Joe Rogan Experience #1546 - Evan Hafer & Mat Best
Narrator, Narrator, Joe Rogan (host), Evan Hafer (guest), Narrator, Mat Best (guest), Mat Best (guest), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Narrator and Narrator, Joe Rogan Experience #1546 - Evan Hafer & Mat Best explores from Coffee Obsession To Combat Truths: Veterans Challenge Endless War Joe Rogan talks with Black Rifle Coffee founders Evan Hafer and Mat Best about Evan’s deep coffee obsession, their military and CIA backgrounds, and how that led to building a veteran-focused coffee company.
From Coffee Obsession To Combat Truths: Veterans Challenge Endless War
Joe Rogan talks with Black Rifle Coffee founders Evan Hafer and Mat Best about Evan’s deep coffee obsession, their military and CIA backgrounds, and how that led to building a veteran-focused coffee company.
They move from light stories about espresso machines in war zones into heavy critiques of government waste, armored vehicles, and the military‑industrial complex driving endless occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A major section focuses on the hidden health costs of war—burn pits, TBIs, PTSD, cancer, and the failures of the VA—along with the nonprofit world backfilling what government neglects.
They also dig into diet, fitness, and personal responsibility, linking physical health, discipline, and meaningful work with mental resilience and the courage to radically change your life path.
Key Takeaways
Deep obsession plus domain experience can become a powerful business moat.
Hafer’s decades‑long coffee obsession—down to grams, temperatures, and roasting on deployment—gave Black Rifle Coffee authenticity and product depth that customers immediately recognized as real.
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Government spending in war zones often prioritizes optics and contracts over effectiveness.
They describe half‑million‑dollar armored vehicles and G‑Wagons that couldn’t be used because they drew fire, while simple, low‑profile solutions would have been more effective and cheaper.
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Burn pits and toxic exposures are likely causing a wave of cancers and illnesses in veterans.
Both guests recount living beside 24/7 burn pits incinerating everything from plastics to fecal matter, and connect that to rising rare cancers and respiratory issues that remain under‑researched and underfunded.
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The VA’s structure and incentives often fail the most severely wounded veterans.
They highlight cases like a double‑arm amputee losing full‑time caregiver support and months‑long waits for basic appointments, arguing nonprofits are forced to do work the government promised but doesn’t deliver.
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Diet and movement are critical, underused tools for mental and physical health.
Rogan and Hafer emphasize high‑quality meat, avoiding seed oils and processed foods, and using exercise as primary therapy for anxiety and depression instead of defaulting to medication and junk food.
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Endless wars persist partly because war is extremely profitable for entrenched interests.
Hafer argues that large‑scale occupations without clear success criteria mainly serve to transfer taxpayer money to the military‑industrial complex, and that both parties quietly resist meaningful drawdowns.
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Real change in life requires brutal self‑honesty and a willingness to risk comfort.
Hafer describes confronting his own anger and emotional numbness, selling everything, and starting over to be a better father and founder—while Best stresses cutting toxic people and taking big, scary leaps.
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Notable Quotes
“You can’t have a politically correct war fighter. You can’t be politically correct and shoot people in the face.”
— Evan Hafer
“Politicians love to send 18‑ to 26‑year‑olds to war. What they hate is paying the fucking bill.”
— Evan Hafer
“Food is probably the most overused tool to deal with anxiety, and exercise is the most underused tool to deal with depression.”
— Joe Rogan
“I didn’t leave anything on the table. I pushed it as hard as I could with whatever was given to me.”
— Evan Hafer
“The hardest part is probably maintaining that cultural ecosystem as you scale, because you want people to be open and candid, not some stodgy, spreadsheet‑driven bullshit.”
— Evan Hafer
Questions Answered in This Episode
If endless war primarily benefits the military‑industrial complex, what concrete mechanisms could citizens push for to sever that incentive loop?
Joe Rogan talks with Black Rifle Coffee founders Evan Hafer and Mat Best about Evan’s deep coffee obsession, their military and CIA backgrounds, and how that led to building a veteran-focused coffee company.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How could the VA be structurally redesigned so that individualized, proactive care (scans, diet, brain health) is the default rather than crisis‑driven medication?
They move from light stories about espresso machines in war zones into heavy critiques of government waste, armored vehicles, and the military‑industrial complex driving endless occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What would a realistic, small‑footprint counterterrorism strategy in places like Afghanistan look like if large‑scale occupation forces were removed?
A major section focuses on the hidden health costs of war—burn pits, TBIs, PTSD, cancer, and the failures of the VA—along with the nonprofit world backfilling what government neglects.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How can schools and parents practically pivot away from “kids sitting all day” toward an education model that matches children’s need for movement and engagement?
They also dig into diet, fitness, and personal responsibility, linking physical health, discipline, and meaningful work with mental resilience and the courage to radically change your life path.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What specific personal practices—around food, exercise, work, and friendships—most reliably move someone from quiet desperation into a life that feels purposeful?
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Transcript Preview
(drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.
The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (instrumental music plays) Hello, gentlemen.
Great.
We're rolling. (laughs)
We're rolling. Holy shit.
(laughs)
(laughs)
With pleasure.
Evan and Matt. Well, I've known you guys for a long time.
Yeah.
And I've enjoyed your coffee for a long time, so, um, I'm happy you guys could come on here and talk some shit.
Appreciate it.
Yeah.
I love it. I love being on shows with Matt, especially with you. This is fucking incredible.
Dude, your ridiculous setup that you put in the kitchen, with all the- the coffee and the espresso, I videotaped it so people could see, but the m-measuring of the weight-
(laughs)
... of the grams of the espresso, what ... I know you got into it bef- you were into coffee before you were in the military, right?
Yeah.
And then you started bringing coffee and a roaster and a whole setup with you overseas. But, like, were you this, like, measuring it and the- the exact temperature of the water and all that jazz?
Oh, yeah. I- I think, like, way back, uh, in late 90s, I guess, is probably where it all began. And I always say this, where, you know, every good story starts with a- with a- with a good check basically, and I met this barista back in the late 90s, and she turned me onto espresso. So, I started really going down the rabbit hole on coffee.
So, she was just, like, really into espresso or something?
She wasn't. She was just ... she was hot, and she was-
(laughs)
... she was- she was a barista, so ... but that was the- the- the gateway to this entire thing. And, uh, then as I continued to kind of evolve my- my coffee nerd, you know, sense of me, I- I, uh, I- I kind of was like, "Well, you know what? This Green Beret thing sounds pretty cool. I would love to be able to do that, jump out of planes and maybe overthrow some countries. That's- that sounds pretty rad."
(laughs)
Um, but it never left. And so I was still way into coffee. I was roasting coffee on fires and on my stove and getting different, weird espresso machines and ... The funny thing is, back in, when I was an SF guy, people would make fun of me all the time, like, "You hipster douchebag."
(laughs)
"What are you doing?"
If we worked together I would have made fun of you a lot.
Yeah.
Be like, "Sweet. 30 minutes to make a cup of coffee? What are you fucking doing?"
(laughs)
"What are you doing?"
Well, that's why it's a funny contrast-
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