.
This is actually not specialtycoffee.
This is not the stuff that I'mtalking about as far as
strawberry and rhubarb andpersimmon and these kinds of
notes, but that's a big part ofthe industry In fact that's,

(08:54):
honestly, 99% of the coffeethat's sold on the planet is
what we call commodity gradecoffee, and that's coffee I
honestly don't like, still Like.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
I have really no interest in drinking that coffee
.
It's not.
It doesn't make me curious.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
Give me an example of that Now would you put like
Dunkin' Donuts into thatcategory?
Actually an interesting case,because I got to meet with their
like cheap diversity ofmarketing manager a year ago.
Prior to that I would have saidyes, but you would think, as
far as a branding perspective,america runs on Dunkin', we're
here for the working class.
Folgers is also another example, bustelo is another example,
community Coffee.
These are coffees that kind ofwin in the marketplace by being

(09:22):
super cheap and one economicallythat is a very cost-intensive
game to play Like you're playingat scale and you're basically
betting that you can outliveyour competitors because you're
going to have that much controlover supply.
You have that much margin to beable, or capital to be able, to
outlast people.
And we can get into this if youwant, because the C market is

(09:44):
actually doing something reallyfascinating for for your, for
information.
Traditionally the c market, youknow, would have been like a
buck 20 for a pound of coffee,right that's grown by a producer
.
Right now the c market is atalmost four dollars and so like
the industry is scrambling rightnow as far as like my degree
coffee.
Why is that?
Why such a huge increase?
Well, a lot of it has to dowith the way the market is built

(10:07):
, is built on a futures market,and so, like there are people in
new york and in london it wasactually the first commodity,
one of the first commoditiestraded in the stock market and
so, like there are people whowake up every day and make a
projection based on what theythink coffee is worth, and then
they decide the price of coffeemoving forward for the next year
.
And so, based on what'shappening in brazil, what people
expect is happening with theweather, what the harvest is

(10:29):
looking like and, to be honest,brazil is an interesting case
too.
We're about to get very nerdyhere.
Brazil is an interesting casetoo, because brazil is the
largest producer of coffee inthe world.
But we have to ask the questionwhy this coffee is not native
to brazil.
Coffee where's it native to?
Is native to ethiopia, andactually that's the specific
species of coffee which is cafeaarabica.
The cafea species there are, orgenus I guess you could say

(10:53):
there are 120 species of thisparticular genus is native to
the continent africa.
They grow in east africa, westafrica, but the one we all are
most familiar with is arabica.
But it was exported due tocolonialism.
It was stolen and broughtaround the world, and its slaves
and indigenous people were usedto grow it, and so Brazil was
the largest place for this kindof hotbed of like free labor.
And eventually that free laborbecame mechanized and it was the

(11:15):
slaves were replaced withmachines, and so this is why
Brazil is kind of like thehotbed, because they produce the
most due to the economic modelbuilt off of slaves.
But anyway, what happens inBrazil is basically what
determines what happens forcoffee in the rest of the world.
For the most part, and thepeople who woke up and decided
that, you know, coffee is goingto be based at three dollars
really 360 right now are lookingat a lot of the planetary

(11:40):
changes that are happening inbrazil as far as, like, what's
happening with the environment.
They're also looking at the uhdecrease in production, which
means the coffee is going to bemore valuable, and we can get
more into this if you want.
But the long story, and shortof it, is that, like coffee is
more expensive now than it'sbeen in the last 60 years and it
doesn't so shine, so droppeople who work with the
commodity market, and so this ishard this is hard.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
This has made your job a lot harder.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Well, it didn't make my job harder and we'll get into
the other part, the other sideof it.
So the first problem that youhave is this is the cheapest
coffee, and people generally dosuper low-grade coffee.
It's super burnt, it's sprayedwith pesticides.
The FDA says it can have 10%roach particle in it.
So when people say like, oh,coffee makes stomach hurt, I

(12:24):
don't really like coffee.
It's like a lot of those thingshave nothing to do with coffee.
It has to do with the process,the product.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
Cause we're drinking roaches.
Yeah, classic, how you feelabout this?

Speaker 2 (12:34):
I don't.
I don't feel good about that atall, but no, I don't of two
really important things,especially for folks that are
watching.
Whereas you have to have apassion first but you can't
necessarily nine times out of 10, you probably won't fully
profit off of that passion.
That passion is a creativity.
You have to then apply it tosomething tangible and it's

(12:55):
usually.
We usually meet these twoinfluences and so you were fed
this influence all throughoutyour life.
You have the music like Memphisis a music hotbed, which
influence all throughout yourlife.
You have the music like memphisis a music hotbed, which they're
telling you about coffee, andyou found these intersections.
And now you know people don'tmake a lot of money off the
creativity because of how youknow a lot of these systems have
done down the works when youthink about streaming and

(13:16):
whatnot, and that's why they'relike, if you want to make money
as the, as an independent artist, you better have merch and you
better be creating shows and socreate this secondary aspect.
Uh, whereas, like I'm not one,you super niche down everybody
has a t-shirt, everybody has avinyl, how many, how many rap
shows you go to?
And it's probably, and it'sjust like a freaking coffee

