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If you’re a coffee professional or enthusiast, it was impossible to ignore the launch of several celebrity-backed coffee brands last week. We saw National Football League player Patrick Mahomes become the lead investor in Throne Sport Coffee, rock band Green Day partner with Keurig Dr Pepper on a new coffee line, and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani start his own coffee brand in the wake of filing for bankruptcy.
Celebrity coffee brands are nothing new, however. Since the early 1970s, athletes, actors, musicians, and influential figures have endorsed, promoted, or even launched their own coffee companies. But over the past few years, the trend has become significantly more noticeable – and is clearly impacting the specialty coffee market, too.
In light of this, it’s important to ask whether these brands and partnerships are adding value to the industry, or if they are even having the opposite effect. To find out more, I spoke to Miranda Caldwell, founder of The Coffee MBA, and Caleb Benoit, founder of Connect Roasters.
You may also like our article on whether specialty coffee is focusing too much on celebrity partnerships.


A week of new celebrity-coffee brands
New product and brand launches are very common in the coffee industry. But last week was particularly notable for the number of new celebrity-backed coffee companies which entered the market.
Arguably the most significant launch was NFL player Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, who won the Super Bowl LVIII back in February 2024. Alongside beverage industry veteran Michael Fedele, Mahomes announced that he is the lead investor in Throne Sport Coffee, a functional ready-to-drink coffee brand. Each can contains 150mg of natural caffeine (from arabica beans), cane sugar, B vitamins, electrolytes, and branched-chain amino acids (or BCAAs).
Ahead of their upcoming world tour, we also saw US rock band Green Day launch Punk Bunny Coffee, a new whole bean, roast and ground, and capsule line. Capitalising on the success of Oakland Coffee Works – which the band launched some ten years ago – Punk Bunny Coffee includes a partnership with Keurig Dr Pepper to offer the brand’s full range of blends as K Cups.
But perhaps even more bizarrely, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani announced his own brand coffee line as he faces bankruptcy and a debt of US $148 million. Rudy Coffee offers three different blends, and appears to be marketing its products based on the many health benefits of coffee.
Moreover, we also saw Blue Bottle and prominent Canadian musician The Weeknd launch the latest release in the Samra Origins range. The Buna Tetu collection includes a whole bean blend, instant coffee, and merchandise, and follows the release of a micro lot coffee and another blend in mid-2023.
Lastly, in a GQ interview, National Basketball Association player Jimmy Butler also announced he will open the first brick and mortar BigFace store in September 2024 – a brand which has been widely embraced by the specialty coffee community.


