Tammy Perez de Pacini: Boo-yah!
- Lauren Krouse
- Oct 24, 2015
- 5 min read
People walk into Folks Café and Tammy knows them. “Dora!” she happily yells, leaning down to see an oddly Dora the Explorer-esque child with a perfectly chopped dark brown bob. “Yesterday I saw you! You were walking on the street! And you had a dog! I didn’t know you had a dog!” Others’ arrivals are proclaimed with first and last names. One woman comes in and just says, “There’s an aura in here, you know?” People speak more boisterously than they would in other coffee shops steeped in pretension. Dora orders a hot cocoa. I’ve got a tall coffee and it’s the least expensive one I’ve found locally (correct me if I’m wrong). Dora dances while she awaits her hot bev. It’s a Saturday and despite the 2 pm closing time, the place is full.
Weekdays are different—at least, there’s a lull. Tammy advises that if I want an interview, which she’s immediately agreed to, I should come in sometime during weekdays from 10-11 or 2-3. I say see you Friday. She seems uncomfortable when I go to shake her hand. I decide to dress down and chill out before the next time I see her.
*
Here are some fast facts Tammy provides on coffee:
Indonesia’s got the best coffee out there. This is probably due to its volcanic soils.
In Central America, sometimes coffee is planted in rows intermingled with fruit vines. Some coffees can taste fruity, with hints of mango and raspberry, for example.
Don’t shrug off light roast. Its name is deceptive: light roast has the most caffeine of all roasts.
Fair trade organic coffee might cost more, but it also hasn’t been sitting around in storage for who knows how long as bigger companies wait for prices to go up. Folk’s coffee is around 90% organic, 85% fair trade.
The difference between a small, medium, and large latte shouldn’t be how much milk there is, but how many shots there are. Unfortunately, you won’t always get this at places outside Folks.
When Tammy smiles, it isn’t fake or manufactured to please. Like her fair trade organic coffee, it’s genuine, free of chemicals, and home-grown.
Let’s get started.
Lauren (Me): So how'd you end up in Wilmington?
Tammy: [From Ecuador] I came to California in the late 80s. I was there with my five
daughters, my husband, I went to school there, graduated there, but it was time for a change. You know, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. It was great at the beginning, but it started changing—a little bit too—shallow? You know? Really losing the sense of community and friendship.
We were looking for places. My daughter met this guy, got engaged, married, and the guy is from North Carolina. Then they moved here. And we were like—[stomps foot and waves hands]—we were talking about a change! Let’s do it!
L: Did you immediately get into the coffee business? Or were you in coffee in California?
T: Oh! Nothing to do with it! Completely!
[Tammy worked in a construction office from 8-4.] Her job was “Really, really nice, but then we came here [to Wilmington] and, really, I think it was as shocking as when I moved from Ecuador to California. When I moved from California to Wilmington? Completely, completely different! It took a little while to get used to so mellow, take your time, that kind of lifestyle.”
L: Do you like it?
T: Oh, right now, yes!
[Tammy’d hop and a car and say “Yeee!” if she were in California, but Wilmington will do for now.]
It is relaxing, that’s for sure.
L: How did you end up at Folks? Are you the owner?
T: Yes, yes… We came on July 1st and my son-in-law, he discovered this place, and he was like, “Oh my God, really good coffee!” When we came, we found out that the owner was selling this, and I was like “It’s meant to be for us!”
L: Yeah! Perfect timing!
T: It was perfect timing. We were working here already August 15th!
L: Wow. So you move here, you find Folks, you get Folks…
T: Yes, oh yes.
L: And how long have you been here now?
T: Six and a half years.
L: That’s lovely!
T: Yes, it is.
You know what? It is not just for the point of having a business. You know when you move from another state, you don’t have friends, you don’t have anyone. This was the perfect ticket! You know, I got a lot of friends, a lot of people that you know but some other people that you go beyond the work thing, you know. They are my friends, I go to visit them, they go to visit me, really amazing people. Meeting them, I came into a, I wouldn’t say club, but a group of people that are so interesting.
Normally it would take you so many steps to be able to—but here, I was just, pulled in the middle of all that. It is just the perfect thing.
L: Everybody came to you!
T: In a way, yes! You know what I mean?
And I was like, Boo yah!
I am the lucky one.
[Tammy has now seen people grow and change over the years. She’s seen a couple date, get engaged, get married, and get pregnant—the couple moved to Raleigh, but they’re still close.]
But besides that, you are part of that growing thing.
L: Growing generations of people!
T: Exactly.
When I ask Tammy what she wants people to know about Folks, herself, or anything else, she says,
“You know what? I really love this opportunity because it is a big thank you to Wilmington. It is awesome, it is awesome.”
What makes Wilmington awesome? Its community.
What makes Folks awesome? Its Latina edge.
Tammy’s daughter Paula really knows how to pair food and spices with coffee. Think cayenne pepper and cinnamon in your latte. A café mocha with chocolate Folks makes themselves. The recipe? Secret, of course, but spicy for sure. They make their own pumpkin puree for fall-flavored drinks, lattes zinged with real ginger, and a famous fig latte with a slice of fig on the rim, to name a few.
“Being Latina… we’re used to the things we’re used to. We’re used to ginger. People say, “Ginger?!” but a lot of people say, “Oh, let me try that! That’s good!”
You can get a chocolate chip or poppyseed muffin anywhere. But where are you going to find mango, peach, or pineapple? Skip the ready-made syrups and packaged snacks, and get the homemade goods at Folks Café.
It’s been thirty minutes. I’ve still got plenty of questions ready, but I think I’ve got what I need to get: being connected comes naturally to Tammy. She’s connected to her business, her suppliers, her customers, and the larger community around her. I stop before asking another question, because Tammy’s hurried back behind the counter. The lull is over and customers are filing in to order and catch up.
***Folks Cafe has locations at 706 N 4th St and 1201 Princess St in Wilmington, North Carolina.
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