(13:38):
barista and you know you'reselling bags, selling cups,
whatever the case it may be butthen I like to say that you're
never going to make it as arapper.
If you're trying to createopportunities at a rapper
convention, like it's just toomany people doing the same thing
in the same room, yeah, youstand out.
You, as a rapper, went to thecoffee convention and all you

(14:00):
had to do was find the folksthat are like one.
I like rap too.
I like coffee, and it's so like, it's such a small segment that
you can own it.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah all you had to be was yourself in essence.
You had to be yourself in that,in that niche yeah, and
literally cross, connect withliterally.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
but there's not one person that hasn't listened to
rap in some way, shape or form,and if they haven't, that's just
a really small percentagebecause of how large the genre
is and just about everybodydrinks coffee and so the
intersections are so broad.
But then you came in so narrowthat you can build that up,
because nobody else is doing itlike you and by time folks

(14:39):
actually catch on, it's too late, because look how much we've
sold, look how many people haveplayed the music, look how many
people are in our CRM.
I think it's beautiful, uh,what you've done.
And and the fact that you'recontinuously learning, because
I'm like you're sitting herenerding out on a coffee, I'm
like what the hell is thisbackground?
And I thought you said you'rewrong.
And but because of that passion,it now has forced you to learn

(15:02):
even more so you could becomeeven better at it, which then
separates you even more, becausenow it's like we're about to.
You know, we're watching a 60minutes or a Dateline interview
one day and we have this personthat's in venture.
We have this person.
Then we have you, raffer,bartholomew Jones, and you're
like running circles aroundeverybody else at the time.
Yeah, then inspires even morepeople to kind of like, look

(15:25):
into you and potentially use youas a point of influence for
their own endeavors.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Now I want to know okay, so that's all a good point
, but I want to get into now thedifferentiator, because you
said that we have that end ofthe coffee and then we have what
I'm assuming you're in on theother end of the coffee world.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
So I'm actually a third option, but I'll explain
the second one and I'll try tobe a bit more brief.
But I just wanted to touch onwhat Classic was saying because
I agree, interesting thing islike I'm invited to speak at
national coffee symposiums andconferences and I pull up, you
know, semphos D, and we get theybring the dogs out to sniff our
bags like who, why?
It just doesn't make sense tothem that we're there.

(16:04):
I'm like I'm speaking on panel,like I'm here because we're a
global thought leader within thecoffee industry, and I think it
actually speaks to the rootissue of coffee, right, which is
that coffee is this Africanplant that was grown by these
people who the world doesn'tassociate with the highest
quality of that product, and Ithink we see that across a ton
of industries and of coursethat's a problem, but I also see

(16:25):
that as a possibility, right,because I'm very curious about
multiverses and things like that.
What would coffee have beenlike had it actually been able
to benefit the people whocreated it globally?
And that's kind of the genesisof the question that frames a
lot of our product development.
But the second part of coffee,right, and this is where
specialty coffee comes in.
This is where you see hipsterswith mustaches and flannel

(16:46):
shirts, a lot of this stuff thatcame out of Portland and that's
specialty coffee.
And the general valueproposition by specialty coffee
is that we have the best coffee.
So some people say we have thecheapest coffee.
That's the legacy coffee.
That would be known as, likethe first wave coffee, their
second wave coffee, which islike kind of the 90s we're not
even gonna talk about that, tobe honest, because like, but
that was like Java, erykah Badu,you know whipped cream, board

(17:10):
games, like everybody kind offamiliar with that.
But the third wave of coffee isthis piece that really is like
you'll see, with like a bluebottle, right, or even if you're
following Jimmy Butler's brandand he just dropped Big Face.
It's like this is the.
We have the best, the most, therarest, the most exclusive, the
most hype coffee on the planet.
And that's really what made mecurious, right, that was what

(17:34):
made me interested in coffee,and so I did spend a lot of time
as a barista and as aconnoisseur in that space.
But the issue again with that isthat that at the end of the day
becomes a gas to problem.
The first problem is that turnsinto a money game as well.
So it's a money game if you'retrying to do the cheapest coffee
because you're super low margin, that you're trying to work at
a huge scale and dominate bigsegments of like grocery and
things like that.
On the other side of it, youhave the we have the best coffee

(17:56):
, and that turns into a race tobuy the rarest coffee on the
planet.
And just as a independentrapper and community educator
from Memphis um, with a littlebit of an activist and deacon
streak in them, I can't affordto play either one of those
games.
And we were bootstrapped for thefirst few years of our business
.
But the game that I felt like Icould do better than anyone
else is that we have the mostauthentic coffee right, that we

(18:18):
have the coffee that's best foryou and for who you were meant
to be.
We have the coffee.
That is what it was alwaysmeant to be.
And let me take you on thisjourney into something you've
never thought about but that youalways needed, and that,
honestly, was the thing that gotme into all of this coffee
music, all that.
It was the curiosity aboutpossibility that I've had since

(18:38):
a kid.
Before I was a rapper, before Iwas a coffee and I was just a
curious kid and I think that ourbrand is built on people who
have a desire to be curious, isbuilt on people who have a
desire to be curious but don'thave a way to actualize that,
and our product turns into ameans of seeding this curiosity
about possibility in the world.
So that is what we've beenbuilt on.

