For most of y’all, it's just another Friday—maybe the day you finally tackle that epic mountain of laundry or treat yourself to a well-deserved post-work golden-hour nap. Maybe you’re heading out with friends or finding a cozy hole to become friends with a good book. Wherever you are, I hope you have a great one!
For me, today is a sea change. This is the moment where I wave a heartfelt goodbye to 20 years of hustle culture that almost broke me. Today is the day I welcome in a new way of living—a decaf way of life. What does that even mean?
I’ll tell you! Some people burn the candle at both ends. I, on the other hand, was turning that candle into a puddle of wax faster than you can say 'bad life choices.’ My friend Robert and I joke that for most of our lives the default speed was everything-all-at-once-as-hard-as-we-can. These last 20+ years of work, I’ve been chasing deadlines, inheriting clients' urgency, and trying to fuel up with caffeinated courage. Don’t get me wrong. Part of it was a freakin’ blast. I’ve been able to play with some big dogs like Gates Foundation, MailChimp, Schmidt Sciences, Seth Godin, MIT, Turner Broadcasting, and even Walmart. I made some good shit along the way. It felt powerful at times—like I was riding an unstoppable wave. But waves crash, and in 2016 it chewed me up and spit me out. It ended in a divorce, getting tossed from my faith (and my community), and renegotiating my relationship to everything I’d ever known. Turns out it was exactly the destruction I needed.
Learning to listen
The last eight years have been a slow process of peeling back things that were keeping me from living sustainably. First, I got sober, then I started listening to my body. Turns out not being able to breathe and sweating while you’re still aren’t signs of robust health. I had to take a serious look at my anxiety, and sadly my caffeine intake. I wanted a restful mind more than I craved coffee, and so I made the change.
I’m sort of annoyed at how much difference it made. I was sleeping like I hadn’t since I was young, and I could breathe steady. But I missed the ritual and social qualities of coffee — and so began my hunt for a drinkable decaf. As many of you know, they’re hard to find, and most brands only carry a single decaf roast. Not cool bro.
The Decaf Revelation
Decaf is funny. It’s the underdog of coffee. It’s the brunt of a few pretty funny jokes. But for those of us who’ve been lucky enough to find great decaf, we know there’s something magical about enjoying coffee for its essential character—not just for the buzz. It’s coffee without the threat of sleeplessness. It’s coffee freedom—anytime you want. But if it doesn’t taste great, then you have to drown it in milk.
All of this became annoying at a level that kept me up at night (ironically). Eventually I decided it was time to do something about it — and now after about a year of noodling, connecting, education, scary moments of investing my savings into myself — we’re here. Wimp is launched.
You’re here for much of the same reason that drove me to start Wimp. You want decaf you don’t have to settle for. That’s our dream. That’s what we’re building. We’re crafting decaf roasts that are anything but an afterthought. Each one aims to be a tribute to coffee itself with all its dimension and history. There’s Coltrane, with its rich, smooth notes of rooibos and apple—all of which I trust our coffee lord, Matt Patch, to teach me to continue discerning. Some of you will dive into Kahlo, a light roast painted with flavors of honeydew and white peach. Then there’s you, sweet Kubrick, my darling. (I seriously went through A LOT of Kubrick before we launched and might have annoyed my team LOL). It’s a special project roast that’ll take your taste buds on a cinematic ride through pineapple, pomelo, and black tea. Don’t sleep on this coffee. I mean that figuratively because you can most definitely sleep after Kubrick since it’s, well, decaf.
But seriously, it’s just decaf
For me, business is a vehicle to be with people. It’s a bid for connection and a quirky game of trying to find the goldilocks zone where I can solve some pain in your life well enough it’s worth trading value for. As a founder, you’re supposed to know exactly what you’re doing and what you’re building. That’s bogus. Every entrepreneur I know is a messy circus inside. Here’s what I do know: We all want better decaf and we’re not alone — some say it’s the fastest growing sector in all of coffee. There’s a lot of us that are aching to tell hustle life to go-to-hell. Many of us are looking for something real. We’re tired of the slippery, fake news, socialized bullshit out there. We’re looking for connection—to each other, ourselves, and the ground under our feet. I feel it every day. We all have to work, but the daily grind should be about coffee, not your precious life. We want to choose good steady work. What if we could do less, but better. This is the decaf life. Wanna join me?!
When your first bag of Wimp arrives, will you let us know? Reach out. Tell us your story over a brew. Record a video. Write an email or a poem! How are you rebelling against the way you’ve been told you “should” be? How are you reclaiming your life? I mean, coffee is great, but it’s not the REAL thing here. You are. This life is. We don’t need caffeine to wake up. I mean, look around you. Life is amazing!
Thank you for being here folks.
XOXO,Matthew
