Fueled By Death Cast Ep. 34 - ANTHONY GOLDSTON JR.

PRODUCTION AND ROASTING - ANTHONY GOLDSTON JR.

DEATH WISH COFFEE COMPANY EMPLOYEE SERIES #8

 

"I can't see anything but growth because that is all I have seen here. I don't see anywhere but up." Anthony Goldston Jr. , production team, coffee roaster, Death Wish Coffee Company

 

 

PREVIEW:

 

 

Watch the full interview on Youtube here.

 

ON EPISODE 34:

The Mars Opportunity rover is still working hard to unravel the mysteries on the Red Planet, and the hosts discuss exactly where it is in Science this week. Plus, the idea of keep going, through good times and bad, and how focusing on work can help you through rough spots is the idea behind What Fuels You. Last, on the Update, hear about new merchandise and the new coffee subscription platform has finally arrived.

 

ABOUT ANTHONY GOLDSTON JR:

Anthony Golston Jr. has worked in production for Death Wish Coffee for over a year, and has recently started roasting coffee as well. He joins the podcast this week to talk about how the company has grown since he joined the team and what the future may hold for Death Wish Coffee. Plus, he got interested in football at a young age and dived into learning all about the stats and the legacy of the players. This led to a love of the sport and he is running the Death Wish Fantasy Football League this year.

 

TRANSCRIPT:

Dustin: All right, we'll start off nice and easy and talk about your role here at Death Wish, and how long you've been here.

Anthony: Well, I've been here since March of last year, so a little over a year. I do a little bit of everything in the warehouse. Literally a little bit of everything. I've done every job in the warehouse actually now that I think about it. I've packed K cups, I've ran the Death Cup machine, I roast, I grind, I help on the Viking machine. A little bit of everything really.

Jeff: Yeah. When you got hired what was the first job they had you do?

Anthony: I packed Death Cups ...

Dustin: Right next to me.

Anthony: ... 10 at a time.

Jeff: Nice, nice.

Anthony: Actually there was ... Dustin, you had just transitioned over into that job with inventory, so there was what five of us? I think in the warehouse at the time, and now there's 12, 13 of us.

Jeff: Wow.

Dustin: Yeah, that's a pretty fast grow, and we're trying to get at least four more dudes in there.

Anthony: Yeah, we need four more at least.

Dustin: At least, just to cover the machines that exist under the roof, which is awesome.

Anthony: That's been the best part is the growth that we've had. The machines have come along with it, and obviously the machines are getting bigger. Then there's more opportunities because a machine opens from getting more of them.

Jeff: Right. You've definitely, being here for over a year ... I mean not only the growing with employees, but you must have seen the actual company growing. We're definitely pushing out more stuff.

Anthony: Yeah, definitely. We would on a good day, I'd say probably get 30, 40 cases of Death Wish Cups, and now I'd say we probably hover around double of that.

Jeff: Wow.

Anthony: 80, 90 cups.

Jeff: Wow.

Dustin: And that's just on the Death Cups-

Anthony: Cases a day. Yeah, and that's just in Death Cups. Let alone now the Viking with the form filled weigh in seals-

Dustin: Pushing out 4,000 a day.

Anthony: Pumping out one pounders like crazy, so-

Dustin: And then we got the dudes over there packing five pounders, and that's pumping out an extra 400 units a day, and it's yeah ... It's been-

Anthony: The platforms, it's going everywhere it seems. Once we feel we caught up with NFS, and then it's Amazon, then it's some of the smaller ... Jet Odors, they never stop so, that's the best part-

Jeff: That's exciting.

Dustin: Where do you see it going?

Anthony: I can't see anything but growth, because that's all I've seen here. And that's where we're projecting ... That's where it seems we're going. The numbers just continue to increase, and the expectations obviously continue to increase as well, but I mean with the more people that we get, and the more ... The numbers that they expect from production wise, I don't see anywhere but up.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: That's awesome.

Dustin: It's a nice thing to be apart of.

Anthony: Yeah, it's huge. I think we get 20,000 pounds a week out of the two roasters now. Maybe a little over that, and to go up from that-

Dustin: I think between the two roasters you guys are way up above 20-

Anthony: Yeah well, that's just my safe number.

Dustin: Yeah ... I think Dave was roasting that on his own some weeks.

Anthony: I think yeah, most of the time. 'Cause he had roast probably right around 18, 20 himself in a week. This is just my first week, full-time roasting by myself. With no assistance, so.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: How's that transition been? Actually now roasting the beans?

Anthony: It took forever, I started training to roast I feel like maybe September of last year.

Jeff: Yeah.

Dustin: Oh, wow.

Anthony: And we got the new roaster, I can't even remember when this year, and Dave instantly got onto that, and I just saw the small roaster kind of sit there for a while. And I itched, and I itched, and I watched videos on youtube, and I read the roast magazines that we get here. Just did all the little things to try to prep myself for it. Now that I'm there it's, "Alright cool. I think I know I'm ready." And then these little things, the little curve balls come, and you're like, "Oh shit."