(19:00):
So when we built GujiMain, ofcourse we had to have super high
quality coffee.
Coffee is scored from one to ahundred.
We're doing coffees that areconsistently scoring at 86.
So this is the top 1% percentof coffee and then of that, top
one percent of coffee in theworld.
So most of those coffeesstarted like a 78 or 80 and
we're doing 86, right.
So these are like who scoresthe coffee?
Uh, basically coffee somalias.
They're called q graders, uh,but these people are great

(19:23):
scoring coffee around the world.
They're doing what's calledcupping, which is essentially
like a coffee tasting andthere's a wheel similar to, like
you've seen, a flavor wheel forwine.
They associated basically thesedifferent characteristics and
these are the copies that aresingle origin, that have like a
specific farm associated, aspecific terroir, specific
processing methods, maybe evenexperimental processing methods.

(19:43):
Like the coffee I just showedyou guys is like an anaerobic
fermentation, which means it wasfermented without air for about
86 hours by our honey, tereWaji, in Ethiopia.
But you know, when we startedthe brand, my thing was like
there's an intersection, likethere's a story that's not being
told and that story happens tomirror my own.
And so, by telling my own storyand using the coffee as a
metaphor, we're speaking to alot of people who the market is

(20:06):
ignoring.
So a little bit of coffeeresearch here, as if we haven't
done enough right.
10 years ago, african-americanswere the lowest coffee
consuming demographic raciallyin the United States, according
to the National CoffeeAssociation.
Last March, I believe, a reportcame out and they said
African-Americans are thefastest growing ethnic segment,
followed up by Gen Z, which isthe fastest growing age

(20:27):
demographic.
And of course, you can thinkabout our brand and everything
that went into it.
We're perfectly positioned tobe the coffee brand for the next
generation of coffeeconnoisseurs.
And you think about as well,like what are the issues, what
are the incongruencies with bothof those other examples I've
sent you?
Well, I mean, the first exampleis that the coffee tastes bad.
And then the second piece,especially when it comes to the
demographics I mentioned,whether we're talking about gen

(20:50):
z or diverse coffee drinkersfrom different ethnic
backgrounds.
It's like most of ourcommunities were colonized
because of the practices thatmake this cotton cheap, and so
once people are aware of that,there's, uh, unwillingness to
really participate in what Icall sharecropping.
Right, so it's like, hey, Idon't want to be.
Most consumers at this point areaware, like we, our generation
doesn't trust the establishmentat all, whether we're talking

(21:11):
about grocery or government, andso we're looking for things
that are more just, more ethical, better for the planet.
But the other part is, most ofus are also looking for things
that are more interesting, moreniche, more curated, more
artistic, and so we're at thisunique intersection of doing
both of those things withouttime.
And so we're at this uniqueintersection of doing both of
those things without time.
And so, when you look at thehistory and the legacy of hip

(21:32):
hop and what we're bringing, butalso blending it with, like
this kind of streetwear piece,we're, we're bringing this high
end, elevated, niche productthat also happens to be really
radical and really just, and soit's perfect for these new
emerging trends.
Now, we started this before Iknew these trends were happening
.
Obviously, we started in 2018.
I knew this is what I wantedand this is the brand that me

(21:53):
and my homies wanted.
This is what we wanted to drink, and so we created the brand we
wanted.
And then we're able to see okay, the market is actually
catching up to the things wewere already looking for.
So that's really where you getproducts like Gujimanay, where
you get products like our goldbrew, which is like a coffee on
a plumber.
Instead of iced tea, we useiced coffee and, because of my
palate and my taste, like all ofthe products taste immaculate.

(22:16):
But I also know that's aterrible marketing strategy to
say we have the best coffee.
At the end of the day, it'sjust who bought from the richest
farmer.
You know, I'm saying like who'sgonna pay the highest price
from the richest and you can'tsustainably offer their product
as well, like next year, thatfarmer is going to sell to
wherever is the highest bidder.
But if you have this story ofauthenticity, this story of like

(22:36):
returning to the root but alsoimagining the future, by that I
kind of frame it as samplingRight, just like interesting
thing of sampling the past,contextualizing the present,
imagining the future.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
Then that story is always going to be a story.
Only I can tell and only mycommunity can tell, and so we
built a brand to lead the wayyou you're.
You're essentially what a wallstreet trapper and eyl is for
stocks, but you're doing it forcoffee.
Yeah, yeah, like, like.
The super big benefit for themwas the fact that they can talk
to talk, walk the walk, but onlythey can walk into that
community.
Uh, do it.
So therefore, the other groupsnow have to they become the
gatekeeper.
Now you have to.
You have to come through me toget to them, because I'm the

(23:16):
only one who knows how to talkto them.
In the same way, you know howto talk, but it also creates
opportunities for you to go overon that side, because it's a
lot of interest.
This is all a game of curiosity.
At the end of the day, we'reall selling the same products.
We're all selling the sameproducts.
We're all making the samevideos.
We're all using the same films.
The difference is the directorand what's their perspective
with that story, and so, withyours being so unique to you and

(23:38):
you being able to capitalize onit properly by attaching it to
an awareness filter via themusic and then a product capture
once they get to where thelanding spot is in the coffee,
at a really nice price yeah,we're doing that on fulfillment
creating something, what a lotof folks like to say, like full
scale, like apple, likeeverybody wants to be apple.

