Sundance Dispatch

James Murphy: Big Into Coffee, Planning His Own Espresso Line

Murphy: In need of caffeine.
Murphy: In need of caffeine. Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images

In watching the Sundance screening of Shut Up and Play the Hits, the documentary of LCD Soundsystem’s final show ever at Madison Square Garden, it is clear that James Murphy loves three things: music, his French bulldog, and coffee. He loves coffee with a passion unmatched by pretty much any somewhat famous person besides David Lynch, who has his own coffee line and has been known for putting rants about the virtues of coffee versus tea in movies like Inland Empire. In fact, when Stephen Colbert asked Murphy what he wanted to do now that he was retiring from rock stardom, he said, “I like to make coffee.”

Much of the documentary’s footage of Murphy at home has him crouched by an espresso machine, and the film’s British directors, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, insist the portrayal is pretty accurate. “I make a lot of coffee,” Murphy told us in an interview after the movie’s premiere. “For my birthday, my girlfriend got me a training course with the world champion. That’s what I’m going to do when I get back to London.” Not only that, Murphy is working on his own espresso blend. He plans to “just go to a roaster who lives near me and start tweaking beans and temperatures.” Why? “I thought it would be fun. I have beans that I like. I like this sometimes and that sometimes. Sometimes in the middle.”

Murphy will only distribute this special blend at a single shop, but as for what shop and what particular beans, Murphy can’t say. “I can’t talk about that because I’m still in negotiations,” he said, laughing. “I love that we’re here and talking about a film, but I’m like, ‘I can’t really talk about the coffee.’”

James Murphy: Big Into Coffee, Planning His Own Espresso Line