Tom White, Technical Services
Tom was born in upstate New York many moons ago, moved to North Carolina in the '80s, and recently migrated west to a little town called Pittsboro, NC. Tom was active in the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill music scenes for about 20 years and played in his fair share of bands, but seems to like watching bands better now—he still tries to catch a show whenever possible. Tom also loves horror movies on VHS and has about 350 movies at the moment. Tom’s favorites are the Universal Studios monsters, like The Mummy and Frankenstein, but his all-time favorite movie is John Carpenter's version of The Thing. Q: What coffee are you currently drinking?
I’m not drinking any caffeine at the moment.
Q: Choose your favorite coffee and brewing method.
Rwanda has always been my favorite and Clovering coffee is the bomb.
Q: Who at Counter Culture Coffee would you most like to arm-wrestle, and why?
I’ll pass ….
Q: What is your favorite book?
Mama Black Widow by Iceberg Slim.
Q: What keeps you busy outside of work?
Hanging out with friends. Seeing their bands play.
Q: Share an interesting fact you've learned about coffee while working at Counter Culture Coffee and name the person from whom you learned it.
How water quality affects the way coffee tastes. I sat in one time when Tim and Brian brewed coffee with water that had different TDS [Total Dissolved Solids] readings. Each sample tasted different. Very cool stuff.
Q: When you were 8 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
The drummer for Kiss.
Q: If you could beam yourself anywhere in the world for your lunch break, where would you go, and what would you eat?
Poughkeepsie, NY, Mama's Pizzeria. Best pizza ever.
Q: Tom, you’re a diehard Carolina Panthers football fan. What is it that you love about the NFL? And, tell us about Monday Night Football!
I guess the best part of being a football fan is getting together with friends, drinking a few beers, and hoping your teams [wins]! Monday Night Football was one of the best nights of my life. I got to hang out with a buddy from Brevard, NC, and watch the Panthers set an NFL record for two running backs posting 299 yards and two touchdowns each. Priceless!
Q: You play drums, guitar, bass, etcetera, and have been in bands you're for much of your life. What’s your favorite or most obscure musical obsession at the moment? And who’s your top, all-time underrated band?
I've been collecting rare, out of print psychedelic-rock records from the '60s and '70s. I trade, eBay, craigslist.org, etc. I love records and have been collecting for about 30 years. I got my first Kiss record when I was about 7. Blue Oyster Cult and The Obsessed are the most underrated bands ever.
