In the mid 90s, I "performed" in a "talent show" at Chapel Hill High School. After an embarrassing debacle involving myself, a cassette single of "Shook Ones, Part II" and some awkward freestyles, a tall man with dangling dreadlocks took the stage. In a deep baritone, he spoke into a microphone and said the words that would haunt me for years to come: "What's up, Chapel Hill?" By the end of the decade we would come to be good friends and in 2021 he visited my studio and made me coffee from his own signature roast as we recorded a podcast.

Lem Butler has done a lot. Type his name into YouTube and a variety of videos come up, all related to his involvement in the coffee industry. Product unboxings and reviews, footage of him competing in the World Barista Championships, interviews on shows and podcasts (none of which are as cool as this one). But if you lived in the Triangle in the 00s, you most certainly knew (or at least recognized) the big-haired man with the glassy eyes behind his spectacles. He was DJ Pez, and he was spinning in the nightclub that you threw up your Long Island Iced Tea in. And at the one that you were scared to go to. And cutting records at the hip hop show where you were nodding your head till your neck was sore after smoking a blunt in the parking lot.

But somewhere along the way, a random job that wasn't supposed to last more than a year would ignite a spark that turned in a passion, a lifestyle, and a career. Lem has since traveled the world as a coffee competitor and educator. Plus he's been known to DJ an industry party or two. He now owns his own curated coffee experience in Black & White Coffee Roasters. (Y'all KNOW I don't like flowery words like "curated" but I didn't know how else to put it.) Yes, you can buy coffee from him.

While this intro may be serious, this episode is not LOLOLOL. We explore what it means to go from beats to beans* all whilst sipping fresh-squeezed B&W brew and burning one. Pez is a natural storyteller and his voice is a soothing balm to your chapped ears. We bounce from North Carolina to Ethiopia to Amsterdam to Colombia ... it's a wild ride. Meet me for coffee and a cigarette afterward. See you soon.

Featuring "Worldwide" by Tyfu and additional music by Juan Huevos. Shout out Prince, The Time, MA$E, David Lynch, and The Pharcyde.

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Theme Song by Cheers For Fears (Boy In Sleep and Kent Hernandez)
Artwork by Chris Musina

If you need podcast services from story development to recording to editing to publishing, Sparse Mansion Media can help. Contact Jon Gregory at [email protected] for inquiries.

*intentional rhyme