Sarah on Wiggles:
As he finished his lunch from ‘witchcraft I emerged from the depths of the storage closet. We found ourselves with a few spare minutes on our hands, and so we decided to ask each other a few questions so as to get to know each other better. He goes by the name Wiggles. His pleasant, outgoing demeanor makes him the perfect person to be TampTamp’s Barista Outreach Director. At age 25 he’s looking forward to breaking into the NYC coffee scene. Watch out NY!
SL: Where are you from originally?
Wiggles: I was born in Waco, TX, but I grew up in Cleveland, OH.
SL: What was your most recent job?
Wiggles: I was the barista at an organic restaurant on Chicago’s south side.
SL: What is your favorite coffee beverage?
Wiggles: Espresso. All kinds!
SL: What is your favorite non-coffee beverage?
Wiggles: Cold beer. All kinds!
SL: Do you prefer a flat or convex tamper?
Wiggles: Flat, Reg Barber.
SL: What has been the high point of your barista career thus far?
Wiggles: Being hired by TampTamp!
Neil: Quit sucking up!
Wiggles: Alright. Another high point was serving espresso to James Hoffman.
SL: What about the low point?
Wiggles: Working for a big chain during a frozen drink promotion.
SL: What do you think the most interesting thing going on in coffee right now?
Wiggles: The increasing awareness of the particularity of and seasonality of coffee. And the emphasis not just on the country of origin, but on the particular regions and farms.
SL: What do want to see in the future of the coffee biz?
Wiggles: Friendlier baristas!
SL: Have you ever dated a barista?
WIggles: Yes, it didn’t end well. But we are still friends.
SL: If you could serve coffee to any celebrity, who would it be?
Wiggles: Slavoj Zizek
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Wiggles on Sarah:
“I’d like to see well run cafes and friendly, cooperative cafe culture in New York City”
This afternoon, in a subterranean manhattan cupping lab, I had the unique opportunity to spend a few moments getting to know Sarah Leslie; TampTamp’s director of office relations, organizational guru, and all around lovely person. Sarah’s homeland is Wichita KS. Being a new york city girl, she would love to serve a well prepared americano, (her favorite coffee beverage) to the generous barefoot contessa Ina Garten, who would no doubt appreciate it. As a well rounded culinarian, and a much classier drinker than myself Sarah enjoys a Manhattan neat, with a cold glass of ice water on the side- no doubt the barefoot contessa would approve.
At only 23, Sarah has had the unfortunate experience of serving legions of gay men a proprietary blended soy beverage call soyafrost; but has already been an assistant manager at Think Coffee on 4th ave, attended the 2010 SCAA expo, developed a militant preference for flat tampers, and become an invaluable member of team TampTamp. Sarah is a vocal supporter of the growing proliferation of brew to order bars in cafes, as part of team TampTamp she’s working to see well run cafes and friendly, cooperative cafe culture in New York City- in her personal life she’s happily attached to a non-coffee drinker, and has never dated a barista.