(24:00):
You build your own product, yousell it to your own audience out
of your own store, uh, and, andthen you get to the point where
eventually, you get to inviteother folks because what you're
building is the system.
So I wonder if there's likeplans down the line for, like
what does it mean to then findsomebody else and then say,
almost like a label on thatmusic site, hey, I really like
your story.
Put it behind this, yeah, andlike lay directly to your.

Speaker 3 (24:21):
That's crazy because, yeah, you're, you're right on
track with like part of ourgrowth strategies.
This is one of our strategicstrategies, but we really want
to revitalize the merch industrythrough coffee.
So if you look at a lot ofthese legacy artists like you,
the way they're living isbecause of merch and they're
dropping merch and they sell itonce.
Right, you make a t-shirt and Ican't talk about who I'm
pitching to, but we're pitchingto a potential lead investor and

(24:42):
this is part of what Idiscussed with them is like, hey
, look, man, you have a history,you have a legacy, you have a
brand and you can at this point,you're not dropping new music,
right?
So you're living off of touringand merch and things like that.
You drop a t-shirt, yourcustomers are going to buy it,
but they're going to buy it oncea year and then it's over.
Right?
I have access to an exclusiveall-black supply chain sourced

(25:03):
from diaspora communities aroundthe world.
It's also some of the rarestcoffee on the planet.
We have all these accolades andawards and you know cosigns and
I can give you a free.
Basically, I can give youaccess to the world's most
popular legal drugs that you candrop every week.
You know what I'm saying andwe'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
Ready to launch your podcast?
Merrick Studios offerscomprehensive services, from
concept development and seamlessproduction to strategic
marketing and monetization.
Let your story take the mic,visit MerrickCreativecom slash
studios and let's get to work.
And now back to our show andlet's get to work.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
And now back to our show $495 billion industry and
the lane is wide open for us tobe able to speak to the
demographic that you're speakingto.
So that is a big part of ourgrowth strategy down the line
right now.
I know y'all didn't ask aboutthat growth strategy.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
This is interesting though, because I think the two
things that I find interestingis where do you find your
customer base?
And then, why does somebodybelieve right?
Why does it, whether it's aninvestor or a consumer?
And so that I was going to getinto that, because you know most
coffee brands, right, theyeither have a physical location
and they're hustling Like theyjust got to help people come in
the door.

(26:09):
Some of them are selling online.
Hey, I guess where are yourtouch points at this point and
maybe dive a little further,because I really like what
you're saying about.
That's a different way toapproach how people would try
your product for the first timethrough, in essence, influencers
, but huge influencers thatactually meet your.
You know your particular storyin essence, yeah, and this

(26:32):
originally happened just becauseof me being in music, right?

Speaker 3 (26:35):
So I was the first test case, right?
I have a small audience, amillion plus streams, but that's
nothing in today's audience asfar as music is concerned.
But I was able to convert myaudience into over a million
dollars in revenue over thecourse of the company, because
Crazy, yeah, because I wasbringing a differentiated
product.
So on two points one, it's forthe people who are in the coffee

(26:56):
space.
They've.
So on two points.
One, it's for the people whoare in the coffee space They've
never seen storytelling likethis, they've never seen
branding like this.
And when you're playing the, wehave the best coffee.
At this point, everybody hasaccess to buy the same coffees.
If you're going fromtraditional importers, we can
all talk to the same importers,we can all go to the same coffee
options, and then it just turnsinto who has the most money,
right, because a lot of thesecoffees roast themselves, to be

(27:16):
honest, spiking tape.
When you're, when you'repurchasing like a 99 point, a 98
point coffee, you know which islike the rarest of the rarest
of the rarest, that coffee isgoing to be amazing if you just
throw it in the oven, you knowsaying like you don't have to be
an amazing roaster so yousomewhat can't screw it up,
unless you really I mean, ofcourse.
But I'm saying, like you know,if you're decent, if you're
halfway decent, that coffee isgoing to be amazing to a

(27:38):
consumer.
So to me the argument is likeyo and this is coming from a
hip-hop perspective but like yo,what can you do with like eight
tracks?
You know I'm saying what canyou do with no samples?
You know I'm saying what canyou do with limited access?
To me that's actually themarket talent.
So we have a skill set herethat we develop and I can get
into how we develop our skillset to be able to differentiate,

(27:59):
like our talent, in the market.
But at the end of the day, likewe're bringing a unique product
to people who already love theindustry that we're in and
they're like this is crazy, theytaste it, it tastes amazing.
So it checks the box of like oh, I want high quality.
But it's also like this coffeemakes me feel a way in this
story.
This brand makes me feel a wayin this story.
This brand makes me feel a waythat none of these other brands
make feel and because mostpeople who love high quality

(28:20):
products they also are therebecause they care about the
justice and we expose a lot ofthe hypocrisy, like a lot of
these folks who say they careabout farmers.
It's all okay, so you careabout black and brown farmers,
but there are no black and brownpeople in the black and brown
neighborhood that you live in,like some may.
Some may add something, addingup.
You know, I'm saying and so fora lot of those consumers as
well, they're really interestedin integrity and congruency.

