America runs on Dunkin', but not Jimmy Butler. Similar to the Season 10 arc of Curb Your Enthusiasm when Larry David opened a “spite” store (Latte Larry’s) to needle longtime nemesis Mocha Joe, the entrepreneuring 31-year-old began his own coffee business in the Orlando Bubble, charging players a steep $20 a cup (clearly Butler understands the principle of “supply and demand”) as owner and proprietor of Big Face Coffee. Except Butler’s booming coffee enterprise wasn’t fueled by spite—he just really loves a good latte.
“You have to pour it from a certain height and certain angle,” said Butler, sharing his expertise with Rohan Nadkarni of Sports Illustrated. “I wish I could take five years off and open a café.”
The Heat forward is only half-kidding. Butler, who helped Miami reach the NBA Finals before bowing out to the LeBron-led Lakers in six games this past October, is no ordinary coffee drinker. He’s a connoisseur with exquisite taste, preferring Brazilian beans and a black pour-over as his cup of choice. Jimmy Buckets doesn’t cut corners, either—the budding barista roasts and grinds his own gourmet beans and spends much of his free time experimenting with different techniques and concoctions.
As noted by Nadkarni, Butler’s coffee palette wasn’t always this refined. Butler’s relationship with coffee has evolved since early in his career when he would dump up to eight packs of sugar in his cup, choosing quantity over quality. Thanks to advice from his trainer and his travels to Europe, where coffee is viewed as more than just a readily available source of caffeine, Butler began to treat coffee as the art form it is, delighting in its complexity. The 6’7” wing has more coffee products than a Starbucks, equipping his home with a Chemex machine, a French press and an espresso maker, among other java-inspired novelties.
Beyond his coffee exploits, Nadkarni uncovered a number of other interesting nuggets on the eccentric Butler, noting his passion for French wineries, his impressive collection of vintage jerseys (including the No. 30 Portland State threads once donned by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra) and his exceedingly blunt, borderline threatening free-agent pitch to Goran Dragic this offseason (“We got to run this back or I’m going to punch you in your head”). The five-time All-Star will take the court for his season debut a week from Wednesday in Orlando before the reigning Eastern Conference champs return home to face Zion Williamson and the visiting Pelicans on Christmas Day.
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