Jeff: Right?

Anthony: "What was I supposed to do at this point?" So now I'm looking over at Dave, and I'm like, "Hey listen, come over here real quick." But no, it's been nice, it's been a nice change.

Jeff: That's cool.

Dustin: So it's widely known that you're a big fan of I think spectator sports in general, right?

Anthony: Yeah.

Dustin: What would you have to say is your favorite spectator sport?

Anthony: I am a huge football fan. Football is probably what I dive into the most.

Jeff: Did that come when you were younger, or is that something newer?

Anthony: I mean I played football my whole life.

Jeff: Oh, what position?

Anthony: I play wide receiver, and tight-end. Little bit of defensive in when I was younger, 'cause I was a bigger kid. Now I'm the smallest person in the group.

Dustin: Funny how that works.

Anthony: But yeah, I mean when I was 13-ish, 14 I started really caring about the stats, and the legacies of the players, and I started digging in to figure out how good these people were. 'Cause the media talks up certain guys that they want to push forward.

Dustin: Oh, totally.

Anthony: And they build their character's or whatever, and the guy has marketability so they run with it.

Dustin: Right.

Anthony: So I started going, "Wait, is he really that good?" Let me watch him, let me look at his numbers, let me look at his stats compared to the legends that they're comparing him to, and then make my own assessment.

Dustin: How have you come up since you've been paying attention? Do you feel you got a good grip on it?

Anthony: Yeah, I feel I'm a lot better than I was, obviously. That was, like I said, that was 13, or 14. I'm 30 now, so ...

Dustin: Yeah, you got used to it a little bit.

Anthony: 16, 17 years later, I scout players a lot better now. The numbers don't come as easy, 'cause I feel I have a decades worth of numbers stuck in my head.

Dustin: Right.

Anthony: I'm still trying to remember, and then people bring it up, and I'm like, "Uhhhhh, give me a second."

Dustin: Running out of space.

Anthony: Yeah, but-

Dustin: Is there anything that particularly attracts you to football? What is it that really ignites your passion for it?

Anthony: I like the nastiness of football.

Dustin: You like just the grind?

Anthony: Yeah, I like-

Dustin: Giant dudes smashing into each other-

Anthony: See a lot of people like the flashiness. They like the touchdowns, they like the big hits, which is a big part of it ... And the touchdowns, the big runs, the big catches. All that's cool, it's nice for highlights, and for the casual fan that wants to watch. But I care about the guys in the trenches, the linemen. Like you said, "The big ugly guys that are just beating each other up-"

Dustin: I didn't call them ugly.

Anthony: You didn't, I will, and I'm sure they're proud of that at that point. I do, I like the violence that's associated with it.

Dustin: Nice, I can relate. As an MMA fan I can definitely relate to that, and that's ... Same thing with me, when it comes to MMA. A lot of people like the highlight knock-outs, and the amazing submissions, but I like it when a dude just smashes another dude up against the fence, and just wears him down to nothing, and you can just-

Anthony: Slowly see his will-

Dustin: Yeah, that's how I see it going for me if I were in that position. I'm not gonna do the amazing, athletic flashy knock-out. My thing would be, to be a little bit more intelligent about it, and try to wear that dude out, and not try to go for the flashy thing, and use my brain a little bit more. I guess, I don't know.

Jeff: So you're a fan of the sport, I mean the overall sport, which is awesome. But the obvious question is, who's your team?

Anthony: I'm gonna preface this the way I preface it to everybody else. I am a realist.

Jeff: Okay.

Anthony: And I'm a Cowboy's fan.

Jeff: Okay, okay.

Anthony: I say those things together, 'cause a lot of people instantly go, "Oh great yeah, he's a Cowboy's fan. So he's delusional." I'm not, I'm a realist, I understand that every year we cannot win. Every year we are not them boys.

Jeff: Right.

Anthony: It doesn't always work like that, and yeah-

Jeff: Have you been a cowboys fan since you got into the sport?

Anthony: Actually yeah. I was five or six years old, my whole family is Giant's fans.

Jeff: I was gonna say how does it work out being a Cowboy's fan in New York?

Anthony: I became the black sheep of my family.

Jeff: Oh man.

Anthony: Yeah, my dad was huge into the giants. We had giants stuff all over the walls, and we watched the Cowboy's, Giant's game one Sunday, and I just looked at them, and I was like, "I like that team."

Jeff: No.

Anthony: And I think I might have broke his heart a bit, but yeah ... So ever since then.

Jeff: So it wasn't you were rebelling against your family, or anything.

Anthony: No I didn't hate everybody.

Dustin: Yes, that's what it was.

Anthony: But a little bit I guess, self-consciously ... But yeah no, I've been a my whole life. I think fandom is about loyalty obviously, you have to agree with the decisions, but loyalty has a lot to do with it.

Jeff: Yeah, I agree with that. I mean I'm a big baseball fan, and loyalty is something that you really, really hone in on from a team. I'm a Boston Red Sox fan.

Anthony: Okay, yeah you have plenty of loyalty.