Helping or harming the industry?
In the wake of many new celebrity coffee brands entering the market, the conversation about whether these companies add value to the industry continues.
Caleb Benoit is the founder and CEO at Connect Roasters in Illinois, US. He says we must first understand why celebrities, sports personalities, and influential figures would want to launch coffee brands.
“I don’t know if there’s a one-size-fits-all answer,” he tells me. “I think it’s about having a functional benefit and creating a business opportunity, and simply loving the product and the culture around coffee. If you asked Ian Happ, the MLB All-Star who is a partner in our business, he would tell you it’s a combination of all of those factors.”
Miranda Caldwell is the founder of The Coffee MBA, a coffee business consultant with over 20 years of experience. She believes celebrity-coffee brands are more of a strategic move.
“Celebrities (and their managers) have always understood the power of prolonging wealth through products,” she says. “If your football career is over due to injury or your music’s popularity is waning, products offer a way to keep paying for the big life you’ve built. It’s not surprising to me that this extends into the coffee industry because coffee is so well loved and ubiquitous. It’s a ‘safe’ product from a fan/consumer perspective.”
Understanding which brands add value
Looking specifically at Throne Sport Coffee, it’s clear that Patrick Mahomes saw an opportunity to tap into a fast-growing market. According to research from Mintel, 35% of US consumers are interested in RTD coffee which offers additional health benefits – and this number is surely set to grow as convenient coffee options become even more popular.
At the same time, Throne Sport Coffee is very much on brand for the NFL quarterback, which makes his debut into the coffee industry feel more natural. Moreover, Mahomes reportedly drinks up to five cups of coffee per day – indicating genuine interest in his new business.
Whether or not you believe celebrity endorsements and partnerships help or hinder the coffee industry is a matter of opinion.
“Celebrities certainly bring visibility to our industry, and having that audience is valuable,” Caleb says. “Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas partners with a specialty coffee roaster in his native Finland. He has more than four million followers on Instagram and close to two million on Twitter (or X). Every time he posts about their coffee, that’s a lot of eyeballs on their brand, which represents our industry.”
Miranda, on the other hand, points out that these brands still need to resonate with consumers – otherwise they won’t be successful.
“Whether these brands add value to specialty coffee is totally neutral in my opinion,” Miranda says. “We will always have people entering our industry and some will have big names. It’s awesome that coffee is so well-loved that people are willing to put their name on a coffee product.”
Connecting with consumers
In the case of Green Day, the band launched Oakland Coffee Works almost a decade ago, so the transition to a new and fresher-looking brand identity makes sense – especially one that resonates with their core audience.
“Like any business, not all of these brands will work. Some will be confusing, others will feel seamless,” Miranda says. “But again, this is no different from any coffee brand! The bottom line is that the brand still has to work and the consumer connection to the brand has to be solid.”
Although Rudy Giuliani’s new coffee company certainly appeals to a very specific demographic, the brand itself feels inauthentic. With many people commenting on how the company was launched in the wake of Giuliani’s rising debt, it’s evident that Rudy Coffee is about generating income rather than genuine interest in coffee. What’s more, Giuliani refers to the brand as “specialty”, which is unlikely to say the least.
Miranda, however, doesn’t believe inauthenticity is necessarily harming specialty coffee.
“I don’t think any single brand or celebrity could be damaging to the coffee industry,” she tells me. “There are lots of coffee companies out there without celebrity faces that I wouldn’t want to be associated with because I don’t have the same values as them. It’s no different here. But can Rudy.Coffee harm the coffee industry? No way, he’s not that powerful.”


Will we see more of these brands in the future?
Both Caleb and Miranda believe celebrity-backed coffee companies will continue to enter the market in the coming years.
“I’m sure we will continue to see more celebrity-backed coffee brands in the future,” Caleb says. “Joe DiMaggio endorsed the Mr. Coffee brewer 50 years ago. Maxwell House put NFL quarterbacks on their coffee tins 25 years ago. Athletes like Mahomes, Bottas, Happ, and Jimmy Butler are in the game now. As long as coffee marketing remains consumer-focused, I would bet on it continuing.”
Miranda, meanwhile, tells me that the driving force behind these brands doesn’t necessarily come from the coffee industry.
“Celebrity-backed coffee brands will continue to launch, but I don’t think it’s because of the coffee industry,” she says. “It’s becoming harder and harder to make money in the entertainment world without selling products. The richest celebrities are those who have realised this.
“Again, coffee is a really fun industry and it’s a product people love, so as long as celebrities feel like they can bring their audience closer through coffee, they’re going to try their hand,” she adds. “Eventually, some may realise that there isn’t a huge margin to capture, but others may get solid investment and beat us in product development, like we’re seeing with Chamberlain Coffee.”
Authenticity is key
Entering the coffee market can be a creative outlet for many athletes, influencers, actors, and musicians. But to impress specialty coffee drinkers, these brands need to feel authentic and genuine.
The Weeknd’s collaboration with Blue Bottle, for instance, is a nod to his Ethiopian roots. While the artist may not be directly involved in sourcing and roasting the coffee, the Samra Origins range is clearly a passion project for The Weeknd.
Similarly, Jimmy Butler’s BigFace brand feels just as legitimate. The NBA player has invested time in learning more about coffee, and has even collaborated with several well-respected names in the industry. So with the first physical BigFace coffee shop to open in the coming months, Butler could take his brand even further.


Celebrity-coffee partnerships will only continue, so it’s our responsibility as an industry to engage with the brands we feel add real value to the sector.
This may seem obvious in some cases, but it may take time to see how certain brands evolve in the industry – and whether they can capture the attention of coffee drinkers.
Enjoyed this? Then read our article on why more musicians are launching their own coffee brands.
Photo credits: Blue Bottle Coffee
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