15 Minutes with Oddisee

Cheers to Oddisee & DJ Unown for stopping by Supreme Supreme last week to chat all things coffee and music. We were truly humbled to be the official partner of his Aotearoa Tour and would like to extend our gratitude to everyone who stopped by to connect over a cuppa.

We were lucky enough to sit down and have a chat with Oddisee between coffees.

Q: Hey, Oddisee, welcome back to New Zealand. What number is this?
A: Wow, what number trip is this to New Zealand? I think this may be my fourth or fifth time in New Zealand if my memory serves me correctly.

Q: What’s your connection with New Zealand?
A: My connection to New Zealand is hip-hop. And the global love that this genre has, you know, has brought me here. You know, my music came here before I did it and allowed me to tag along. My connection to this place is just a connection to people who care about music and appreciate music. That's from an artistic side. But from a personal side, I'm in love with indigenous culture from any part of the world. And being able to travel and learn about indigenous culture anywhere is a privilege that I don't take for granted.

Q: What coffee have you been enjoying lately?
A: We had some amazing coffee today here at Supreme Supreme in Christchurch. We had some Rwandan, some Brazilian, and some Ethiopian. I think our favourite was the Rwandan today. In general, I love East African coffee. I'm a bit biased because I'm East African.

Q: What do you look for in a coffee?
A: What I look for in a coffee is a silky texture. I don't like the viscosity of it to be too thick or to be too thin and watery. I predominantly drink filter-based coffee. I like floral coffees. I like fruity coffee as well. I like earthy, chocolatey ones. I'll take them all. But what I'm looking for is to really get those notes through and have an experience when I'm drinking a cup of coffee, which I think is why I prefer a filter coffee the most.

Q: Can you tell us about your coffee ritual?
A: Obviously, I like the ritual of making coffee, and I like the duration of the time it takes me to drink it when it's a filter. If I drink anything else, I feel like it's over too quickly. My coffee ritual is 20 grams of coffee to 320 grams of water. I weigh it out to a medium-sized grind size, and I put it on my scale. Sometimes I'll use my V60. Sometimes I'll use a Kalita. I make that every morning for my wife and I, and that's how I start my day. I even travel with a travel-size kit, so no matter where I'm in the world, I start my day doing the same thing, making a cup of coffee. It's a great way to start the day.

Q: When you are travelling do you try and pick up local coffees?
A: One of my favourite things to do when I travel is to pick up bags of beans from places where I'm travelling. It kind of gives me a sense of what's going on there. And I feel like I'm having contact with where I'm at. And it's giving me a great experience. For instance, the last time we were in Bangkok, I had Thai coffee, something that you don't get in the States. I've never seen Thai roasted coffee beans available in the United States. And when we were in Mumbai last, I had Indian coffee. And I learned there that they're one of the largest shippers of coffee around the world. But a lot of the coffee that they ship tends to get used for a lot of first-wave and second-wave coffee, but none for third-wave. So I got to experience some good third-wave coffee from India. And that's what it's all about for me, being able to get something that's from the land.

Q: Does coffee play a part in your pre-show ritual?
A: I wish coffee played a part in my pre-show ritual. It plays a part in my day, but coffee is a diuretic. It will very much dry out your vocal cords So any time around showtime, it's just all water. I generally have a cup of coffee in the morning. That's it. So I would say I have a cup of coffee just after breakfast, which is usually around eight in the morning, and then that's it. And it's just water after that. I pretty much only drink two things, water and coffee. Every once in a while, I'll have orange juice. But other than that, I only drink water and coffee.

Q: Final question. While you're here in New Zealand, aside from performing, what are you looking forward to?
A: What am I looking forward to? I mean, that's a difficult one. One of the main things I want to do when I'm in New Zealand is drink coffee. I've always said my favourite roasters come from Scandinavian countries. My favourite beans come from East African countries, and my favourite baristas come from Australia and New Zealand. So I'm ticking boxes right now on this tour. I love the landscape here. I love the land here. Definitely top five on my list of places I romanticise about moving to is New Zealand. So just any excuse to come down here is one that I welcome.

Check out the video of Oddisee's time in Christchurch here.

Keep up to date with Oddisee: 
@Oddisee