Jeff: Yeah, but I'm a lot like you with the sport. The big thing is when I tell people that I'm a Red Sox fan they're like, "Well you live in New York."

Anthony: How is that?

Jeff: "How is that?" And it's the constant Boston, New York Yankees rivalry, and everything. And I'll tell you right now, some of my favorite players that ever played were Yankees. Straight up, and because I'm a fan of the game first, and foremost.

Anthony: Exactly.

Jeff: And if it's gonna be a good game, and I have to sit there, and watch the Yankees trounce my Red Sox, if it's a great game, I'm still gonna enjoy it. You know what I mean? I'll be loyal to my team, and I'll feel bad that they lost so badly, but I'll be stoked that so and so hit 10 homers against them, or whatever.

Dustin: And just to relate to that, watching mixed martial arts, I definitely have my favorite fighters.

Jeff: Right.

Dustin: And I don't mind seeing them lose, if it was an awesome fight. I don't care. I'm rooting for my dude, but I'm stoked if I got to see a throw down.

Anthony: You got to see that epic event.

Dustin: Exactly.

Anthony: That's what I wanted-

Dustin: It's entertainment, that's why we're watching it in the first place.

Anthony: Exactly ... It's tough for most people when I say, "I just like football. I'm a Cowboy's fan, but I just like football too." I can just watch the Jaguars and the Browns play.

Dustin: Right.

Anthony: And I'll have a great time, and watch it, and everybody's like, "Why are you watching this?" Well because I-

Jeff: No one watches a Cleveland Browns game-

Anthony: Right, but I enjoy it. I'm actually going to a Browns game this year, I'm going to the Browns, Jaguars game.

Jeff: Okay, okay nice.

Anthony: Which is why I referenced it.

Jeff: Nice.

Anthony: 'Cause people are like, "Why are you going to that?"

Dustin: The tickets were cheap!

Anthony: No, they really are though! I was-

Jeff: They basically pay you, they're like, "Please come watch our football squad."

Anthony: I can get front row for under 200 bucks, I'm going. I'll see you later.

Jeff: Nice, nice.

Anthony: And that's professional football, so it doesn't matter if it's my team. I mean Dallas comes to New York once a year-

Jeff: Right.

Anthony: It's not the point.

Jeff: Right.

Anthony: I just want to see the game. I want to see the professionals, and now at this point I've gone so deep into scouting college football players, and watching college foot ball, that I have a bit of a connection with everybody ... Almost every team, because I said "this guy was good" and I said that "this guy was bad". I said "this guy was good and that guy was bad" so almost every team I'm like, "I want this guy to do good, I want that guy to do bad."

Jeff: Nice.

Anthony: So I have a connection to every team now I guess.

Jeff: So that leads it into this new, this is relatively new in the last decade, or whatever-

Dustin: I didn't hear about it, or I'm sorry you're going into something else, my bad.

Jeff: No I think I am going into the same thing ... Is the idea of the fantasy football league. And you actually run the Deathwish warehouse fantasy football league.

Anthony: This year I'll be running that, yeah.

Jeff: Alright, alright.

Dustin: So what's that mean, what's the ... You get to tell people ... How's that go?

Anthony: No, it's actually a lot more babysitting than it's-

Jeff: Get your picks in this week, make sure your roster's right-

Anthony: Make sure you put your roster together, 'cause if you text me Sunday morning, and tell me this guy didn't go onto your team, or you wanted to put this guy in. It's too late, and I'm not changing it for you.

Jeff: Right.

Anthony: It's a lot of being the bad guy. 'Cause people will call you Sunday, after a guy has a monster game, and they're like, "Oh man! But I wanted to put him in, but I was like-" And they give you these crazy excuses. I've done it for five years now with with my friends, and I've had friends call me, don't have kids, "Man I was at my kids bar mitzvah!" You don't even have a kid!

Dustin: And I know the crowd you're working with now-

Anthony: Yeah exactly.

Dustin: I can't imagine it going particularly well.

Anthony: Right, so-

Jeff: It's gotta be fun for someone like you who even at a very early age, when you got into this sport, you were immediately drawn to the statistics. To really diving into how good are these players, not just having the talking have on television say, "Well this guy is ... Barry Sanders is amazing."

Anthony: Exactly, exactly.

Jeff: It's actually figuring out how good these guys are. So that must be really fun for you to be able to translate to creating your own team, and kind of moving through the season that way.

Anthony: It is, I have lots of fun with trying to make a ... In my own head, I go, "What if they traded this guy, to this team?" Or, "If they picked up this free agent, he could do this possibly, for them, for-" You know?

Jeff: Yeah.

Anthony: So it's nice to try to put a spin on what's happening during the season. I have about five really close friends that will call me on a regular basis, that I play fantasy with, and they will call me and say, "Hey, should I start this guy, or that guy?"

Jeff: Oh, so you're like a guru.

Anthony: They know I'll be nice enough to say ... I'll be honest, I won't lie to 'em.

Jeff: Unless you've got money on the line, then you're like, "No, no, no you put the bad guy in there."

