Getty Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat reacts during the first half against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Three of the 2020 NBA Finals.
In the bubble, Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler started a pop-up shop and named it Big Face Coffee. While selling fancy cups joe for $20 a cup, Butler’s team advanced to the NBA Finals, and his burgeoning coffee shop flourished.
Now, as the five-time All-Star prepares for the Heat’s final preseason game on December 18 against the Toronto Raptors, Butler is continuing to fine-tune his barista skills. On Friday morning, the 31-year-old shared a video on his Instagram stories and yelled, “Big Face in the morning, b******!”
Butler is not messing around when it comes to coffee. He owns a scale, a Chemex, roasts and grinds the beans himself, and can whip up cappuccinos, pour-overs, and lattes. In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Butler revealed he has become as obsessed with coffee as he is with basketball and is working on refining his latte art.
“You have to pour it from a certain height and certain angle,” Butler said.
Heat’s MVP also revealed that he dreams of a life beyond basketball with his coffee business. Making everyone in the Heat front office squirm, “I wish I could take five years off and open a cafe,” Butler said.
His obsession with coffee and drive to make it perfect even impresses Heat’s head coach Erik Spoelstra. “That’s the part of Jimmy nobody knows,” Spoelstra says. “That guy in the Dos Equis commercial? Jimmy’s like a version of that guy. He’s literally one of the most interesting people in the NBA fraternity. If you talk about anything, he’s like, I’ve done that.”
Butler Filed 3 Trademarks for Big Face Coffee
Fitting for “one of the most interesting people in the NBA fraternity,” Butler was able to file three trademarks in relation to his Big Face Coffee business during the NBA Finals. “The filings, all made on September 4th, cost Butler $4,125 in USPTO fees,” tweeted lawyer Josh Gerben.
The coffee cups are branded with Butler’s logo, which he’s used since he played for the Chicago Bulls, according to Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, who couldn’t believe the reaction following his client’s pop-up coffee shop.
His pending trademarks include the Big Face Coffee logo, the player’s tagline, “no I.O.U.’s” and the words, “Big Face Coffee.”
“I didn’t understand the coffee hustle before,” Lee said. “There are bean brokers, roasters — I didn’t know any of that. Seven out of 10 calls I get now are about coffee.”
While Butler’s business grows in popularity, there has been no inflation in price. No matter what size or type of coffee you order, it’s still a hefty $20 a cup. As for the high price tag, “I make them with love,” Butler said with a smile.
For those wondering why he named it Big Face Coffee, it’s related to an inside joke with teammate Meyers Leonard, ESPN reported.
Lululemon Makes Butler’s Big Face Coffee Clothing
Butler’s side hustle has become quite lucrative for Butler, who by the end of the 2022-2023 season, the last year of his contract with the Miami Heat, he will have made a total of $220,111,606 from his NBA earnings, according to spotrac.com.
However, when it comes to paying his models, Butler insists they work for free, as he tapped top model Goran Dragic to walk the runway for Big Face Coffee.
In an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols asked if Dragic would soon be making appearances to show off the merchandise.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re not paying him a damn thing either,” Butlers said. “But he’s going to walk it for free, and he’s going to love doing it.”
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