I Take My Coffee Black

Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America

By: Tyler Merritt, Jimmy Kimmel - foreword

Narrated by: Jimmy Kimmel, Tyler Merritt, James Iglehart, Jerrie Elaine Merritt, Milton Merrit

As a six-foot, two-inch, dreadlocked Black man, Tyler Merritt knows what it feels like to be stereotyped as threatening, which can have dangerous consequences. But he also knows that proximity to people who are different from ourselves can be a cure for racism.

Tyler Merritt's video "Before You Call the Cops" has been viewed millions of times. He's appeared on Jimmy Kimmel and Sports Illustrated and has been profiled in the New York Times. The viral video's main point - the more you know someone, the more empathy, understanding, and compassion you have for that person - is the springboard for this book. By sharing his highs and exposing his lows, Tyler welcomes us into his world in order to help bridge the divides that seem to grow wider every day.

In I Take My Coffee Black, Tyler tells hilarious stories from his own life as a Black man in America. He talks about growing up in a multicultural community and realizing that he wasn't always welcome, how he quit sports for musical theater (that's where the girls were) to how Jesus barged in uninvited and changed his life forever (it all started with a Triple F.A.T. Goose jacket) to how he ended up at a small Bible college in Santa Cruz because he thought they had a great theater program (they didn't). Throughout his stories, he also seamlessly weaves in lessons about privilege, the legacy of lynching and sharecropping and why you don't cross Black mamas. He teaches listeners about the history of encoded racism that still undergirds our society today.

By turns witty, insightful, touching, and laugh-out-loud funny, I Take My Coffee Black paints a portrait of Black manhood in America and enlightens, illuminates, and entertains - ultimately building the kind of empathy that might just be the antidote against the racial injustice in our society.

©2021 Tyler Merritt (P)2021 Worthy Books

Critic reviews

“A sad, happy, moving, troubling, inspirational, humorous, and brutal account of the people and experiences that formed this exceptionally well-formed man.... (Tyler Merritt)...subtly and kindly reminds us of how much we have in common and that assumptions are made by fools.” (Jimmy Kimmel)

Love It

This book is incredibly engaging. I highly recommend it as a book club selection, or for individual reading.This book uses personal narrative to educate the reader on both social and historical issues. It encourages both discussion and reflection. An added bonus is the humorous accounts biographical in nature. I laughed, cried, and have walked away thinking about what I have heard. Highly recommend!

Game changer

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to walk in the shoes of a (Beautiful) 6’2” African American man, this is the book for you. Tyler will make you laugh, cry, think, dream and maybe even sing out loud. His motto is Proximity breeds empathy and you will have the chance to get to know Tyler and learn to empathize with his struggles, his hurts, his wounds. Tyler and this book will change the world.

Blending Something Good

I absolutely love this book! I can relate as a Mexican and “person of color” to some of the treatment I’ve gotten. I appreciate all the history you added. You must have really done your homework! Your book is such a perfect blend of seriousness, anguish, history, and humor. I’m learning a lot from listening to your book and I actually looked forward to driving long distances just so I could listen to it! Listening to your voice telling your story is so meaningful. Thank you for your insight and passion.

A 2021 MUST Read

This book is amazing. I learned, laughed and cried! You will not be able to stop listening. Tyler is amazing!!! Buy this! You will not regret it!!!

Don’t miss out, a must listen!

I Take My Coffee Black is really the best I’ve listened to. I love the extra gems like the use of sound effects and the guest readers. It’s just like nothing else out there. And that’s not even mentioning Tyler’s voice and the actual content. Moving, heart-warming, heart-breaking, honest, vulnerable, laugh out loud funny. It’s really amazing. Don’t miss it.

If I could give 10 stars, I would.

Tyler Merritt is a fabulous storyteller and a rare, wonderful human being. Read this book for sure, but I HIGHLY recommend listening to it if you can. Thank you, Tyler, for being everybody's friend, and for sharing this gift. You are worthy of allllll the positive attention you are getting.

This should be mandatory reading!

Such a great production! I love reading books read by the author. I find it to be so much more meaningful. But Tyler took this to the next level. I am better off for having read it. Would love to have coffee with this phenomenal human someday. Proximity people! Get close, lean in. People are hard to hate close up. Thank you, Tyler for this bright, beautiful, brutal and brilliant window into your soul. The world is better off with you in it!!!

Tyler feels like a friend

I love authors reading their own stories, and Tyler does not disappoint. There’s so much richness added when you hear it their own voice. Tyler adds a few extra elements, fitting with his love for and talent in drama, that are uncommon in audio books, and absolutely perfect for this book.

Tyler, thank you for writing I Take My Coffee Black. Thank you for reading I Take My Coffee Black. And thank you for sharing Tyler Merritt with more of the world.

WOW

There is not one word to describe this book, nor are there a thousand!! Just read it, let it speak to your heart and soul! Thank you TM!!!!!

This book is stellar!!

The impact this book will have on your life is unexplainable. Tyler is hilarious, real, honest, emotional, and reportedly handsome!! 🤣 Get the audiobook then read in print!