(28:41):
And so when you check theflavor box, you check the
storytelling box, and then youcheck the wow and this, this, I
can see that this is more justthan what I've been doing.
It's a.
It's an easy answer for peoplewho love industry.
Let's go to the other side,people who don't know anything
about coffee.
They've been drinking folgerstheir whole life.
Everything I dropped is betterthan what they have.
You know what I'm saying?
They've been drinking the thesome of the worst coffee on the

(29:01):
planet.
And then you go reverse back tothose.
Oh, and it happens to be morejust.
Wow, I don't even know anythingabout this history, but I
definitely don't want to drinkthat now.
I didn't want to drink itbefore, but now I definitely
don't want to drink that.
Oh, and it feels fly, it feelsaspirational, it feels like I'm
a part of something bigger thanme.
So, okay, yeah, and I want todo this because it's low-key, a
flex right, like I'm flexing,like I would drop the new

(29:22):
Jordans.
Or we got the new, latest collabfrom Joe Fresh Goods, or you
know, like we got the mostexclusive strain of our
particular stimulant we like toinhale.
You know, it's like this isanother kind of aspirational
brand that speaks to who theyare and also is like affirming
and also delicious.
So that's really those twoaudiences, in the intersection

(29:43):
of those offers that we make,gave us a really unique group of
customers who just are right orthey love everything we're
doing.
They consistently buy from us.
And then we stack that on topof brand partnerships, because
all the issues that make usunique are also issues that,
like these larger legacy brandshave.
So they started reaching out tous to do activations,
collaborations, co-brandedproducts.
Issues that make us unique arealso issues that, like these
larger legacy brands have.
So they started reaching out tous to do activations,
collaborations, co-brandedproducts.
And that also led to us startingto speak to other influencers,

(30:06):
naturally, who would just reachout.
Like I'm doing research aboutwho's in the industry, I see you
guys name pop up?
Can we do a collaboration toraise some money for the
scholarship I'm doing?
Can we collaborate on thisproduct?
We ended up connecting withchenis, the rapper out in ghana,
and like got to shoot somecontent with him, you know, like
dropping us into work, citedfor this freestyle he did last
year, but we were there becausethere were no other popping

(30:27):
people there, right, and alongthe way we did a ton of
marketing and branding with ourbasil and all this stuff.
But yeah, it led to thesepartnerships and connections
because we're showing upuniquely within the space and so
when people get a little bit ofcuriosity, they see us right,
and that leads us to apartnership, either from a
legacy brand or from a largerinfluencer who wants to tap into
this.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
That's interesting.
It makes me think a lot about.
So it's why it's important totell your story and be as
authentic as possible, becausethe more you do that, the more
people can resonate with it.
If they see themselves insideof what it is that you're
pushing, the more they areencouraged to want to attach to
it.
But then talk about it becausethey know how to talk about it.

(31:08):
And it kind of takes you backto this analogy of like um, your
friend would probably sell youwant a bank better than a bank
teller would, because the bankteller is going to have it is
going to be like this realstructured thing.
But like I don't really knowyou, I don't really trust you,
you're just trying to sell me onsomething.
Meanwhile your friend can giveyou that same information, but
it's probably janky as hell,like it's how they explain it.

(31:31):
But you try, friend, you knowyour friend, your best interest,
and so you're probably going togo check that bank out because
you are in the market for a bankTo apply to something as simple
as like a beverage as coffee.
Now, especially like you thinkabout the black community.
Now you're like you might getsomebody might start busting on
you because you're drinkingsomething else, like you got to
drink coffee black.

(31:52):
It turns into a thing whichhappens.

Speaker 3 (31:54):
You know what I'm saying, why you got Starbucks.
What thing which happens.
You know what I'm saying, whyyou got Starbucks.
What's wrong?

Speaker 1 (31:58):
with you.
Why are you drinking atStarbucks?
Which is interesting because, Imean, I never thought of it
like you just said it, coffee isthe biggest drug in the world.
There are more people hooked oncoffee, I would assume, than
any other drug.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Oh yeah, because it's accessible and it's the second
largest commodity.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
It's the second largest commodity traded from
third world countries.
It's the most popular beveragedrink on the planet.
Like you know, the coffeeindustry is huge and is ripe for
disruption.
It's right for someone to comein with a different story.
And that's where we come in,because not only do we already
have all this being from Memphisand just naturally standing out
when we show but I have thecontrasted like deep, nerdy core

(32:40):
to me.
That like allows me to speakthe language.
There's also the piece of like2021,.
I'm doing this research, I'mlearning and I have a mentor,
martin Mayorga.
He's doing 60 million a yearand I probably do a way more
than that.
Now, to be honest, that waslike a four-year-old number, but
they're going crazy.
They're in Costco and theybuilt the world's first, like
all Latino supply chain.
And he reaches out to me whenwe're starting.
He's like hey, man, see whatyou're trying to do for your

(33:01):
community.
I did this for Latinos in the90s.
Let me give you some game,because some of these importers
who are sending you samples areliterally shell companies for
some of the oldest colonialcompanies on the planet.
Right, and you're just lookingto connect with, like these
farmers, to connect yourcommunity and do this change and
all the things you want to do,but like, meanwhile, like, these
folks are sending you samples.

