Kenyon students express themselves in a lot of ways, from the clothes they wear to the clubs they join to the stances they take in their essays. What they might not realize, however, is that their Wiggin Street Coffee order says something about them, too. The Collegian spoke with a current and a former student barista to learn how their jobs at Wiggins have impacted their Kenyon experience, and both shared that they gathered some insight on their peers just from the drinks they select. 

According to Julissa Escoffery ’27, who has worked as a barista since the beginning of the semester, customers’ orders tell her “how locked in on coffee” they are. “If they’re getting a frozen latte, I’m like, ‘Okay, you don’t like coffee, you just want to act like you’re drinking it. … If they’re getting … a Red Eye, I’m like, ‘Okay, you know your coffee,’” Escoffery said in an interview with the Collegian. “If they get a black hot coffee, I’m just like, ‘Okay, you mean business, you’re serious, or you’re [an] old man, or you’re a Kenyon student but also old man vibe.’ [If someone] gets iced lattes with half the amount of coffee, double the amount of syrup, I’m just like, ‘Okay, you just want flavored milk.’”

According to Annie Specker ’26, who worked as a barista at Wiggins over the summer, the type of milk a customer orders can also be indicative of their personality. “I think the big one for me is if somebody gets an alternative milk, which one they’re getting [says a lot about them],” Specker said. “There’s such a difference between, like, almond milk people, soy milk, oat milk, all the different ones. … The people who are drinking almond milk …  they’re here at 7 a.m., like, they’re doing it.” 

To Specker, customers’ orders sometimes served as an initial point of connection: “I feel like by … my second month working here, I have a lot of people’s orders memorized. … There’s this guy. … He comes in every morning. He always just gets a [house roast drip coffee],” Specker said. “And then we have a lot of people who do online orders that are the same every day. And so those are always funny, because you don’t actually know their faces, but … you see their name, and you get their order all the time.”

Specker interacted with a lot of students on the job, but her favorite one shared a first name with her. “That’s why I always remember [her order] so easily,” she said. “She gets a 24-ounce iced blueberry latte, which I had never heard about before.”

Yet Wiggin Street baristas’ relationship with customers goes beyond what’s in their cups. “I think another part of my experience was being the face that people see first thing in the morning,” Specker said. “I was always very conscious of that [and thought], ‘Oh, yeah, I’m maybe one of the first people that you’re talking to this morning.’ And I think that was always, for me, a fun kind of attitude to bring to it. It is very much a social experience in that way.” 

As the only Kenyon student who currently works at Wiggins, Escoffery says that her role has allowed her to forge deeper connections with her peers. “It’s opened, like, a gateway for me. [If somebody I know is ordering] … it’s easier to talk to [them] when I’m behind the counter,” she said. 

But the friendships Escoffery has made exist on both sides of the counter: “I’ve gotten really close to all of [my coworkers],” she said. “Me and [the assistant manager] just talk and talk and talk. Even while I’m in the kitchen doing dishes and she’s at the espresso machine.  … We’re yelling across the restaurant, ‘So what is your zodiac sign again?’”

Since most current employees and many customers are not Kenyon students, Wiggins is a link between the College and the broader Knox County area. According to Specker, her time working there helped her feel more integrated into the community. “I think that for me, something I felt at times [at] Kenyon is that there is, like, a bit of a disconnect between the rest of the community and students who go to Kenyon,” Specker said. “I think [working at Wiggins] really helped me kind of bridge that disconnect … and become more, I don’t know, committed to being here, and not just temporarily here, but a little more permanently.”