The Bearded Barista

Though Brendan D. Light has been working at the Unicorn Café for about two years, it's only been in the past few months that he's become responsible for making the café's soups. After an afternoon shift, I caught up with the bearded barista to discuss how he became the new soup man and where his best recipes come from.

JN: How did you start working at Unicorn?

BL: I remembered in college I loved working at a coffee shop, and I was trying to do my own stuff outside of this. I have nonpaying things that I like to do, so I might as well work at a place where I don’t hate it even if I get paid a little bit less.

JN: How did you become the café's soup supplier?

BL: The old guy, Nate, also known as Dougy, he took off. There was just a void, no soup guy. I’d never made a soup, but I thought it meant more money. And I like cutting up vegetables… (laughs) I enjoy vegetables. And so I just asked several times in an annoying way and then she [Tracie, the Unicorn's owner] gave me a chance to give me a try. And it was lucky enough that my girlfriend had a vegetarian soup book and so I just made a soup that was pretty awesome.

JN: What was the first soup you made?

BL: (Pauses and strokes his beard) What was my very first soup? Spicy Indian potato and pea. And it sold like hot cakes!

JN: How often do you make new soups?

BL: It’s pretty much whenever a soup runs out… It’s like making your bed, but twice a week and everybody else gets to sleep in your bed.

Click here to see what the Unicorn and a barista look like at the end of the day.