Dustin: So wait, how's that work when you're managing the fantasy league? Are you allowed to have a team of your own?

Anthony: Yeah, so you have a team, but you can't ... I can't just cheat. I mean obviously you would be able to see my team. So once a game starts, if a guy on my bench has 22 points, and then an hour later you see him in my starting lineup, you'd know I cheated.

Dustin: But you have to be non bias about it.

Anthony: Well yeah of course.

Jeff: You do, but again ... And I don't know if you know this Dustin. I know a little bit about this, 'cause I have some friends-

Dustin: I don't know anything about it.

Jeff: I have some friends who do fantasy football too, is it's not that you just get to start out the season, and basically pick your team. You go through a draft, if you ... Everybody in the office here will ... Whoever gonna be doing fantasy football, put their money on the table, and then they'll have a draft, right?

Anthony: Yeah.

Jeff: Do you do the draft where you guys are all sitting down together? Do you do it just online?

Anthony: This year we are gonna do it altogether. I think we're gonna pick a local bar somewhere, and-

Dustin: Oh boy.

Jeff: And just the like the normal draft, you get-

Dustin: I wanna be there, just for-

Anthony: Just for that, right?

Jeff: Just like the normal draft everybody gets a number, and first round goes, and when it comes to your turn you look at the list of players that are still available, and you ... You obviously have the players you wanna put-

Anthony: Try to pick the best ones.

Jeff: Right, you wanna pick. But I mean somebody else might pick that player, so you have to go into a draft-

Dustin: So it's like playing flag football as a kid, and you have the team captains-

Jeff: Definitely.

Dustin: And it's your turn to pick now.

Anthony : Yeah.

Jeff: Definitely, but you have to be sitting there, and go, "Okay, I really want to pick Dustin on my team, but if somebody else picks Dustin, I'm gonna get Anthony. Then next-" You have to have your plan B, and your plan C in your head. So I've been a fly on the wall for a couple of those-

Anthony: There's a lot.

Jeff: And they get crazy.

Anthony: There's a lot that it goes into a lot-

Dustin: I hear John just losing his shit. I'd wanna-

Anthony: Well there's a lot that goes into it, just because of ... There's buy weeks, and you only have a certain amount of people on your roster, and then you start to wonder whether or not you grabbed two wide-receivers, and they both have the same buy week. So are you set up well enough for when those two guys can't play? That you have two guys on your bench that are gonna be able to give you points to win that week. Until you can get your studs back-

Jeff: It gets really, it's like a video game.

Anthony: There's a strategy.

Jeff: It's crazy.

Anthony: Yeah.

Jeff: Yeah.

Dustin: I hear Eric does pretty well at these.

Anthony: Eric does. Eric does pretty well.

Dustin: What is it that Eric has, that gives him the leg up, you think? As a guess?

Anthony: Luck. [crosstalk 00:16:22] he does have stupid luck. A lot of fantasy football though is luck. You can have the greatest team on paper, and be like, "Yeah this is amazing. I have everybody that everybody wanted first pick."

Jeff: Right.

Dustin: Yeah.

Anthony: At all 11 positions, or whatever, and then three of those guys give you a zero [crosstalk 00:16:41] or one of them gets hurt-

Jeff: Yeah, or week one your quarterback breaks his arm, and is out for the entire season-

Anthony: Exactly.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: It's like, "Well, crap."

Anthony: Yeah, now your team that shouldn't have lost a game all year, is now two, and twelve at the end of the year.

Dustin: I noticed our productivity kind of drops off to nothing, as soon as ... During the fantasy-

Jeff: Oh, during fantasy football.

Dustin: That is all they talk about-

Anthony: It's a lot more shit talking.

Dustin: Oh my god, between Cain and Eric, those two guys. Oh my god, it never ends. It's verbal ping pong.

Jeff: It's great because I remember ... Speaking of video games actually, I remember when Madden the video game started coming out, and-

Dustin: I loved that shit as a kid-

Jeff: And I always thought as a kid, I always thought it was great, 'cause there was always the option where you could make the all madden team. And you could literally make just this miss mash of all the best characters ever. And then you would destroy. You would go to the super bowl, and win 174 to zero, because you just have all the all stars, which is a lot of fun.
And somebody figured out, "Hey we could actually do this, and bet on it, and make a thing out of it." And now it is literally in every single sport. There is fantasy baseball, there's fantasy tennis. There's fantasy NASCAR-

Dustin: There's fantasy mixed martial arts.

Jeff: There's fantasy mixed martial arts, it's crazy how it's-

Anthony: And they're daily.

Jeff: Yeah, it's crazy how that kind of culture has created this monster. Vegas is loving it ... There's this whole new resurgence of gambling out there now, it's pretty neat.

Anthony: That's what I was gonna say ... I have a feeling that's ... Just the gambling resurgence in a different form. People have found a different way to gamble, it doesn't make them feel bad about themselves. I'm not just gonna go put $100 on this football team, because I know the browns are gonna lose every week. I'm not gonna go put $100 on them, but what I will do is I'll take one guy from the Browns, 'cause he's pretty good. Mix him with a bunch of these other guys. Throw some money on it, and when that loses, I won't feel as bad.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: Right.

