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Speaker 1: I'm Kevin Cirelli, Chief Washington correspondent from Bloomberg Television and

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio, and you are listening to the sound on

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Speaker 1: Extra Podcast, where we will be continuing our conversation from

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Speaker 1: our Bloomberg Radio show. And this is our inaugural episode,

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Speaker 1: and we have Gregory Zamphotus, founder and CEO of Gregory's Coffee.

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Speaker 1: They've expanded into the Washington d C. Market. You can't

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Speaker 1: walk around Farragut Square and not see Gregory's Coffee. And

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Speaker 1: they're everywhere, of course in New York. So I'm talking

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Speaker 1: to the guy. If you look at their logo, it's

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Speaker 1: like the silhouette of a man with these like where's

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Speaker 1: Waldo black spectacles? And that is what he looks like.

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Speaker 1: Gregory Zampotus, Welcome Waldo. Gregory, Well, thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for being here. And Earl and on the radio program,

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Speaker 1: we were talking about health and wellness and how this

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Speaker 1: has really become a boom market and how it's impacting

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Speaker 1: small businesses like medium sized companies like yourself. And you

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Speaker 1: guys have a c E. D latte. It's called hashtag

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Speaker 1: CBD latte. So what is CBD oil? Okay, So CBD

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Speaker 1: oil is an extract from the hemp plant, and people

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Speaker 1: really like it because you get a lot of the

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Speaker 1: health benefits that people associate with hamper marijuana, like some

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Speaker 1: of the anti anxiety, anti inflammatory, just general mood uplift

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Speaker 1: uplifting UM. Apparently it's good for your skin as well. UM.

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Speaker 1: And but you don't get any of the side effects

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Speaker 1: that people worry about when they were to have ingest

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Speaker 1: some of these other products, like yeah, like getting high, UM,

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Speaker 1: blurred vision, any of those kind of things. You don't

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Speaker 1: you don't get that side effect. So the THHC level

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Speaker 1: is below a certain threshold, which is why most people like.

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Speaker 1: The FDA allows it in certain capacities to be able

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Speaker 1: to consume that. So this has f d a approval.

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Speaker 1: It has FDA approval in certain aspects that it's still

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Speaker 1: sort of fuzzy about UM how it goes. How you

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Speaker 1: you could serve a product with that already included. They

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Speaker 1: allow you to. It's very clear you can purchase it

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Speaker 1: on your own and add it. You know, there's plenty

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Speaker 1: of places that sell that. It's still a little bit

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Speaker 1: of a gray area when it comes to UM pre

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Speaker 1: prepared products including that. So you know, as far as

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Speaker 1: we know, we're still able to kind of keep selling

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Speaker 1: that you guys are a pioneer. Yeah, you might say so,

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Speaker 1: you are guys are a coffee pioneer. But that's interesting.

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Speaker 1: Have you guys had to get guidance in terms of

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Speaker 1: the regulation because we here in the Beltway or cover

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Speaker 1: all things regulatory affairs, especially at Bloomberg, and there is

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Speaker 1: a lot of ambiguity in terms of these different products

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Speaker 1: and financial institutions are still are still trying to sort

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Speaker 1: through that out. And it's interesting to hear how a

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Speaker 1: small business such as Gregory's Coffee that is expanding is

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Speaker 1: having to stort through. Would you like more guidance from

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Speaker 1: the government on this or more of for sure, it's

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Speaker 1: a it was a bit unclear. Um. I mean, we

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Speaker 1: we rely on a lot of our health consultants that

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Speaker 1: deal with the our local health apartments and here in

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Speaker 1: uh d C, as well as up in New York

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Speaker 1: and in Jersey City where they deal with the agencies

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Speaker 1: that actually come in and inspect us and check on

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Speaker 1: what's going on. Um, So they have their ear to

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Speaker 1: the ground as far as what what is good and

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Speaker 1: not good in the eyes of those health departments. Um,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of them take their cues from the FDA.

