I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America

I didn’t intend to read a book so heavily imbued with religion. But in the end, I’m very glad I did.

Tyler Merritt is the type of person who lives what religiosity is supposed to be. The book is filled with Tyler being vulnerable, making mistakes, and trying to make it through life. He’s very open abouit his sex life, which is something that a lot of Christians would treat with fear. It’s because, at his base, he lives the values that religious people claim to live by. When I read about his religious conversion, I have to admit that I reflexively felt like I’d been been duped into reading a book designed to proselytize. Instead, Tyler just refined his values to fit in with his new faith. He stayed an honest, compassionate show more person who now had purpose.

A great biography is one where the author is honest with the reader. Tyler is very honest. He’s often the butt of the joke in his stories. He takes full ownership of whatever he’s done to hurt others and tells us how he’s trying to be better. The end result of this is that I felt like I was reading a letter from a friend. My compassion and empathy for Tyler only grew as I read the book. I sincerely hope he’s able to keep living his best life.

I recommend this book to anyone. People like Tyler are few and far between. We need to listen to them when given the chance. show less

This book opens with a heavy moment of racial stereotyping of an innocent black male as suspect, even criminal. Then it introduces us to that man’s life story. Hardly nefarious, author Tyler Merritt has overcome numerous challenges to embrace life today. With loads of humor and empathy, he lets readers know what it feels to be him. He is entangled at times with fame, but in the long run, he learns to be authentically himself.

His journey started in Las Vegas, Nevada. The son of a military father (Air Force) and a mother in banking, he found a calling in a magnet high school’s theater program. He also found a religious identity at a Christian youth camp. After that, it seems, life, with all its ups and downs, started to happen. He show more lived a creative life. Turning down a handful of full scholarships to attend a Bible college, he started a Christian rock band. After moving to Nashville, he realized that his band did not fit the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) market well. Messages of social and racial justice, though firmly rooted in the Christian Scriptures, did not play well in the conservative white communities that listened to CCM.

Merritt began to fill other roles, like a youth pastor, a dramatic voice for Sunday School lessons, a social media influencer, a YouTube videographer, an activist, and now, an author. He learned many lessons from these roles. These often-painful lessons spoke to some hard truths about American Christianity and about American culture more generally. Like it or not, people pigeon-holed him into being treated like a black man, not quite a full human being. He also found dark, contradictory corners of the world and does not hesitate to shine a light upon them. He made many eye-opening mistakes along the way, but he never refuses to take responsibility for them. He owns the shortcomings we all have.

Simply, Tyler Merritt is a human being, one of us. His background in theater brings along a compelling communication style. He helped me, a white man, understand black culture and mannerisms better. Even 60 years after Jim Crow was legally dismantled, too many social conventions of white supremacy need deconstructing. As someone who has spent much life among white people – and particularly white Christians – Merritt can speak hard truths that we need to hear.

Growing up in Southern Baptist Christianity, his story would be correctly categorized as a testimony, one with the chance to minister to us. Or to put things in non-churchy language, this memoir has the opportunity to invoke national healing. Anyone who reads this will laugh, maybe cry, be outraged, and experience every other human emotion along the way. In the long run, you will know better who this character is. He is proudly a black man, but at the end of this narrative, you’ll feel more deeply like you’ve found a new friend. show less

Funny, affecting and at times, heart wrenching, "I Take My Coffee Black" is a great read. Merritt found viral fame when his video "Before You Call the Cops" caught fire on social media. This book shares more of Merritt's personal stories and experiences. This is not a book you can rush through--it's truly like sitting and having coffee with an old friend.

Merritt's heart, love for others and commitment to truth, along with an amazing sense of humor makes this book a great choice for social discussion with a group or just to give yourself some perspective. I loved it!

*There is some language in the book, fyi, but I didn't feel it was overwhelming.

audio nonfiction/memoir+ history + social justice (funny, charismatic Black actor/musician/former church leader for youth/social activist)
I picked this up without knowing anything about Tyler, on a recommendation, and it was well worth the wait and deserving of all the praise. You may think you have next to nothing in common with Tyler but by the end you'll have a good idea of where he's coming from (and hopefully will be able to empathize). He really does lay it all out there, even the parts he's not proud of (especially the parts he's not proud of?) and in between light-hearted jokes and brilliant storytelling he'll layer in some powerful thoughts. The audio format is similar to a podcast, with non-distracting sound effects and a show more bonus informal chat at the end. show less

I'll admit I hadn't heard of actor, comedian, and activist Tyler Merritt until I found out about his new memoir, I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America.

I read this part of the book blurb:

"He talks about growing up in a multi-cultural 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 show more lynching and sharecropping and why you don't cross black mamas..."

With that, I immediately wanted to read the book. I'm gripped by the occasional memoir, and it isn't often that I come across a Christian one that draws my interest.

As I got into this book, it didn't take me long to see, "Ah, yes. Merritt is a comedian, all right." Plenty of humor in books makes me smile at least, but it doesn't always make me laugh. This author is definitely laugh-out-loud funny.

And it's good that "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" (thank you, Mary Poppins), as this author's voice isn't only compelling when it comes to fun and games, so to speak. As he conveys the disappointment, fear, anger, and grief wrapped up in his experiences, his voice comes through just as clearly.

One early part that most resonated with me is where the author reflects on being made in the image of God.

However, a content issue that took me completely off guard is the profanity in the book. I expect to possibly run into some language in secular works, and though I'm never comfortable with it, I can usually keep reading when the language isn't excessive and the book's overall message is important. But profanity just isn't something I want to run into and have to push through when I reach for a book from a Christian publisher. After trying to stick with this one for a while, I decided not to push through any further.

Even though I didn't finish it, I don't think this author's story is any less important. For readers who wouldn't find the language to be an issue, I think this memoir is still worth checking out.
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I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review. show less

I’ll be honest—I had never heard of Tyler Merritt before my friend Jane said everyone should read this book. What can I say? I spend more time reading the local paper than on social media. Anyhow, I requested it from the library and here we are.

Tyler’s word proximity really resonated with me. I’m a small town girl and while I love the sense of community, small towns do tend to be much more homogenous than I think is healthy. Reading this book was a good (and funny and sad) reminder of the importance of getting to know people for who they are.

As an aside, it always feels awkward to rate a memoir, as if I’m somehow rating the author as a person rather than their written work. However one of my gauges for memoir (as well as show more fiction) is how well the author pulls me into a world that is different than my own, and on that count this was definitely a five star read for me. show less

Tyler Merritt has a very engaging personality, and it comes through in his reading of his book. He shares a lot of good insights into what it is like to be Black in America, and his sincere hopes for change. However, the book sometimes feels a little too self-indulgent. Although I understand his desire to tell all, for me his confessions of his human failings are not as powerful as he tries to make them seem.