Dustin: You're more personally invested, you feel like you have some say in it.

Anthony: Yeah.

Dustin: That's pretty cool.

Jeff: It makes it ... Again I think it makes it, getting back to what we were talking about ... Liking the sport as an overall thing, it makes people who might have started out as a pigeon hole. Like you said your family was just nothing but Giants. There are a lot of people who it's like, "This is my team, and that's-"

Dustin: Your family was giants?

Jeff: It's like, "This is my team, and that's it. And I don't care about anything else." Then you play something, or you get into something like fantasy, and you have to pay attention to every single game. Especially if because your team is comprised of at least 13 players from other teams. So it really brings you into the sport more I feel, and it makes you more aware of everything that's happening, and not just this, "I am a Yankees fan." Or, "I am a Cowboy's fan."

Anthony: Yeah exactly.

Jeff: Or whatever, it's you really find this love of this sport. I think it's cool for all around on that.

Dustin: So, speaking of love of the sport. You love the sport so much, you actually have your own sports podcast right?

Anthony: Yeah.

Dustin: Can you talk about that a little bit?

Anthony: Yeah I can. I host a sports podcast, with a friend of mine Steve Meyer. It's call "Superior Sports Talk Radio".

Dustin: Alright.

Anthony: For the most part it's really raw, uncut, we don't hold punches. Like I said, I like to tell my own opinion on what I feel is the truth on-

Dustin: "He's a piece of shit!"

Anthony: On a player, no really though.

Jeff: Yeah.

Anthony: 'Cause there's some guys that they ... Some of the media sites or whatever, will try to force down your throat. And whether they're good or not, they will just keep going with it. And it's like, "Alright." There's a point in my head where I'm like, "Alright that's my line, once they get to here, that's when I start firing off."

Dustin: Do you think you started the podcast maybe because there was something not being said out in the media?

Anthony: Yeah, I actually remember the thought of starting a podcast. I actually did a YouTube video, about football "Football 101" and the basics of what football actually is, and how it's a violent sport, and it's not for weak hearted people. It's not for people with soft psyche's, or anything like that. It's a vicious, brutal game. And-

Dustin: "American!"

Anthony: Yeah. There was a point in football where they started taking certain hits out of the game. Wide receivers couldn't get hit, because they were considered defenseless receivers. And a running back couldn't use the top of his head to try to run over another player, and it just seemed they were [inaudible 00:21:25] the game. And I got a little bit upset with it, and I made a video, and a buddy of mine called me and he's like, "Hey listen, why don't we just talk about this all the time?"

Dustin: Yeah.

Anthony: And I was like, "Well we can. Let's do it." So we did it probably for a year and a half, two years, and then just kind of stopped about last year. We get together every once in a while, and we'll do a show. We haven't published one since last year, but I mean I do that show. I also do my own personal show, which is "The Golden Perspective". It's just my perspective really, so I don't have to associate Steve with my views, or anything like that. 'Cause he likes to tip-toe sometimes. He's like, "Wait, wait man. You can't say that." And I'm-

Dustin: Yes you can, it's a podcast. You can say anything you want.

Anthony: Well the best part about it is I won't edit anything. So the moment I say it, he's like, "Come on." I'm like, "No, it's there. It's-" So-

Jeff: There's no FCC.

Anthony: It's say what you wanna say. You could defend it, if you wanted to defend yourself at this point, and back off of my comment. That's alright, but I'm not going to.

Jeff: So you kind of fell into podcasting?

Anthony: Yeah.

Jeff: Are you an avid podcast listener?

Anthony: From time to time.

Jeff: Anything that you listened to recently, or?

Anthony: For the most part when fantasy football comes up, I listen to the "Fantasy Football Focus"-

Jeff: Okay.

Anthony: ESPN podcast. I obviously listen to the Fueled by Death Cast.

Jeff: Shameless but-

Dustin: That's what we wanted to hear.

Jeff: Yes, and episode over.

Anthony: No I mean I listen to Joe Rogan's podcast-

Jeff: Yeah, we do too, yeah.

Anthony: Every once in a while.

Dustin: I'm stupid about the Rogan podcast. Sometimes I catch myself not even listening to music for months-

Jeff: Because you're just listening to Rogan ... Well I mean hell, some of his podcasts take a month to listen to-

Anthony: It seems like it.

Dustin: That's true.

Anthony: It seems like it.

Dustin: That is true.

Anthony: Very thought provoking.

Jeff: Yeah, podcasting is a lot of fun-

Anthony: You're like, "Wait a second, can we bring that one back? What'd he just say?"

Jeff: Yeah.

Dustin: So a big part of why we like doing this podcast is because it's ... We want it to be a positive perspective on the world, and a little bit more on the motivational side. And we don't have to get too personal about anything ... I know you enough where I know that you've overcome a lot of difficulties, and as far as that goes what do you think ... When things get really tough, what fuels you to keep going?