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Speaker 1: But as we said, like the hemp bill, pap, I

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Speaker 1: mean the farm bill passes as hemp is cool, UH,

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Speaker 1: FDA says, hold on, we have to figure some things out.

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Speaker 1: So while they're sifting through things. Um, we we're selling

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Speaker 1: a lot of CBD lot days. People really like that product,

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Speaker 1: UM And I mean you hope it's gonna be okay

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Speaker 1: because I think people are really they really do come

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Speaker 1: back and tell me how much they love it and

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Speaker 1: how they genuinely do feel better after ingesting this. And

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Speaker 1: you guys have other wellness focused drinks, drinks, food, plenty

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Speaker 1: of things. So so that's interesting because of all of

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Speaker 1: the different UH coffee chains, you your brand has really

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Speaker 1: doubled down on on wellness focused drinks and snacks like

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Speaker 1: chia seeds and whatnot. Why, well, it probably started. I

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Speaker 1: mean I've always tried to keep a little bit more

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Speaker 1: of a health conscious lifestyle myself, but it kind of

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Speaker 1: really ramped up I'd say, like four years ago when

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Speaker 1: my son was born with kind of a dairy sensitivity. Uh.

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Speaker 1: We wind up having to produce a lot of vegan

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Speaker 1: food in the house just because he wasn't be able

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Speaker 1: to have it take any dairy. So as my wife

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Speaker 1: was experimenting with a lot of recipes, I realized, we're

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Speaker 1: getting a lot better at being able to make products

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Speaker 1: that you normally like but without using any dairy uh

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Speaker 1: or meat products. Really so um, I realized how good

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Speaker 1: these things tasted. You didn't need a lot of those products.

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Speaker 1: And then I wound up becoming a pescterian myself about

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Speaker 1: two years ago. Um, And since then I just haven't

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Speaker 1: looked back and just want to keep including more and

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Speaker 1: more of these products because it just, um, it's a

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Speaker 1: healthy way of eating, eating great, eating healthy, taking care

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Speaker 1: of yourself, and you could have things that taste good

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Speaker 1: are good for you. And I think people have been

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Speaker 1: really really recepted for that, and we're excited to continue

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Speaker 1: introducing more products. You know, what's interesting is when we

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Speaker 1: talk about we've got about two two more minutes. But

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Speaker 1: what's interesting when we talk about trade policy and we're

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Speaker 1: talking about this on the show, we always talk about

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Speaker 1: businesses and big banks in particular, and financial institutions and

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Speaker 1: CEOs and how they're impacted. We sometimes forget in our

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Speaker 1: reporting to include small businesses that are expanding as Gregory's

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Speaker 1: Coffee is, and chains that are growing at the rate

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Speaker 1: that you guys are, and these trade policies they impact

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Speaker 1: your bottom line immensely. Everything from the paper cup and

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Speaker 1: how paper. Uh you noticed that your your suppliers were

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Speaker 1: saying that because of the US trying to trade talks,

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Speaker 1: they've gone up. That's impacting a price of a cup

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Speaker 1: of coffee to overproduction in Brazil. I mean, so what

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Speaker 1: do you how, I guess, how does the New York

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Speaker 1: CEO come into Washington? How? What is you? What do

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Speaker 1: you make of the trade tornado that that we're in? Seriously?

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Speaker 1: What from an outside you're looking in? But you're really

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Speaker 1: kind of on the front lines. I think you know,

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Speaker 1: we've been in business for thirteen years, and um, things

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Speaker 1: have just continuously changed, whether it's the real estate market,

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Speaker 1: which throws things all over, like prices go up, they

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Speaker 1: come down, regulation, local regulation, government, federal regulation, just things

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Speaker 1: get thrown out you left and right. I think you

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Speaker 1: just have to be a little bit of a chameleon

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Speaker 1: and very flexible with you know, as things come your way,

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Speaker 1: you need to be you need to adjust. You can't

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Speaker 1: just be stuck in your place and say, well, this

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Speaker 1: is what I do, and if somebody tells me different,

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Speaker 1: I'm just not gonna be able to fix it. So

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Speaker 1: I'm just always taking whatever comes at me and trying

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Speaker 1: to make the best of the situation. And hopefully if

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Speaker 1: it does have to include changing prices, because we have to.