(33:22):
This is like the coffeeIlluminati, like watch out,
right.
Yeah, and to this day, I don'teven say those companies names
because, like, I'm not Look,don't come for me, bro, I'm
small, you know what I'm sayingLike we're, we're see, I'm not
trying to, you know, I'm justspace.
But it made me want to go to theroot.
It made me want to learn aboutthe history of coffee, and so we
went to the only pre-colonialcoffee community on the planet
that still exists, which is inethiopia.

(33:43):
Yeah, we put out a tweet inlike 2021.
Hey, if a black american coffeecompany wanted to go to africa
to learn about its indigenousroots, like, would anybody let
me crash on their couch?
We got crazy dms.
I wouldn't say it went viral,but we, like our dms blew up.
People were really like, hey,let's do it, we'll fund you, so
I'll put a go fund me out.
We had 10k in less than 24hours, 24k in less than 72 hours

(34:05):
.
There was no, this wasn't aninvestment, dude, it's
crowdfunding, like.
People were just like we wantto see this happen, that huge
audience I had mentioned we hadbuilt like they're national,
they're global, and so they sentus.
We shot a documentary.
It won best, ended up going onthis crazy journey to build this
black supply chain, learningabout coffee's free colonial

(34:26):
history, the philosophy, thespirituality.
And then last year we didsomething called a Pan-African
Black Barista Exchange Programwith Vanderbilt, where we took
seven black Americans to go onthat same journey with me and we
paid for the whole experiencefor them because of brand
partnerships.
And then we brought fiveAfrican and Afro-Latino baristas
here last year after that to dothe same experience.
African, afro latino baristashere last year after that to do

(34:49):
the same experience.
And like those things createdthis crazy situation where, like
, we have access to this globalcommunity and began to get
access to these exclusivecostumes, like, hey, I want to
be a part of this unique supplychain.
And so then that begins toattract there's a group of
people who are like super nerdy,super curious, don't really
care about the justice, don'treally care about the branding,
probably don't listen to hip-hop.
But we started these crazy dmsand eventually we got nominated

(35:10):
as the world's most notableroaster.
Um, only people from memphis,only people from tennessee to
ever be nominated.
We were one of two companies tobe nominated in the us.
The other one, of course, wasin portland.
Uh, and we won.
We won that award beat outportland, which is crazy bro you
know the drug capital?

Speaker 1 (35:27):
yeah, that's, that is the drug like.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
Two years ago the, the coffee, the like, the
specialty coffee association wasin portland and I was.
I didn't realize it was likethat in portland it's crazy up
there.
Yes, yeah, I've been in my wholelife and I'm like I ain't never
seen that like this, bro, y'alljust doing fentanyl just
outside in the coffee.
Yeah, this is well.
I don't know about Indica,that's somebody's brand.
Yeah, man, it turned into thiswhole space and so we started

(35:51):
getting access to a higher levelof, like, exclusive restaurants
and other clientele who, justlike we, just want the best
right.
And because you guys have allthis curated coffees from these
partners that you're buildingwith through this black chain
that we're building, it's likeyo, we just want that.
I don't really care, don't tellme about anything else, I just
want the product right.
And so that led us to asituation where we have to start
getting a different level ofsupply.

(36:11):
Oh, this has been bootstrappedright.
This is crowdfunding.
That being, you know we droppedthe T-shirt in 2020 before we
went to Africa.
They said love black people.
It was like a 60K month.
I went from a 4K month to a 60Kmonth.
We donated a portion of theproceeds to the George Floyd
protests and helping people getout of jail, and it was like
this whole, all this stuff washappening and I was always able

(36:33):
to just bootstrap everything.
So I was like I don't want aninvestor.
I'm a comic book nerd, I'm likeI don't want Lex Luthor coming
in my business.
You know what I'm saying.
Nah, I'm good on that, but oncewe started really, you know
they call it the valley of death.
But once we started gettingthese bigger opportunities and I
would try to execute on them Icouldn't show up how I wanted,
because you can't pre-sale yourway or fundraise your way from

(36:54):
like a GoFundMe into theopportunities in the room you're
getting put in.
And that's where we decided, ok, we have to raise capital.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
Yeah, at some point that changes and you got to
figure that best thing out.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
You have to be able to accelerate and meet that
demand.
A lot of people view it as ascary thing, but that's why you
vet.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
Also think about when I was in Nashville we met this
guy and he started a hemp farmSuper affordable and he was
breaking down all the differentapplications for hemp and that's
why he was doing it.
So it was like man, if we ownit, then we can actually supply
to people that have then appliedin these various ways, one of
them being bricks.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
so there's like a whole bunch of like homes being
built I'll do some of thedigital kind of brick my brother
, I was- I actually was with you, by the way.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
I was like where are we going with this?