Anthony: I found out last year that it was work. For a while it was just kinda being by myself, and being in my own brain. When I was younger that's what normally would work. And as I got older, I lost my sister last year, in April, and it hit me like a brick wall. I had no answers. I was in my own head, and I couldn't get out of my own head. I couldn't get away from anything, and I got fueled by Deathwish. Literally by being here, and just coming into work, and working, and-

Dustin: You work so hard dude, you're here all the time.

Anthony: Thank you.

Dustin: We all notice, it doesn't go unnoticed period.

Anthony: The people that I work with I think realized that I was in a funk, and were like, "Hey, we're just gonna give him his time, let him do what he does." And then as I opened up more, I think people kind of started to pry a little bit more, and I kind of came out of my shell ... And rarely though. Work is ... When times get hard I'm like, "I'm just gonna work."

Dustin: Well sometimes you just need something to-

Anthony: Just go put my head down.

Dustin: Something to subdue your conscious mind, so your subconscious mind can do the healing work.

Anthony: Yeah.

Dustin: Because if you're too conscious about a tragedy it can really get to you, and that's why I think ... Sometimes anti-depressants are successful, because it's just taking away you conscious mind away from the tragedy. But I think there's other ways to do that ... And some people find it through working out, some people find it through Jesus, some people find it through just straight up working, like you do.
And I'm right there with you. When I first started here, I was dealing with some shit. And it was nice to just take away my subconscious mind. So my subconscious mind could heal. And then before I knew it, i was a dude again. And I was back to myself.
And I had the pleasure of being here with you. I can honestly say as a friend, we vibe really well. And when you first got here, and it was like, "Man that sucks." We all just wanted to be there for you, but also didn't really know you enough to get too personal-

Anthony: Yeah, I was still new.

Dustin: The only thing we could do is, give you space, and be there. For when you need it. And it's so nice to see you on the production side. You're kicking ass over there, but not only that you got Jon-Jon over there, and you guys seem like you're best buds.

Anthony: Yeah, he's a really good friend.

Dustin: And the whole team over there seems like a family, almost reminiscent to when I was ... Reminds me a lot of when I was a snowboard instructor, and we had ... I don't know there was 20 of us dudes, and it was me, one other dude, and two other dudes. We-

Jeff: Bunch of dudes.

Dustin: Yeah, me and two other dudes. Who I'm still friends with to this day, taught all the instructors how to teach, and we ran the crew. But it was a big family. And it was so nice to just ... It's so nice to have that community.

Anthony: It's awesome to come into that at work. It's amazing when you come in, and everybody knows ... They can see it on your face, "You alright? Something's wrong." You know what I mean, "Let's talk." And you get different people, and it seems we all have a good enough feel for each other. Where we know this person should go talk to him. He knows what to say at this point-

Dustin: Jon-Jon's so good at that shit too.

Anthony: Yeah, exactly. And Noah's our little spark plug.

Dustin: Yeah, he sure is.

Jeff: He sure is.

Anthony: You're down, and you're like, "Noah!" Just go walk over there, and say something. Whatever to him.

Dustin: Or, "Noah! Just shut up man." It's actually-

Jeff: The other side of it.

Anthony: Yeah, exactly.

Dustin: But you know community's so important, and a lot of people don't get to experience that. I think that's what always attracted me to Jiu-Jitsu. I think that, that is the most important thing in life. Is to have that connection with people, because when you deal with tragedy, it actually ends up becoming a good thing.
Because what you end up doing is just growing stronger in your community, because your people are there for you. And you get to know 'em better. And you grow with them, and you heal with them, and it becomes a really ... I mean it's the most magical thing in life, I believe.

Anthony: It is.

Dustin: Personally.

Anthony: It's nice to see you help somebody. When you've actually been in the process like you're saying. It's nice, I'm sure, at this point to see me be a normal person like, "Oh wow, alright cool. He's back to himself."

Dustin: And that's the one thing about tragedy too, I feel like a lot of the reason why we experience it is so we can help other people go through it afterwards. And that's why I connect with Jon-Jon. When he first got here, he was dealing with his things, but I was like, "Look man, I was right there with you. And let me tell you how it went for me. And maybe this'll help you." And it feels really good to help somebody else through that, because you know how it felt when you went through it, and maybe somebody was or wasn't there. But either way-

Anthony: Yeah, and you know it feels good when somebody cares. When somebody says that you're like, "Yes."

Jeff: Yeah.

Dustin: 'Cause the opposite-

Anthony: So relieving.

Dustin: Feeling like nobody cares, and nobody's there for you. That can be the most dreadful thing in life.

Anthony: It's hard to be a stone all the time. It's hard.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: Yeah.

Dustin: And that's why I believe community is so important man.

