The Blazers Are the “Coffee Snobs” of the NBA, According to ESPN

And they're not drinking Stumptown, despite the Jusuf Nurkic commercial.

(Stumptown)

The Blazers truly are Portland's team.

Sure, you probably don't eat at Bamboo Sushi four times a week, and your Twitter squabbles rarely become meme fodder. But in at least one way, our local basketball heroes are just like us: They're obsessed with coffee. And they're very particular about it.

In a piece published today at ESPN.com, writer Baxter Holmes details the Blazers' unique coffee habit.

According to Holmes, before every game, you won't find the team sipping Gatorade or some kind of weird macrobiotic smoothie, but a steaming hot cup of joe. And not just an order from the nearest Starbucks. It's a precise process, conducted by the team's sports performance specialists, involving an "electric grinder, electric kettle, two stainless-steel 16-ounce French press coffeemakers, and powdered, organic, coconut-based 'superfood' creamer." The water is boiled at exactly 190 degrees, and the beans—from local roaster Water Avenue, not Stumptown, despite those wacky commercials starring Jusuf Nurkic—are ground for a specific amount of time, and not 1 second more.

Related: Stumptown's Wacky Trail Blazers Coffee Commercials Are Back. With Jusuf Nurkic. In a Van.

"They've become coffee snobs," says staff member Todd Forcier.

Holmes traces the Blazers' caffeine addiction back to Unfrozen Caveman Center Chris Kaman, who himself picked it up from a Lakers staffer when he played in Los Angeles. It took hold in Portland, among a team of non-coffee drinkers, because of the particularly grueling nature of the Blazers' travel schedule:  According to the article, the Blazers have finished in the top two of total miles traveled every season since 2008-09.

Read the full piece here, and then check out WW's annual Coffee Issue, which we presume Damian Lillard has already torn through in a jittery rush and taken copious notes from.

Related: Don't Worry, There's Coffee.

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