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Speaker 1: We're a business. We have to be able to pay

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Speaker 1: our bills and obviously make it successful. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: we we communicate that message the best we can to

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Speaker 1: our guests so that way they don't just think we're

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Speaker 1: just gouging them. We're doing these things, you know. I

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Speaker 1: I My price increases are typically not just align my pockets.

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Speaker 1: They are to cover increasing costs so I can make praise.

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Speaker 1: You pay folks here in d C fifteen dollars an hour,

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Speaker 1: which is the minimum wage in New York. And you

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Speaker 1: did that before it was required for DC. Yeah, d

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Speaker 1: C in New Jersey we have we have locations in

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Speaker 1: both states that we we've gone above the minimum there

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Speaker 1: for sure. That's that. When I first moved to Washington,

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Speaker 1: d C. And was a CUB reporter at Politico, I

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Speaker 1: worked weekends at the Javashack in Arlington's and I am

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Speaker 1: kind of a coffee snob. I'll tell you, when you

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Speaker 1: work at a coffee shop, you become a coffee snop.

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Speaker 1: So what is your drink of choice? I'm a man,

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Speaker 1: I'm very simple man, even though I have a maybe

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Speaker 1: exotic when it comes to my veganism or pescatarianism. I

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Speaker 1: like black. I just have a regular own espresso or

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Speaker 1: drip coffee. I mean, I really do. I mean it

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Speaker 1: sounds simple, but I think people associate coffee as if

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Speaker 1: you're a coffee snop to you associate coffee like wine

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Speaker 1: and other, you know, high end beverages, where you're not.

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Speaker 1: You're if people said my wine tasted like young pair

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Speaker 1: and plum and these things. You're saying, oh that that's

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Speaker 1: that sounds normal. But if I said the same thing

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Speaker 1: about coffee, people like, what are you talking about? My

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Speaker 1: coffee taste like coffee? I am able to. I love

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Speaker 1: tasting coffee, and it's natural state to be able to

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Speaker 1: detect like all these natural flavors and the nuances and

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Speaker 1: what make our products taste so special. So even though

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Speaker 1: a black espresso may seem simple, I love tasting all

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Speaker 1: the special benefits and the things that I get out

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Speaker 1: of our coffee program. So black coffee drinkers typically that.

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Speaker 1: And when I want to indulge things like a CBD

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Speaker 1: or our tumeric latte, or now our new drinks like

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Speaker 1: this hydrofuel we just did. It's cold brew brewed with

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Speaker 1: UM coconut water instead of just regular water, so you

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Speaker 1: get this natural sweetness and hydration and potassium and all

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Speaker 1: these other benefits in your regular old cold brew. Uh. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's a new one. We actually just lost that one

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Speaker 1: today as well as this UM. Like today we did

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Speaker 1: um macadamia ut milk. I don't know if you're a

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Speaker 1: dairy free milk fan. I love that and then with

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Speaker 1: some collegen peptides throwing those in there. Uh. Christine Rodds,

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Speaker 1: our executive producer, she's sitting there, She's like, why don't

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Speaker 1: we go to Gregory's Coffee? Gregory Damn, photus CEO and

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Speaker 1: founder of Gregory's Coffee. This was fun, This was really

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Speaker 1: good time. Thanks for joining us on the sound on

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Speaker 1: Extra podcast, the inaugural issue Coffee Talk with Kevin. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening. I'm Kevin Cereli, the chief Washington correspondent for

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Radio,