Jeff: We're really lucky, and I've said this before about this company. It's a diamond in the rough. And not only is Deathwish coffee, the worlds strongest coffee ... This cool lifestyle brand, but we as workers get to work in a company that is a community. And that's very rare.
Companies become cliquey, or there's a definite line in some companies between management, and pee-ons, and all that stuff. And there's none of that here. Everybody is pretty equal, and pretty much caring about each other. And we're really lucky to have .. I've worked in a lot of kitchens in my life, and those are some of the most caustic environments in the world. It's so refreshing to be in a place like this.

Anthony: Yeah, I worked a lot of jobs before I started here. A ton of jobs, a little bit of everything-

Jeff: Did you have any background in warehouse work, or coffee work before you actually took this job?

Anthony: I did not.

Jeff: Which is-

Anthony: I did not at all.

Jeff: The normal answer. We love asking the employees that, because so many of us came from other backgrounds, and now we're all doing this.

Dustin: I was making teeth.

Jeff: Yeah, exactly ... And the other question we always like to ask, did you know about Deathwish coffee, before you started working here?

Anthony: I did, I'm good friends with Scott Swedish, over at Saratoga Coffee Traders. So, we play cards together at a local bar, for about seven years, and he had been talking about it for about four years. And I was just like, "Oh yeah, yeah that's awesome. You guys got a coffee company."

Jeff: "You're making coffee in your basement man, cool."

Anthony: It's like, "Oh that's great." And then actually right around that time, the Superbowl commercial was coming out, and he was like, "Hey listen, they're gonna need people." I was like, "Alright, well let's try it out."

Jeff: Awesome.

Anthony: And I came up, and I met Jon, and the rest is history.

Dustin: So something we ask everybody who comes on this show with us, that works here. Deathwish, or Valhalla Java?

Anthony: I'm Deathwish all the way.

Jeff: Okay.

Anthony: Exactly.

Dustin: I like this no bullshit. I feel like it's always started out with a, "I like this, but you gotta understand-" No.

Anthony: No I'm Deathwish all the way.

Jeff: Alright.

Anthony: All the way. That's ... It blows Valhalla out the water for me, personally.

Dustin: Yeah.

Anthony: Valhalla just doesn't have the kick that I need.

Dustin: I mean you-

Anthony: It still has a kick, it just doesn't have the kick that I'm looking for.

Jeff: Right.

Dustin: you have a gaggle of children that you take care of-

Anthony: Exactly.

Dustin: On top of a double full-time job.

Anthony: Exactly.

Dustin: So you're a perfect candidate for Deathwish coffee.

Anthony: Yeah, and I don't leave here at five most of the times. So I need that early morning coffee, and then the noon coffee, and then the four o'clock coffee. To get me to 6:30, 7:00.

Dustin: Yeah, the more you talk about, the more I need coffee.

Anthony: Exactly.

Jeff: Right now ... Were you a big coffee drinker before you started working here?

Anthony: No I actually never drank coffee before I started working here.

Dustin: Me neither.

Jeff: Okay.

Dustin: That's awesome.

Anthony: The first cup of coffee I had here, I was like, "Alright, I might be able to do this."

Jeff: Right.

Anthony: And I didn't have one probably for another day and a half, and then I was so thirsty one day. It was hot, we were in the small warehouse. The roaster was right behind us, as we were packing, and it felt like it was 140 degrees. And in my head I was like, "If I drank this hot coffee, I'll cool down."

Jeff: Right.

Dustin: Of course, that's the idea with Indian food.

Jeff: Yes.

Dustin: Is because it's spicy-

Anthony: It made perfect sense to me, and then I did it, and I was like, "Oh that worked for like five seconds." And now I'm hot again.

Dustin: And sweating more 'cause of all the caffeine.

Jeff: And now you just said, you're drinking multiple cups a day.

Anthony: Yeah, now I drink about three cups a day. Just while I'm here.

Dustin: Did you ever get to a point where it was like, that's too many cups a day, I have to pull back.

Anthony: Yeah, I was at six.

Dustin: That's what Jeff has before lunch.

Anthony: I just kept going back up to the Keurig machine-

Dustin: Yeah, it's so easy.

Anthony: "Yeah, here, nice." And grab another cup. I find myself driving home feeling like I'm bouncing the whole way in my seat. So I was like, "Alright I have to stop. At some point I'm gonna have to go to sleep." And I wouldn't crash until 12:30, 1:00 am, and be back here at 7:00.

Dustin: Just set up a cot.

Anthony: I had to stop myself at some point.

Dustin: Yeah I think we all hit that at some point. I've said it a thousand times, and I'll say it again: too much caffeine is a occupational hazard.

Anthony: Definitely, and it's everywhere. Get the cold brew-

Dustin: The chocolate comes in!

Jeff: It's coming.

Dustin: Oh god you just, "Mmm, that's good." And you don't realize you just had two cups of coffee, and a cold brew, and maybe-

Anthony: And a box of chocolates.

Dustin: Maybe an alcoholic beverage with coffee in it too.

Jeff: Yeah, those are kicking around-

Dustin: Every corner you turn, it's just pow! Caffeine. It gets ridiculous around here.

