Photographs by Getty.
Washington Wizards forward Corey Kispert is no stranger to good coffee—a Seattle-area (Edmonds) native, he’s regularly spotted arriving to games in the tunnel with an Americano in hand. Last year, he started a series on Instagram called “The Grind,” in which he highlighted local coffee shops in various cities when he traveled. But in the next few weeks, the Gonzaga alum will launch his own coffee brand called the Bitter Truth Coffee. We caught up with Kispert last week to talk about it. Here are five things we learned.
1. He’s been a coffee fan since high school—despite his dad’s (now ironic) objections.
“My dad is not a coffee drinker and he was insistent that I did not drink coffee for the longest time because he said it would stunt my growth,” says Kispert, who clocks in now at 6’6″. During his senior year of high school, Kispert says a group of his friends would go to a local breakfast spot before school on Fridays, and coffee was just part of the routine. “I got black coffee straight off the jump, so I had to get used to that—it took me a while to actually appreciate and enjoy it, but it was a slippery slope.” Kipsert, who earned a degree in business administration before getting drafted by the Wizards in 2021, says that when he got to the NBA and people would ask about his hobbies, or what he’d want to do if he wasn’t playing basketball, his thoughts always came back to coffee.
2. Though he didn’t outright say it, he is definitely one of those freaks of nature that drinks iced coffee when it’s freezing out (we’re not here to judge).
“I’m not bound to a single order or a temperature,” Kispert insists. He drinks about four cups a day—six on game days—and while he bops between black coffee and Americanos (espresso mixed with water), he says he typically starts the day with a hot coffee and switches to iced in the afternoon. When asked if that includes drinking iced coffee in the winter, he replied: “I would say in the afternoons, hot coffee is a rarity.”
3. There’s apparently a pretty big coffee community in the NBA.
Kispert says launching The Grind coffee series on Instagram began as something to do on the road to engage with followers and show fans another side of him. But the reach extended beyond his fanbase. “A bunch of players on other teams asked me to send the list of places that I went,” Kispert says. “There’s a huge coffee community, and a lot of coffee drinkers in the NBA.”
4. He wants you to know this is a passion project, and not a brand he’s casually attached himself to.
“A lot of times when athletes start brands—apparel, podcasts, any kind of company, you name it—I feel like I kind of roll my eyes at that a little bit, and ironically now I’m an athlete starting a company,” says Kispert. “But I want people to know that this is a lot more than just that.” Kispert says he’s been really hands-on in the research phase, learning about how different beans are grown and harvested and what you can expect from beans grown in different parts of the world. “A few years ago I couldn’t have told you the difference between Folgers and your most organic pure coffee from Guatemala, but with knowledge comes power and I just got more and more curious and asked questions. Luckily I’ve been surrounded by some pretty cool people in this whole process that know a lot. My business partner is an award-winning barista, and he’s been a huge resource for me.” Now, the 26-year-old says he wants people to like the coffee, “for more than just an NBA player selling it—it’s high quality stuff from awesome farms around the world.”
5. The Bitter Truth Coffee branding is designed to inspire an underlying messaging.
“The brand’s about honest self-reflection—looking at yourself in the mirror and telling yourself honest, hard truths,” says Kispert. “It’s a lifestyle that I’vetried to adopt and live by over the last five years or so.” Some of the “truths”—mottos, quotes, and ideas that Kispert says he’s found to be helpful not only in his NBA journey, but in his personal life as well—will be printed on the packaging. Hopefully, he says, it’ll be a source of common ground. On its Instagram page, the brand shared an example, “Bitter Truth No. 1” in October: “Slow motion is better than no motion,” with an accompanying slide explaining further [pictured below.]
Amy Moeller
Fashion & Weddings Editor
Amy leads Washingtonian Weddings and writes Style Setters for Washingtonian. Prior to joining Washingtonian in March 2016, she was the editor of Capitol File magazine in DC and before that, editor of What’s Up? Weddings in Annapolis.