Speaker 2 (37:40):
no, but like.
It just made me think about,like the idea, because a large
part of his process is going tobe since they have the farm they
want to, they were going to puttogether programming to teach
people how to farm so that waythey can get down to the base,
uh, like, understand it from aground level, like, even before
we this, these final products,what did it mean to create its

(38:00):
source?
So I like, I wonder, like, isthat like one of your plans for
down the line?
Like, like you know, get you asmaller piece of land, not
necessarily to grow coffee forthe sake of selling coffee,
although you will be able to,but you might actually be able
to make like even more, justthrough the training of what
does it mean to maintain theland?
Like?
It's the idea of coming, it's abig endeavor.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
Oh yeah, oh yeah To your point like, the more that
you get into physical products,the more that you get into like
supply chain work, the moreexpensive it gets, the more
capital intensive it is.
And so we're trying to staylight right now by building like
partnerships is centered onthese exclusive partnerships

(38:43):
with different Africancommunities or diaspora
communities, primarily inEthiopia and in Colombia, in a
small Afro-Colombia part of theregion called Calcutta Right,
and so those are our two primarypartners.
We have other partners in Kenya, rwanda, ghana and other places
, but we're really trying tocenter our focus there because
we don't want to get skewedheavy and I've made that mistake
before where we just, you knowI'm a nerd, I'm nerding out, I

(39:09):
skewed heavy and I've made thatmistake before where we just,
you know I'm a nerd, I'm nerdingout.
I love this process, this is sointeresting, but you can't take
that to scale.
And so then we have our cannedbeverage, the rtb lane, which is
huge right now and it's arapidly expanding segment of the
market which is like they'reready to drink cans.
And so we have a gold brew whichI mentioned is like the honor
palmer profile coffee.
We use iced coffee instead oficed tea and it's inspired by me
being in ethiopia and eatingcoffee, fruit and being like, oh
, coffee's not a bean.
Like I used to go to mygrandma's farm in alabama.

(39:29):
We had the whole peas.
You know, peas and beans comein pies.
I'm an african.
They call it a coffee bean mywhole life.
I'm there and they're giving mea tropical african cherry.
I'm like, okay, I'm eating thecherry.
It has a totally differentflavor profile and it's even
deeper than what I had tastedthrough.
Like the nerdy coffee stuff ortheir notes of strawberry.
I'm actually tasting strawberry.
So what would a beverage likethat look like?
We have another one we justdropped, called Rose Gold Brew,

(39:51):
which is rose water and hibiscusinfused into this and this is,
like you know, no, artificialsweet, no, no, like
hyper-processed sweetness.
So it's honey amongst withagave.
It's healthy for you.
So that product line.
And then we have all the virtualtraining, uh, that we're doing
and we, we have plans we mightneed to cut this.
We have plans for like a.
You're talking about a farmwe're basically going to build
like a, like a, like a ai.

(40:12):
Not ai, but like a vr, like avirtual reality space.
There you go, there you go, we,where we can actually start
like creating farms right,creating that access, but what
you're actually going to bedoing is like we're gamifying
reparation, essentially, uh, andand market access for farmers
who strapped with hundreds ofyears of debt, and we'll use
merch and music and all thesethings to drop your products

(40:32):
with them.
Share the profit.
So allow people to like, beginto like trade virtual assets.
Yeah, yeah, that are connected,yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm like, I'm
not even that's that's series a.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
You know, I'm saying like we need serious bread
together and, uh, we'll getthere yeah, we'll get there and
I was gonna say you finally havean application for the
metaverse there you go.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
Yeah, man, like that's, that's and this was
created again during the blackbarista chance program, when we
brought these people together.
They dreamed together, you know, and it was my son, who's one
of my sons, who's eight, andthen the af Afro-Colombian
second generation farmer who's adiaspora professor in Paris.
So we're all in my house, just,you know, talking.
He's trying to lend a head ofwings for the first time.
He's bringing it out.
He's like this is crazy, whatis this?
And we're just talking aboutlike, what does it look like to

(41:16):
take all of these inspirations,we Right, which is a part of the
colonial history of carving?
That that's really themetaverse, I feel like, is the
place where you can begin tocreate and like, communicate
value without needing a physicalproduct, without needing to
like, well, trade time for money.
And we all know, like you know,that's really the path towards
poverty is trading time formoney.

(41:36):
So we got to get out of that.
But, yeah, we have had offerslike hey, do you want to buy a
farm?
And there's multiple reasonswhy I've said no right now, one
day, One day yeah, it'shappening, and we actually
connected with somebody who'sdone it Like.
If y'all don't know, jackieRobinson was like one of the
first black-owned coffeeproduction owners in American
history right Chock full of nuts, you know.

(41:57):
And so his son moved to.
One of his sons moved to Africalike 40 years ago and they
bought a coffee farm in Tanzaniaand his daughter was just in
Memphis for MLK day.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
So we're telling me, one of Jackie Robinson's sons
moved to Africa 40 years ago andstarted a coffee farm.
Yeah, it says all this crazyhistory.
I didn't know that.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
And they're looking to get into, like what we do,
right, they're looking to getinto the American market.
They want to do more branding.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
You need to team up with that guy.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
That's already in the works.
Don't put this in the interview.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
All right, we'll cut this part.
We'll cut this part.
Hey, let me, because we'rerunning out of time.
I want to ask two importantthings.
Let's dial in Number one.
Sum it up for us.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
You've told us a lot about.
Thumb it up for us in onesentence, like why should
somebody been lost?
For the most part, and thehistory of coffee is rooted,
actually in peace.
When you look at the Oromopeople, who are one of the
oldest indigenous groups inEthiopia, they have a 2000 year
old tradition where coffee is aseed of peace in their
perspective, and last year I wasmade an honorary elder in that

(43:22):
community called Namagada.
And we're here to bring thatperspective back, because most
humans experience with coffee isbuilt around commodities.
It's built around exchangingtime for money, trying to get
energy.
But there's a, there's areality where coffee actually
brings us a peace, creativityand a drive for the future that
we're looking to reclaim foreverybody in the supply chain,
and that's the only way we'regoing to have it.

