Ten Years of Brewing Against the Machine—Year 7 / 2022 / CURIOSITY

Let us reflect on the seventh year: the year of our Lord 2022 | CURIOSITY

Something began to shift. And not so subtle either. In case you missed last week, our reflection focused on the metamorphosis of myself and the business through the whole year, most of which actually had very little to report from a business perspective. I needed change. I needed clarity. So I got curious…

Sadly, curiosity was not a strong suite of mine up until this point. The biggest irony was that ‘curious’ was in our original mission statement. I mean, I was a little curious, but always in an intellectual way pertaining to a very specific context – i.e. my faith journey or a fact about something. But I did a terrible job at being curious about real meaningful things, let alone others and their insights or feelings. I think I wanted to be curious, and it was truly there deep down, but I was not good at deploying it in practice. At least not until that faultline shifted in 2020. But 2022 was the literal manifestation of the chrysalis I was experiencing in 2021 – in more ways than one.

At the beginning of 2022, my team and I developed what would become known as the Get Mad Crusade. 6 months. 6 topics around injustices in our modern day. Resources. Education. Podcasts. None of which had anything to do with coffee. (Are you beginning to get the picture about how we operate as a company?)

It was one of the most invigorating times of the last 10 years. I had the honor and privilege to read some amazing books, interview some beautiful humans, and use our platform to shape who we wanted to represent moving forward. Please go check some of it out. I am still so proud of what we developed, and ultimately, the humans I got the honor to learn from during that time period, some of which have become very dear friends. I also had a stellar team that enabled me to focus on these things.

But it didn’t stop there. My curiosity grew like wild fire.

It’s like the floodgates of creativity opened up and I could see the path in front of me. Previously, I would erratically pursue any and all opportunities because, well, that’s just “what you do” as a small business owner right? But then just like the wooded cow pasture in my backyard growing up, there were 30 different little worn paths with no clear direction and would end up getting lost.

Ben, my roaster at the time (who is now with Mayfly, go support!), and I got to visit the mountains of Oaxaca at the beginning of the year, which was certainly a life changing trip. 

In May, I had the privilege of joining the Cup of Excellence crew in El Salvador for the annual best of the best as a juror. I cupped some of the best coffees produced in that country alongside 25-30 other coffee professionals from around the world. I was in heaven.

As we launched the Get Mad Crusade, we also had just gotten accepted into the newly developed specialty coffee program through Walmart. We were providing coffee for all the Walmarts in the Chattanooga and Birmingham areas. Over the next two years, we became one of the top sellers in the program which took us to eventually be in over 500 stores across 6 states. More on Walmart and that experience another time…

To top it all off, I got to execute one of my life long dreams of hiring some amazing videographers and production team to shoot Mad Priest commercials. 

We got more organized thanks to Cherita managing more ops alongside Adam, and we were seeing a nice increase in customers at Broad St. It was a good year overall. 

Clarity of vision. Deeper understanding of purpose. Invigorating continued education.

Despite the business doing well and feeling there was a greater sense of direction, my personal demons would continue haunting me until I listened. Clouded by shame and confusion on my identity, it would still be some time before some of these things would be unveiled. But here is the encouraging thing (I think)... there is never a finish line. Ever. There is never an ‘ideal time’. There is only now. Presence. And it was this very fact that ended up causing so much emptiness despite all the good happening. I still didn’t know myself. I still didn’t care for myself. I was beginning to, but more in a goal oriented way with that metric to "achieve" something – that finish line. But it never came. Because it doesn’t exist. This would become something I began to understand and embrace in the coming years, and trust me, I have a LONG road ahead of me to do it well. Nonetheless I am so thankful for that revelation. 

And as cheesy as it is… one reason I LOVE coffee is it has helped teach me presence. Because as I began to learn this lesson (sometimes with a bat to the back of the head) – it would resonate deeply with my coffee rituals of sitting still and drinking a good cup. In many ways, regardless of high levels of ignorance and naivety, coffee has been a salvation for me in a sense, and continues to be. Especially when it comes to sitting and hearing the farmer’s stories as I commune over a meal with them.

So raise a mug with me, and let’s strive for presence. Let’s relentlessly pursue curiosity with life. Assume nothing. Ask clarifying questions. Rigorously seek to understand the why behind your emotions and reactions to people and things. We say we want to change the world… but it really must begin with us. Maybe it’s just me who so clearly needed that lecture, but focusing so much on the external, while neglecting the internal and those directly next to you who you so easily affect, is simply unsustainable.

Get mad and stay blessed disciples!

+Michael, High Priest

P.S. Do you like what you’re reading? Do our values and our story resonate? Just share our coffee with friends & family. We’re not interested in participating in late stage Capitalism. We want to build a community of like minded people with coffee as the medium. Especially today when everything feels divided and connection feels harder to find.