After the Super Bowl, Death Wish Coffee Might Need Its Own Brew to Keep Up

Death Wish Coffee Company Big Game Commercial: Storm’s a-Brewin’
Photo Jake Brady sealing bags of the Valhalla Java Odinforce Blend at Death Wish Coffees processing plant in Round Lake, N.Y. Credit Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

ROUND LAKE, N.Y. Theres no question that Death Wish Coffee, a pirate-flag-adorned brand from upstate New York, is strong, like really strong, like linebacker-strong, like Super Bowl-hype strong, but is it the strongest coffee in the world?

Yes? No? Yes? No? Yes? No? Dunno. (Note: The author of this article was highly caffeinated.)

What is certain, however, is that Death Wish Coffee, like a halfback in an open field, is enjoying a remarkably lucky run since first hitting the market some three and a half years ago, with a warning label proclaiming it the Worlds Strongest Coffee.

And while such a determination is probably better left to experts, Death Wish Coffees rabid fan base, including heavy-metal rockers and freezing-cold truckers, recently helped to land the company a prized advertisement spot during the Super Bowl broadcast on Sunday as part of a contest by Intuit, whose products help people balance their books and prepare their taxes (just like coffee).

Continue reading the main story Death Wish Coffee Company Big Game Commercial: Storms a-Brewin Video by QuickBooks

The contest invited businesses with fewer than 50 employees to enter to win the 30-second ad, winnowing thousands of contestants down to a final three (including another New York company, Vidlers, a five-and-dime near Buffalo). Death Wish was chosen by a public vote, presumably fueled by, you know, Death Wish.

Photo The coffee comes with a boast and a warning label. Credit Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

The ad, developed and produced by RPA, whose Super Bowl clients also include Honda, features a group of waterlogged Vikings jonesing for a cup of joe. The commercial, which will appear during the third quarter, has some of the skeleton staff at the Death Wish offices working 70-hour weeks in preparation for an onslaught of fatigued football and caffeine lovers looking to lift the Monday morning fog.

Its almost like fans are more excited than we are, said Kane Grogan, the companys customer service manager. Were in the middle of it, so were more worried than anything.

Fretting about filling huge orders, of course, is the kind of concern most small businesses would happily have, something acknowledged by the companys owner, Michael Brown, a former accountant who once worried about falling asleep at his desk at the State comptrollers office.

Mr. Brown, 35, created the Death Wish brew in the basement of Saratoga Coffee Traders, a cafe he owned in nearby Saratoga Springs, after a group of apparently somnolent Saratogians decided they wanted a little more jolt in their java.

Customers would come in asking for the strongest cup of coffee, Mr. Brown said in a phone interview from San Francisco, host to many of the Super Bowl festivities this year. And I wanted to mess with them a little bit.

So it was that Mr. Brown decided to search out an especially strong mix of robusta and Arabica beans online and try it on customers, who he initially anticipated would be truck drivers, night-shift workers, doctors.

To his surprise, however, the online buyers it remains primarily an Internet brand, and not a cheap one were more diverse. My moms friends from high school, like 75-, 80-year-olds, call me up saying this is my favorite coffee, Mr. Brown said.

Mr. Browns big win, however, appears to have unleashed a regional rivalry with another, more established company Deans Beans, in Orange, Mass. which claims the idea, and some of the early beans, for Death Wish came from its signature brew, called Ahabs Revenge. Deans Beans strikes a similarly ominous tone in its marketing (Beware: contains the highest caffeine content of any organic coffee!).

Dean Cycon, the founder of Deans Beans, said in an email that Death Wish had recreated our formula.

Was anything they did illegal? Nope, he said. Was it unethical and deceptive? In my mind, yes.

Mr. Brown said he had heard Mr. Cycons complaints, but had only compliments for Deans Beans. He has a great business model, Mr. Brown said, though he also noted that when my customers came in looking for a stronger cup of coffee, Deans Beans was already among the shops offerings.

Regardless of such coffee clashes, Death Wish seems to have found its own niche, according to Mr. Grogan, who says it is popular with coders, gamers and other loners, as well as the occasional journalist.

Like many who work at Death Wishs offices housed in a bland warehouse off a country road Mr. Grogan has several elaborate tattoos and a fondness for music. (I have four drummers on my staff, Mr. Brown said.) Theres a punching bag in the corner, and paintings sent in by fans, many of whom apparently cannot sleep.

Indeed, even brewed at moderate strength, the coffees color falls somewhere between that of a dilated pupil and the far side of the moon. On a recent morning, a few sips brought an undeniable buzz to this reporters head, as well as what might be described as a kind of a pleasant arrhythmia. A single cup provided about 45 minutes of jittery high energy, followed by a sharp drop in enthusiasm for life and a sudden desire for another cup.

Such ups and downs, of course, are the perils of working at Death Wish, Mr. Grogan said. It used to be kind of an all-day thing, he said, of his own intake. But it kind of wears off if you drink it too much.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/nyregion/after-the-super-bowl-death-wish-coffee-might-need-its-own-brew-to-keep-up.html