(43:43):
Coffee has seven harvests left.
No, coffee has 70 harvests left, if the research I'm reading is
correct.
And the only way we're going tohave coffee in the future is if
we honor its root and allow theresources from that root to
actually reconnect to the fruit,and we're doing that.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
I like it All right.
Lastly, you need to telleverybody listening.
Where do they find your?

Speaker 3 (44:04):
products.
Yeah, so right now you can findit at coffeeblackcom.
That's the website.
It's coffee with an X, no Olike Malcolm, so C-X-F-F-E-E
black that way, and then you canalso get our products right now
at South Point Grocery locally.
You can also grab them atvarious coffee shops around the
country that are trying tocreate this curated experience,

(44:31):
and so, to me, you'll be able toget Gold Brew nationwide.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
That's a big part of why we're pushing this raise is
to be able to distribute theproduct, get national
application and adoption of theproduct and the process.
It's amazing.
And where can people find you?
What if I want to listen toyour music?
Where do I find that, mark?

Speaker 3 (44:38):
Alamir Jones everywhere.
We're actually dropping twosingles here soon.
We shot a new soundtrack aboutthe Barista Exchange Program,
and so we obviously did newsoundtrack about the barista
exchange program, and so we dida.
We obviously did a soundtrackfor the documentary, and so
those two singles are going tobe dropped.
I got one spoken word piece andthen one single that's dropping
on.
Some, like you know, that lookslike me, so I like it.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
I like it.
Hey, we need you to do oursoundtrack.
I want to be able to thinkabout you, and I want to be able
to talk about coffee everysingle time we do this.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
Yes, sir, how great would that be.
Come on, man, I got to shooty'all some bags.
Shoot y'all a couple of otherbrews too.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
I can't wait.
I am completely hooked oncoffee.
I'm an addicted.
Every day have to have coffee.
Well, thank you, Bartholomew.
I mean, that was amazing.
I feel like I just got a Coffee101 course.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah, master class for sure.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yeah, that was a master class and that's
something we're still recording.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
Yeah, we're still recording.
We're still recording, okay,cool.
I think that's been a part ofthe transition right in Capital.
It's been like I am a creative,I am curious, I call myself a
black coffee anthropologist andthat's actually becoming more
real than ever.
You got a couple ofannouncements that are dropping
soon.
It was an academic institution,but these pieces are a part of
what's allowed us to get thenotoriety.
We saw the TV show, the HBO Max,we did a TED Talk, we did Vice.

(45:55):
We've done like crazy stuffright, and the curiosity, the
notoriety, the notability of it,even being the world's most
notable, all the notableroasters because what we're
doing is noteworthy and we provethat our model is possible.
But the real goal here is toprove it's profitable to be able
to do it at scale, becausethere's the only way I'm ever
able to be the partner I want tobe for the partner and the

(46:16):
coffee producers that we workwith is if we're working at
scale.
Otherwise we're just a novelty.
And so moving into this spacehas been a big part of like,
okay, cool, we have so manythings that we're doing.
We got to reach down to reallycreate the plan to be able to
scale this product and getaccess to these larger markets.
So that's a big reason whywe're even doing the WeFunder is
because the capital needed tobe able to prep for that.

(46:37):
It's something we can'tbootstrap that on our own.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah, classic, we ready to dive into the lab we
got a lot to brew.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
Here we are.
I like that pun.
Did you think of that?
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (46:50):
it just came to me.
I'm a rapper at heart, man,let's get it, bro, let's get it,
here we go.
You ever think about how coffeewas born in af?

Speaker 2 (47:03):
Every morning while brushing my teeth and how it got
stolen, rebranded and nowStarbucks got folks paying $7
for the watered-down version.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
That's the game, but Coffee Black is flipping the
script, bringing coffee back toits roots, supporting black
farmers and making sure everysip tells the real story.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
So when I drink Coffee Black, I'm drinking
history and the future.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
That's deep.
So when I drink coffee black,I'm drinking history and the
future.
That's deep.
So is the flavor Coffee black,where coffee meets culture.
Thanks for listening to ourconversation with Coffee Black
founder Bartholomew Jones.
Hope you enjoyed the 32nd brandpiece that resulted from our
chat.
You can catch this episode andall episodes on Apple, spotify,

(47:48):
iheart or wherever you get yourpodcasts.
And don't forget if you likewhat you heard, hit that follow
button, leave a review and tella friend.
Pitch Lab is produced anddistributed by Merrick Studios
and hosted by me, tom Frank, andmy co-host, the one and only
Classic.
Until next time, pushboundaries, ask bold questions
and let your curiosity lead theway.