Jeff: So we kind of touched upon this earlier, but I kinda wanna pick your brain a little bit about ... We always wonder where this company's gonna go. Because one of the cool things about Deathwish, is we're fearless about trying new things, and getting into new avenues. And I kinda wanna ask you, one place that we really haven't touched upon, and maybe you would have an idea of how we can get into it, is the sports community. How do you think Deathwish should start to branch into that community?

Anthony: That's a tough one. To get in the sports world would work obviously, because you have the athletes that are waking up extra early to work out, and doing their-

Jeff: Right, that's kind of how I feel it-

Anthony: And I know you guys do the Bullet Proof, or the Death Proof. And I know-

Dustin: We'll bleep out the "Bullet Proof".

Anthony: And I know a lot of athletes are starting to partake in that. So I think that would probably be the best avenue-

Jeff: Is Death Proof, yeah.

Anthony: Cold brew probably wouldn't work out too well. Mid practice you're trying to drink a cold brew. Probably wouldn't go to well getting hit by a 250 pound guy after drinking one of those, but definitely a morning thing to get them going. Really start the day off on the right side of things. But that's a tough one.

Jeff: 'Cause it is an avenue, I mean when I've posed this before to some of the team, the immediate thing that people think of, because of the branding is right, is "extreme sports".

Anthony: Definitely.

Jeff: I mean getting into the snowboarders, and the skateboarders, and the motocross, because those guys are breaking their bones everyday, and they need a skull and crossbones.

Anthony: Exactly.

Dustin: "Have a Deathwish!"

Jeff: Exactly, I mean-

Anthony: If fits is.

Jeff: You laugh about it, but that's it's so on the brand.

Anthony: But that's totally what it is.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: But I feel you're right, I never even thought about it like that. But I mean obviously the football players ... Let's just say with football. The football player, when they're at practice, or when they're running drills and stuff. They're not gonna want a cup of coffee, they're gonna want something with electrolytes. Something to keep their body moving. But definitely in the morning, I think Death Proof is definitely the way to go. 'Cause they need that fat. They need that stuff to help the, and Deathwish coffee can wake them up with it.

Dustin: And I'm sure a lot of them are on the kid-a-genic train of this point of, for performance wise-

Jeff: And that's with the MCT oil, and that kind of stuff.

Anthony: They have the top nutritionists etcetera. So you know they're on that.

Jeff: That's what we gotta do. We gotta get in with the nutritionists, and get the nutritionists to go, "Deathwish coffee is what you need." And then all-

Anthony: The trainers, and the nutritionists.

Jeff: Yeah. That's a great idea. I love it.

Anthony: That's how you creep into sports.

Jeff: That's awesome.

Anthony: Kicking the door down.

Jeff: Really a good idea. I think we might actually. Awesome, you heard it here first.

Anthony: Run with that one.

Jeff: Awesome.

Dustin: I'm gonna make a couple emails after the podcast.

Jeff: Awesome.

Dustin: So before we leave you back to the roasting world of Deathwish, is there any avenue that people can follow you on social media, or is there anything-

Jeff: Do you social media?

Dustin: Any shoutouts?

Anthony: I'm not really on social media a lot.

Jeff: Good for you.

Anthony: I do use twitter, time and again. That's @jrgoldstein.

Jeff: Okay.

Anthony: Also @staysuperiortonumber1.

Jeff: And that's the podcast, right?

Anthony: That's the podcast.

Jeff: Okay, where can we find the podcast?

Anthony: The podcast is on spreaker.com.

Jeff: Okay.

Anthony: And spreaker.com/superiorsportstalkradio,

Jeff: Awesome I'll put a link right here.

Anthony: And yeah.

Dustin: It's not there yet, it will be right there.

Anthony: That's how to find that, and they're coming soon. 'Cause football actually training camp for most teams just started today.

Jeff: Yeah, crazy.

Anthony: Friday the 24th so.

Jeff: It's crazy to think about, I swear to god yesterday was April. I swear to god, and now we're talking about football already.

Anthony: It went that fast.

Jeff: It's crazy.

Dustin: Yeah, it is nuts.

Jeff: So when does fantasy football kick off? When are you gonna do the draft?

Anthony: We will do the draft the 31st of August.

Jeff: Oh so you got a month away.

Anthony: Yeah, pre-season week four is a Thursday. Every team plays on that day. The last week of preseason before they get a week of before the start of the regular season. So we'll draft then. So everybody can avoid injuries.

Jeff: Right, hopefully you have enough time to get the stats from pre season-

Anthony: They have done enough research.

Dustin: Borrowing any injuries, who's your first pick?

Jeff: Uh oh, he's gonna say it out loud.

Anthony: Wow that's a tough one. David Johnson is the Arizona Cardinal's running back.

Dustin: Nice.

Jeff: Alright well I hope you get him.

Anthony: You and me both. I need a top three pick for that, but yeah I definitely hope so.

Dustin: Nice, alright cheers man. Thank you very much that was awesome.

Jeff: Yeah, thanks a lot for being on the podcast.

Anthony: Thanks for having me, I'm gonna go drink some coffee.